Once again the messabout we held in conjunction with the Classic Boat Regatta was a great success. The Regatta was very well attended and  filled the marina at Tewantin.  The boats were on display to the public till 11:00 a.m.  There was a varied selection of gleaming varnish and polished fittings, mainly power boats of all shapes and sizes.

 

Of particular interest to members of our association was “NANCY” the restored Tasmanian Ferry by Martin Krynen.  This was a 5 year restoration which we had viewed on 2 previous years on our visits to Noosa.  We were all overwhelmed with Martin’s  knowledge and skill.  We will try to get Martin to write an article on the mechanical and woodwork involved , not  to mention the expense!!!, that he accomplished almost single handed. All boats then paraded up river then down to the mouth to a quiet beach area on Noosa Sound for a BBQ or picnic lunch.

As we use this Regatta as an excuse for a messabout, 12 of us met on Friday night for Happy Hour and b.y.o. Fish and Chip night and on the Saturday night Bruce and Sarah McConkey hosted a b.y.o. BBQ at their lovely resort home.  On Sunday the ladies visited the local Farmers Market and as the weather was very cold and windy, the men walked up to the local Yacht Club for a quiet drink.

As per other years this is not an adventurous week-end but a very pleasant social get together.  Mark your calendar for next year !

“Never build an ugly boat” is good advice when choosing the design of a boat.  There are so many lovely designs that a choice is difficult.  I wanted a boat that sailed well, was small enough to sail solo and yet large enough to comfortably take another adult or a couple of grandchildren.  Although I had never seen a “Gannet” I liked the look of the Iain Oughtred boats I had seen.  The “Gannet” seemed to fit the bill.  It is 4.4 m. (14?5″) long, beam of 1.73m. (5?8″), sail area 10.96 sq. m. (118sqft).

The plans are in imperial measurements with metric conversions. They come with full sized mould, stem and transom plans, with a set of 1: 8 offset, construction and spar plans and with 1:16 sail plans.   There is a list of scantlings and copies of some pages of Oughtred’s “Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual”.  This book was my most frequent reference. The working plans were photocopied and laminated. They were kept beside the boat, together with pencil, paper and an imperial scale ruler for the whole 20 months. The plans are clearly drawn, with clear fine detail in imperial measurement with metric conversions.   I endorse the advice I was given to build using imperial measurements, as the metric conversions are not all accurate.

Perhaps the most pleasant discovery was the camaraderie of fellow wooden boat builders.   Their generosity, encouragement, advice and hands on help were most appreciated.

The moulds were made of 12mm chipboard.  From the full-sized plans of the moulds, the strake landing marks, as well as the laps, and DWL marks were carefully transferred onto the moulds with a spike, and clearly pencilled before being cut with a jig saw. All these marks were kept clearly marked on the finished mould.  The building frame was made a little higher than designed so that I could wriggle underneath to inspect the inside of the boat while under construction.  Despite making work around the keel and lower (upper when upside down) strakes a bit more difficult, it proved to be a worthwhile decision.

The boat is built of 6mm (1/4″) Pacific Maple ply. The planking stockof four sheets were made into two 4.8m. long sheets by scarfing two 2.4m. sheets end to end.  This resulted in two rather unwieldy sheets from which the strakes were cut two at a time. The system I adopted was to make a template for each pair of strakes.  A batten was nailed to the moulds at the line of the next strake.  This and the edge of the already fitted strake were used to mark the template, then on the template material a line parallel and 15mm away from the fitted strake line was scribed to allow for the lap. When the template fitted comfortably on the moulds, its outline was transferred to the two long sheets of planking stock and two strakes were cut out together.  I found that I could cut to a line more easily and accurately with a handsaw rather than using a low set circular saw or a jigsaw.

Handling a 14ft, 6mm wobbly strake is quite difficult when working by yourself. It is easy to have an uncontrolled epoxy-covered edge going all over the place.  I found it helpful to remove the temporary baton and inset nails in the moulds at the plank landing points.  The strake would sit on these while I applied clamps and fixed the stem and stern ends with temporary button-head screws. All screws were removed the next morning before the epoxy got too strong.  Cutting a gain on the strake once fixed on the boat was difficult, as the edge flexed.  It was better to cut the gain before fitting the strake and better still cut a half gain on the upper and lower edges of each strake with a router jig.  Fitting the Garboard strake took the longest.  It was the first.  Things improved.  Planking was completed in six weeks – three weeks for the first three strakes and five strakes in the next three weeks.

A laminated false stem was built on the plastic covered stem in three stages, gluing 3-4 laminates at a time.  At each stage dowels were used to stop the glued laminates from slipping about.  Next day the dowels were cut flush and the process repeated.  Once the false stem was well cured it was removed from the boat, shaped on the bench and then fitted to the boat. The keel was fitted in scarfed sections to encompass the centreboard slot.    A tapered 20 x 12mm. square-sectioned rubbing strip was glued to the upper outer edge of the sheer.  Months later the deck was fitted and trimmed with a router to this edge before the outer wider laminate of the rubbing strip was fixed to cover both this strip and the ply edge.

Painting  

All the lap fillets were sanded or filled as needed. 40 grit sand paper is good for removing hard old epoxy.  The timber hull was painted with TPRDA modified epoxy and the boat was sanded to 180 grit, before applying 2 coats of epoxy undercoat.  At this point it looked as if it was painted with dilute milk.    Final sanding to 240 grit was done before the finishing coats were applied. Painting is not my favourite pastime and I was somewhat hesitant about using Boat Cote.  The instructions were read and re-read.  The technique used was to quickly apply a thin coat of paint with a roller to a 300mm section of the boat then tipping it off with a foam brush before further paint was applied.  After each roller application, the paint pot and roller were sprayed with a mist of water.  By the time I got around the boat it was dry enough for a second coat to be applied.  The next morning using the same technique I applied three more coats without stopping.  The resulting finish (5 coats) was better than I had expected.

The Turn Over

“It’s much bigger than I expected” was my first impression.  It looked much smaller upside down. The building frame was modified to support the boat.  Legs were replaced with wheels to enable it to be moved about the shed.  I created a problem for myself by removing several of the moulds without marking their position of the boat.  Had this been done it would have been easier to site the centreboard, thwarts and mast positions.

From this point on progress seemed to slow, much to the frustration of friends who were concerned that they might never see it in the water.

Centreboard case

Both sides of the centreboard were glassed before assembly. The centreboard spacers covered with epoxy were too slippery to site accurately until fixed with small stainless steel nails using a nailing gun.  Two floors are fitted through the fore and aft ends of the centreboard case.  They were not glued into position until the centreboard case was fitted to the boat. (Floors not only act as floor joists but strengthen the boat by being fixed to the keel, centreboard case and strakes 2&3. There is no attachment to the garboard stake so as not to impede the drainage of bilge water.)  The board itself was shaped.  Three 1 kg sections of  lead were inserted, two at the lower end and one at the upper aft end of the board. I thought that the resulting components of force would be more effective in keeping the board down than having all the weight at the lower end of the board.  It works well.  Lead poured into a soft drink can is the same diameter as a 64mm hole saw cut.  This is an easy way to insert a weight.  The board was fitted with a brass leading edge and then glassed.

The sides of the centreboard fit into the upper half of the keel slot.  It, with its associated floors, was fixed into position with epoxy.  The centreboard logs were not fitted at the same time.  At the middle of the CB logs there are half floors (they can? t go through the CB case).  I attached these half floors to the logs before fitting the logs (mistake!).Each log was fitted on a different day in order to keep the established position of the bolt hole in the case.  The starboard log was fitted first, clamped fore and aft to the CB case and a prop to the ceiling used to hold down the floor onto the strakes.   When this was finished I noticed the prop was distorting the hull.  It was removed while the epoxy was still fluid.  At the time I was not aware that this allowed the lower edge of the log to move away from the lower edge of the CB case.  Air was entrained through the bolt hole in the centreboard case creating a longitudinal space that was to cause a mysterious leak after launching.  It was only by removing the log (no small job) and floating in a new one in a sea of epoxy that the problem was fixed.

Internal Fit out

The forward and middle thwarts are fitted to support the centreboard case.  The mast partner sits on the forward thwart and is supported through to the keel.

I planned for the forward deck to finish in front of the forward thwart to allow crew access in front of the mast.   The decked area is from the second mould station forward.   This creates a dry storage area up front and buoyancy at the bow.  Aft there is further storage/buoyancy formed by replacing the aft thwart with deck to sit on and a bulkhead.  6 “,150 mm side decks run from the fore deck to the stern. Framing all these sections took some time.  The inside of the fore and aft hatch areas were painted white before the decks were fitted.  On a bright day it is very difficult to see inside a dark coloured compartment.

Before the side decks were fitted the inside of the boat was painted.  The colour “Sand” achieved the aim of not being too hot or too glary.  Painting the inside was more fiddly than the outside. It was all done with a brush.  Finally the side decks and the outer rubbing strips were fitted.  The fore deck, side decks, stem and transom were clear finished.
At this stage it looked finished but still to come were: – the rudder, a curved laminated tiller and tiller extension, a tapered hollow “birds mouth” mast, tapered solid spars.  The trailer had to be modified to fit the boat, the sails made and all the rigging fitted.

I named the boat “Cetonia” in memory of my boyhood experience with boats.  Uncle Bert (Brier), a naval architect, had a large chest of drawers full blue printed boat plans.  I remember being impressed by the plans of a car ferry, which I think, was to become the “James Holt” car ferry. He had designed for his own use a yacht,  “Cetonia” which was built by Harrold Spring at Breakfast Creek.  Sadly WW2 prevented him fulfilling his use of the boat.

A large group of family and friends came to the launch.  There was a nice breeze on the day.  The boat handles well.  The skipper was and still is happy.

I was interested to read Martin’s Kortlucke’s note a while back on “American Sailing Craft” (1936).  It helped to explain to me the wide interest in Australia in wooden boats from that part of the world.  My own inspiration comes from the Brits and the rise of the British Victorian gentleman’s indulgence in yacht racing.  My great grandparents emigrated from England bringing with them a copy of Dixon Kemp’s sailing manual printed in 1880 – the year my grandfather was born.  My grandmother and her brothers were involved in yachting out of Bulimba at the turn of the century – not the last turn, the one before.

Dixon Kemp (1839-1899) was an English naval architect and an authority on sailing and yacht stability.  He was also sailing editor of “The Field” magazine – a country magazine with a strong leaning to outdoor sports.  It is one of the world’s longest-running magazines.  Kemp was a founder and the first Secretary of the Yacht Racing Association (now Royal) and became a founder and member of the board of the Yacht Registration Society in 1877.  Ten years later he wrote a review “50 Years of Yacht Building” for the Institute of Naval Architects and subsequently wrote and regularly updated several books on yacht design, yacht architecture and practical boat building, as well as the Manual.  The latter saw seven revisions in his lifetime and a further 25 to this day.  You can buy updated facsimile and digitized versions on Amazon. com – even hardback and paperback editions.

Kemp designed a number of famous yachts of the day and was very influential in introducing improvements to yacht measurement rules and in the (eventual) establishment of the Lloyds Classification of Yachts in 1906.  His books show among other interesting trends, the rise of eighteen footer sin the 19th century – the trailing edge of technology perhaps? Another context of the book is the contemporary raging competition over the America’s Cup, which had been interrupted by the American Civil War. My heirloom copy of the 1880 Manual has been carted from one end of Australia to the other.  In Canberra almost 40 years ago, I gave it
(temporarily) to the TAFE college bookbinding school.  It was used to teach book conservation and restoration and each of the 600 odd pages was carefully chemically treated, minor damage was repaired, some pages and brittle tears coated in conservator’s film and the book beautifully re-bound in leather and linen.  I paid for the materials; TAFE provided the expertise and slave labour.  The National Library was not too excited by the book as it was “only a second edition”;  nor were State Library staff, because the book has been restored rather than conserved.  I have yet to track down a copy of the first edition but three other copies of my “New and Enlarged” edition are still alive. The book provides an interesting and quaintly readable insight into early wooden yachts, boats for rowing and sailing, sailing canoes and ice yachting.  It has a magnificent “Dictionary of General Information” and 14 delightful pages of advertisements.  Explanations of the really technical and theoretical stuff are clear and have a curious historical flavour.  There is great detail in Kemp’s advice on seamanship and yacht equipment and interesting discussions on racing.  Information on scantlings, dimensions, tables of offsets and drawings and lines for many types of boats of the day, seems sufficient to build from.  In discussion of centre-board boats, credit is given to several American boats for early developments that astonished the Brits by their performance when first shipped to England. Credit for invention of the centre-board is, however, given to a British naval captain in about 1774 although it did not storm the yachting scene until about 1853.  One wonders what the good Duke of Northumberland, who apparently commissioned the first known centre-board yacht, would think of today’s yachts. Kemp’s book was translated into at least five languages but boat dimensions are Imperial, as one would expect.  If you’d like to read this rather fabulous book, amazon. com will probably provide your cheapest and easiest access to your own copy.  A 4th edition in weary condition was recently sold in South Africa for more than I could hope to get for my beloved Hartley!  There is a revision of Kemp’s 1895 9th edition, by John Leather (1988), in the Queensland State Reference Library.  My book simply has family historical and antique value but Leather’s revision is a really good read due his commentary from a modern perspective and the even broader scope of the 9th edition; and you won’t have to don white acid-free cotton gloves to read it!

 

Like a child in a chocolate factory, it was hard to know where to start.  The miles of marina packed with magnificence, or the scores of small boats ranging from furniture quality to restoration opportunity.  The MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart from 6 to 9 February this year was something to behold.
In addition to the look and feel and admire boats of all sizes, the place was alive with activity.  Children (of all ages) rowing and paddling in Constitution Dock and beyond; demonstrations of most things related to wood and boats; the sail past; rowing events; tall ships (although two were missing due to bad weather); harbour cruises; the Open Boat program; it was all there.
The WBAQ, including wives and friends, had a sizeable contingent present. Between the lot of us, there are probably enough photos for a picture night lasting well over a fortnight (I can only contribute 489). Queensland boats I spotted included Classic (see cover photo), Laurabada, and Pagan.
With side trips to the Franklin Wooden Boat Centre, the Tasmanian Maritime Museum and Mt Wellington on a clear day, all made this first trip for me to the famous festival a real highlight. Edward Elcock

Our first voyage in a Mirror 16

This article was first published in Dinghy Cruising Association Bulletin  number 180/2003

Queens Beach North, Scarborough Queensland, 11th January 1970, (midsummer almost): The day Dawned drearily, sky overcast; the last night’s sea breeze, just a whisper from the east, barely stirred the leaves of the old cottonwoods fringing the sandy beach. We had been up for hours checking our gear, the rigging and loading of our Mirror 16 beside the concrete ramp a hundred yards from the front gate.

After launching, our blue-hulled pride and joy sat somberly on the beach, just above the tide’s edge. She was newly acquired, second hand and still unnamed despite many suggestions from family and friends and known to leak a bit! Despite all efforts to reduce the mounting stash of camping gear, food and water carefully measured out, two boys and a father for four days, augmented by extra for the teenage crew of our escorting Quickcat, a 15 knot plywood, hard chine catamaran. Eventually launched after a good deal of heaving and shoving we had yet to learn of  the help blow up rollers can give, our log keeper reported the time, 0955 hours already! As we headed out into our little bay snugged in between Osborne and Drury points, we hastily checked the water level in the centreboard case; thankfully it remained an inch or so below the boat’s floor. We were really floating! Our first “voyage” at last! For years past, we had come to the family’s tiny beach shack on the eastern shore of the Redcliffe Peninsula for the school holidays. Time after time we had gazed wistfully at the dark- hued Moreton Island, mysterious and beckoning, looming on the horizon just twelve or so miles across the Bay. This morning it wore a shroud of cloud.

We knew the Pacific Ocean’s surf pounded the island’s seaward shore but except in westerly weather in winter, quieter waters lapped the sand in the Bay. The tangled hills, tree clad mounds of sand, still miles away, stretched skyward with Mt. Tempest (915 ft.) the highest. At the southern end, the bare white sand of the Big Sandhills (300 ft.) and Little Sandhill (100 ft.) glimmered in the dull morning light.

Both sloop-rigged, our boats made slow progress eastward, mean course 1100 , tacking back and forth to clear the rocks off Drury point. Anxious to try our home-taught navigation skills, we took half-hourly bearings with an old Army prismatic compass. At 1030 hours, then barely a half-mile off shore, our reading was 0200 ; Garnet Rock bore 1940 and Redcliffe Water tower 2450 , Bongaree water tower on Bribie Island, 3380 . At noon, Square Patch bore 0700 but by 1330 hours the faintest breeze had died to nothing. Bored and sweltering in the hot midday sun, the relative coolness of the water (probably about 250 C), beckoned and the boys dived in and swam around the boats while father watched anxiously for a puff of wind and, even more anxiously for any sign of a shark!

After drifting almost aimlessly about the M3 buoy marking the NE end of the Four Fathom Bank and still about three miles off the island, we reluctantly started the Seagull outboard, passed a towline to our friends in the engineless Quickcat, and headed straight for the beach. We had hoped to sail all the way. An hour later, Seagull tank almost drained, we made landfall at the Tangalooma Tourist Resort. So, six hours after launching, we found a public telephone booth (no mobiles then) and phoned news of our safe arrival to those waiting at home. That duty done, we set off again slowly southwards just off the beach. We rounded Tangalooma Point, passed Ship Patch and, landing at Square Patch (another sand cliff), we climbed the steeply sloping loose sand. At last reaching the lip, puffed and pleased, we looked out on our boats on the beach below, then across the blue-grey of the shallow bay to the Peninsula (our starting point), encrusted with the houses and marked by a significant landmark (the water tower). In the boats once more, we continued slowly southwards, past the shallow Shark Spit and the beach-bound rusty and oyster covered remains of small steamers until we reached the Big Sandhill. We motored slowly over the seabed towards the shore, anchoring in waist- deep crystal clear water. At low tide much of this foreshore dries out, revealing extensive patches of seagrass liberally sprinkled with half-buried razor and turban shells and oyster clumps. We found a campsite under the She oaks just above the beach  but the area seemed much used and rather “tired” –  and the sandflies rose in clouds – so we opted for the much narrower beach a little further north near the wrecks we’d passed earlier.

As dusk approached we dragged the laden boats up the beach and above the high tide mark, handed the sails,  stretched them between the boats as an awning, spread out our beds beneath and set about cooking our meal
(Chops, potatoes etc.) on the campfire. We had rather underestimated our water needs for the voyage so tried boiling our potatoes and rice in seawater. We enjoyed the spuds but couldn’t stomach the rice.

Rising rather later next morning, we found the sky overcast again and no wind so we struck the awning, packed our gear, and set off on foot along the beach to explore the southern end of the island. Reaching the foot of the Big Sandhills we laboriously climbed to the top and slid down the other side. To our surprise we found a fresh water soak where new piles of dung indicated the presence of brumbies. Making our way through a half-mile of brush we reached the ocean beach and spent a relaxing hour fishing (nothing caught) and surfing. Later, we set off by compass to skirt the SE corner of the sand blows (which create the sandhills) and on reaching the Bay shoreline again we retraced our steps along the beach to our campsite. A storm seemed to be brewing in the south, so we re-erected our awning and had a quick evening meal before securing our gear and turning in. Shortly afterwards at 2015 the night sky was split by bright flashes of lightning accompanied by crashes of thunder and down pelted the rain. Quickly we set our bailing buckets to catch the rain water pouring off the awning, only to find of course that the first bucket was very salty from the sea spray that the sails had collected. The subsequent buckets were drinkable, fortunately, so we were able to replenish our water bottles for the return trip home.

Next morning dawned fine and clear, so we broke camp, launched the boats and set off for home at 0805, the wind South 5 knots, course 2900 . We set the spinnaker on a makeshift pole and by 0900 we reached the confused water which in those days was marked by four beacons in a square where the shipping channel crosses a dredged sandbar. At 0930, the Cowan Cowan light bore 0290 and Redcliffe watertower 2520 . Half an hour later, we changed course to 2650 and sailed slowly over a calm sea towards home. By 1100 the wind failed and. Paddles out when the Seagull fuel finally ran out we made our way laboriously past the North Reef beacon and, tired but satisfied, reached our home beach just after noon.

So ended our first big adventure, not so much of a sailing experience, unfortunately, but an exciting one just the same – and the precursor of many more “voyages”, often very exhilarating ones in the following years.

Notes: 1.  Apart from the shipping channel kept navigable by dredging, the Bay is fairly shallow, with lots of sandbanks but most remain covered at low tide so are no worry to dinghy sailors, but make things difficult for keelboats. 2.  A typical summer’s day has light offshore land breezes early in the day, south-east winds 10 – 15 knots for most of the morning, dying away to a dead calm for an hour or two at midday when the air temperature may reach 300 C and then the afternoon sea breeze from the North-east sets in, mostly 15-20 knots 3.  For most of the Bay the tidal streams (about 1 knot at most) can be disregarded but rising to perhaps six knots at half-tide at the North-east and South-west corners of Moreton Island.

A couple of our members have purchased an old Roy Bliss designed Bliss-craft boat, for renovation.  They would like to make contact with other owners of Bliss-craft boats to share common interests and experience.  It is noted that BoatCraft Pacific list the plans for the Bliss-craft Oceaneer MK II being available for sale.

 

Roy Bliss is a Life Member of the WBAQ but unfortunately is not enjoying good health at present.