BUILDING A WESTERN SKIFF – PART 2
NEXT MONTH Fitting out the hull:
gunwales, inwales, thwarts and fittings.■ You can read Part 1 of the Western
Skiff build in PBO May 2019.■ Free plans for the Western Skiff for
amateur use only can be downloaded
from the PBO website, along with a full
set of instructions, at pbo.co.uk/
western_skiff. Please make a donation
to the Ed Burnett Memorial Fund at
http://www.justgiving.com/remember/201501/
Ed-Burnett. The Western Skiff kit is
available from £940 (rowing version)
from http://www.jordanboats.co.uk(^2)
He used staples, left slightly proud,
to wrap the mat around the chine.
The staples were removed as soon as the
epoxy had cured.
3
Wetting out the glass mat with epoxy.
The aim with the first coat was to use
just enough resin to saturate the mat, but
not so much that it lifted it off the wood.
(^5)
The third and fourth planks were
much easier to hang than the first
two. Note the long gerald at the bow, which
allows the higher plank to overlap the
lower one as they join onto the inner stem.
(^6)
Jeremy took care to ensure the port
sheer plank sat nicely before
measuring it against the frames and then
mirroring it on the starboard side.
8
The result is a set of beautifully even
fillets and unblemished topsides. All
in all, a much neater job than the author
did 22 years ago...
9
For the fillets,
Jeremy used
MAS epoxy
thickened with a
50/50 mix of
colloidal silica and
microballoons.
Once mixed, get the
paste out of the tub
and on to a flat
board or stick to
reduce the chance
of an exothermic
reaction, ie the mix
self-heating.
(^11)
... then
smoothing it
with the putty
knife, using the
point to leave a
sharply-defined
edge.
(^12)
Tape
removed
and the results
speak for
themselves. This
is quick ‘n’ dirty
boatbuilding
minus the ‘dirty’.
ABOUT THE BUILDER
After a childhood
messing around on
boats in Cornwall
and the south of
France, Jeremy
Butler decided he
was going to be a
fisherman. He worked on oyster
boats on the Carrick Roads,
longlining off Newlyn before fetching
up at the Falmouth College to study
Small Craft design. He eventually
decided to study Psychology at Essex
University, but spent most of his time
building dinghies for Barrow Boats on
a piecemeal basis, getting paid £300
per boat. After a formative year out in
Australia, he retrained in IT and has
been working in software ever since.
Jeremy explains his reasons for
wanting to build a Western Skiff:
“Living so close to the river, so I want
to get out there and enjoy it with the
family. I love rowing, and I’ve already
built a strip-plank canoe, but that’s a
bit tippy for the family. I want
something I can enjoy rowing on my
own but that the family can all pile
into and explore the river, so the skiff
ticked lots of boxes.
“My idea is to build the boat light
enough to stick on the roof of our car.
I don’t want to have a trailer or a
cover. I’m going fit a removable wheel
on the front and a couple of handles
on the back and see if the Barrow
boat idea works!
“There’s not a single step between
our house and the river, so I should
be able to walk down and be on the
water in about 5-6 minutes.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Writer and
photographer Nic
Compton has written
18 books about
boats, sailors and
the sea. His latest,
readily available from
retail booksellers, is Off the Deep
End: A History of Madness at Sea.
W
ill^
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