Craftsmanship
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SUB SECTIONEdited by Steffan Meyric Hughes: +44 (0)207 349 3758
Email: [email protected]NORFOLK BROADS
Saturday boy buys yardDUBLIN, IRELAND
All-new clinker IDRA Class dinghyNORWAY
If a pilot cutter doesn’t cut it...Yard News
C/O MYLNEC/O CLONTARF YBCMAURICE GRAYA man whose first experience of work was a
schoolboy's Saturday job, has bought the yard
that first employed him, reports Maurice Gray.
George Elliot, now 32, has bought Ludham Bridge
Boatyard after the previous owner, in ill health,
had to sell. “I didn’t want to have to look for a
new job and I love this place and know its
potential, so I bought it”, he explained,
confidently. “I’ve got plans to expand and
promote this boatyard and have the full support
from loyal customers.” George’s partner, Laura
Bassam, 28, now runs the office. Steve Dark, a
retired boatbuilder, has stepped in to volunteer
his depth of experience on classics, including
wherries. One early job is restoring a Dauntless 22.The new clinker IDRA 14 dinghy
mentioned in these pages two
years ago is nearly ready to sail.
The Irish Dinghy Racing
Association, set up immediately
after the war, chose this 14ft
(4.3m) George O’Brien
Kennedy design to roll out as
a national class. Despite great
popularity in its heyday, No166,
as it is known, is the first new
one in more than 35 years.
Thanks go to a team of
volunteers at Dublin’s Clontarf
Yacht and Boat Club. The
project started in February
2013, with the aim of launching
her this year, the class’s 70th
anniversary. Riveting (all 1,866
of them) is now complete, the
solebearers are down, the
foredeck is on and the team is
just waiting to “put the deck
on and close up the boat” for
her big day on 25 June.A Scandinavian owner is on the verge of starting to build an
unusual ‘new classic’ based roughly on the Lowestoft sailing trawlers
of England. The design, which the owner has worked on intermittently
for years with naval architect David Gray of Mylne Yacht Design, is
complete and the boat’s first stage towards completion is due to
start any day now, when the steel ‘kit’ is cut out by laser in Holland.
The welding will be done in Poland, then the boat will come to
England for fitting out, by autumn with luck. The owner told CB: “It
is a quick and economical way to build a boat as well as a strong one."
The completed vessel will be 65ft 6in (20m) on deck, traditional in
shape with a long keel, gaff cutter rig and solid wooden masts.
The owner thinks he can bring off the coup for around £300,000
by doing much of the fit-out himself. David Gray told CB that the
fishing boat origins, not to mention a hull material thinner than wood,
mean high volume. The challenge in this instance has been to weigh
the boat down to its lines – about 70-80 tonnes. This in turn
creates a tough, thick hull. The boat has a removable bulwark section
for tender launching and recovery, an expanse of triple-laminate
toughened glass set into the transom for a panoramic owner’s cabin,
hydraulic-assisted tiller steering and diesel/electric hybrid power.