Classic Boat – June 2019

LETTER OF THE MONTH

SUPPORTED BY OLD PULTENEY WHISKY

94

CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2019

Letters

Recently, on a wet wintery Sunday afternoon’s drive, we were out in

Malahide Boatyard looking around dreaming of better days to come,

as you do during those winter months, when a lifeboat caught my eye.

Newly painted, looking fantastic, and ready for delivery. The thing that

attracted me most was her name, Her Majesty the Queen, not from

around these parts I thought!

Googling her, I found out that she was the recently retired Lytham St

Anne’s Lifeboat. By coincidence, I am involved with the restoration of the

Dunleary Lifeboat that saw service in Kingstown, known later as Dún

Laoghaire, from 1919-1937. She then served in Lytham St Anne’s until

1957, after which she retired into

private hands and ended her days

in Amble, Northumberland.

Fast forward to March of 2017

and there is a last chance letter

to the editor of the Classic Boat

magazine, from Pat Joplin in Amble,

to say that if there weren’t any

takers for this older lifeboat she was

going to be broken up. As a regular

reader, I was concerned at the

possible loss of this important part

of our shared maritime history.

Contact was made with Pat

Joplin and the boat was brought

back to Dun Laoghaire. She now has

pride of place in the Coal Harbour

storage yard. She has been stripped

I made one [saw bench by Robin Gates, Jan issue, p92, pictured] and

immediately put it to use. Excellent! I simplifi ed the construction, built it

with free leftover timber and treated it with some leftover Varnol.

Jan Sijpesteijn

I was slightly dismayed to read in your last issue that

Adrian has retired from building boats. I do hope this

doesn’t mean that he will not continue to write his

columns in your publication? As a retired clinker

boatbuilder myself,

Adrian’s column is

one of the things I

most look forward

to every month.

Peter Teeling,

Baltimore,

Maryland, USA

Of course! Adrian

is one of the

magazine’s

treasures. He

will continue his

column, now

about boat

ownership – Ed

Inspired to build saw bench

Writing about life

after boatbuilding

R

O

B

I

N

G

A

T

E

S

,

J

A

N

S

I

J

P

E

S

T

E

I

J

N

Ad

rian

Mo

rga

n

36 CLASSIC BOAT M

AY 2019

S

o Farewel

l then Viking Boa

ts. As of 1 Janua

w ry, the

orkshop resound

s to the cries of tu

rkeys, rather

than the ri

veting hammer o

r bandsaw. Boatb

was nev uidling

er going to be a

reliable means to

make a living,

but kept the wol

ves from the doo

r, and its owner b

in thed a usy

rk winter days w

hen most of the 2

5 or so boats

were built or rest

ored at the Old M

ilking parlour a

Leckmelm t

, down by the s

horeside of Loch

Broom.

I can’t say I mi

ss those dawn sta

rts. In the early y

the cold n ears

ever bothered me

. The activity soo
y n warmed
ou up, although v
isitors would inv
ariably ask: “Ho
can you w w
ork in the cold lik
e this?”

Well, no more. I

t is 8 am on a free

zing morning, an

am typnig t d I

his in my pyjama

s. With all my fin

mo gersi ntact;

re than can be sa

id about my hear

ing.

Remarka

bly, every client t

o a man and wom

bee an has

n totally trusting

and a delight to w

ork with. No

contracts, no

small print and

not a bad debt in

time allt hat

. Payments have o
ften arrived befo
re the work was
done, and spe
nt by the time it
was done, leaving
almo me
st always in arrea
rs and in the red.

Boatbuildin

g will never mak

e you a fortune, u

yous t nless

art with a fortun

e. But among law

yers, estate

agents, account

ants and office wo

rkers, building a

boat ca wooden

rries enormous c

achet. Even to a

captain of

ind

ustry, a billionair

e yacht owner,

you are ofte

n considered amo

ng the

luck

y elite, to be wor

king with your

hands, no m

atter how far from

reali

ty and romance t

hat can be on a

bitter mornin

g in January with

a

recalc

itrant plank refu

sing to yield

to gentle persu

asion.

Th

e rewards are gre

at. Owners

became friends

, some of whom

stayed

with us before, d

uring and

after taking thei

r boats home. As

far

as I kno

w, none has sunk

, or sprung

unquenchable le

aks, but I must

admit th

at some could ha

ve been

built better.

With a

ny craft, there’s a

lways

r

oom for improve

ment, and being

largely sel

f taught, I did ma

ke

m

istakes, I hope no

t too drastic, and

usually wh

en trying out a n

ew way

of

doing something

. I make no

apologies a

s I enjoyed discov

ering

unc

onventional way

s to do things,

some of whi

ch worked well.

H

owever, althoug

h old and

trusted ways

are often the bes

t

ways

, that is not alwa

ys the case, so

I would urge

budding boatbuil

ders

to tru

st their own insti

ncts. Don’t

try to reinvent

the wheel, but at

least

try to

find new ways to

T m ake one.

he old and truste

d ways may simp

ly have become

ingrained h

abits, and after t

aking apart man

wo y old

oden boats, I ha

ve occasionally fo

und old and trus

methods ha ted

ve in fact contrib

uted to the deter

fou ioration

nd deep inside th

e structure. But t

hen most of those

boats weren

ever built to last

, or cared for.

T

hose who decide

to commission a

wooden boat ca

be dreamers, n

but they also nee

d the wherewith

their al to buy

dream. There is

no getting away f

rom it: a wooden

boat, purpose

built, is expensiv

e. Don’t believe m

hte b e? Go to

ack pages of this m

agazine and see

what you can buy

for the price o

f a bespoke wood

en sailing dinghy

save y. I wlil

ou the effort: a cr

uising yacht that

will take a family

of four to theC

aribbean – or aro

und Chichester H

Adv arbour.

ice? Find a mento

r, someone to ke

ep you honest,

like my own, pe

rsonal guru, Tom

Whitfield in Aus

We hav tralai.

e never met, and

may never meet,

but his

encouragement h

as been beyond

compare.

And t

o the late John L

eather, wherever

you are, when

you told me that

boatbuilding wou

ld be a thankless

unreward a nd

ing business, you

were not far wr

u ong. But I

rge anyone keen

to try their hand

to go for it, what

the rewar ever

ds or thanks. The

satisfaction of se

yo eing a boat

u built being enj

oyed is all the tha

nks and reward

anyone ne

eds.

Adrian r

etires from

boatbuild

ing and th

e turkeys m

ove in

“The

old

a

nd

trusted

way

s may

simply be

ingrai

ned

h

abits.”

C

H

A

R

L

O

T

T

E

W

A

T

T

E

R

S

Fare

well

to bo

atbu

ildin

g

CB 371 Adria

n Morgan.indd 36

out and a good watertight cover fi tted as she awaits her

planned restoration. The intention is to restore her to

seagoing condition. She will then be used for educations

projects about the marine environment as well as local

history and tourism, preserving a wonderful part of our

shared maritime heritage.

Of course, this won’t happen without a great deal of

fi nancial input. Donations are very welcome and can be made

through our website dunlearylifeboatproject.com. We also

have compiled lots of history about her, both of her time in

Lytham St Anne’s and

Dún Laoghaire. It is well

worth a look!

A lifeboat by its very

name and function

represents the people

who volunteer to serve,

be that in Lytham St

Anne’s or just across the

water in Dún Laoghaire.

In this case the sea

has no borders. Let’s

remember that and get

this boat restored to her

former self.

Brian Comerford,

chairperson, Dunleary

Lifeboat Project

Rescuing the Dunleary lifeboat 1919-1939

Dunleary lifeboat