Wayne’s restoration philosophy is to make sure that boats can
stand up to the rig loads imposed by modern sail and rigging
materials, and also that the necessary maintenance should be
reduced wherever possible “because available skills are getting less
and less” and to minimise financial outlay. Hence he favours plywood
subdecks, splining (and sometimes glassing) of hulls for stiffness
and water tightness, but he is aware there are other boatbuilders
and aficionados who disagree with him. “The boats have got to
look right,” he said, “but they have also got to be practical.”
The other boat in his shed during my visit was the 22ft Mullet
boat Taotane, built in 1939. Mullet boats began life as fishing vessels
in the mid-19th century and are still an active racing class – with
modern rigs that look as if they belong to much bigger boats – in
Auckland. In 2021 they will race for their 100th consecutive Lipton
Cup. Wayne was in the process of refastening and splining the hull,
and was then going to glass the outside.
Apart from restoration work, Wayne has also built a number of
new boats in his time. The biggest of these was a 105ft game fishing
Top: Wayne with 22ft Mullet boat Above: previous restorations of Thelma (left) and Frances (right)boat which was designed by Alan Warwick who thought it should
be built in aluminium. The owner, however “was a timber man” and
so he commissioned Wayne to build the boat in a plywood/balsa/
plywood sandwich construction, sheaved in glass, and the finished
boat’s displacement was significantly less than that designed. Up
until about 10 years ago, Wayne himself was a passionate sailor but
he then became much more interested in motor boats. In 2013 he
built his own 48ft sports fishing boat in cold moulded plywood.
He is a big fan of plywood construction but “you have got to do it
right”, by which he means sealing all the end grain with solid timber,
and rebating the ply at all the corners so that the whole hull can then
be glassed thoroughly inside and out with multiple layers of glass in
the rebates. He became a convert of vacuum bagging glass when he
worked in Santa Cruz, California as a young man.
Wayne thinks it will take about six months to restore Ida and then
he plans to have another go at semi-retirement.classicsail.net