As Tom builds, Lorraine
follows on behind
sanding and fi nishingbut were rarely fi nding the time to use her. It was time for
a rethink. “We sold the boat and used the proceeds to clear
the mortgage,” explains Lorraine, “And then we sat down and
worked out our life plan. We realised that all we wanted was
the cottage, a boat, and to retire early, and the only way we
were going to achieve that goal was to build the boats ourselves.”
Tom takes up the tale. “We started out with a 23ft angling boat.
We bought the hull with the intention of fi tting it out but it turned
out to be in far worse condition than expected, so we turned
it into a glassfi bre plug to make a mould to start production.
We produced one, which was a centre-wheelhouse motor boat,
a pretty little thing. But what we learned from the experience
was that we both hated working with glassfi bre. I’m a woodworker,
and I found working with glassfi bre to be a miserable experience.”
The mould was duly sold, and in fact ended up in Scotland where
the boats continued to be produced.
Lesson leaned, it was back to wooden boats, and in the early
1990s, Tom and Lorraine embarked on their fi rst build from
scratch, a 35ft yacht called Selene. Giving up his boat repair work,
Tom dedicated himself full time to the design and build, creating
a 10-tonne classically styled yacht of timber and epoxy, a system
that Tom favours for one-off builds. “You’ve got the wood, which
is easy to work with and relatively cheap, but the epoxy coating
(inside and out) effectively makes it a glassfi bre boat, so all the
problems of wood then go away.”
The couple kept Selene for 20 years, cruising extensively. But
Tom felt that he had “one last boat” in him, and the decision was
made to switch to a motor boat. “We found ourselves motoring
much of the time anyway – neither of us have the patience to sail
for eight hours just to get somewhere we can reach in three under
power. You get there cold, wet and fed up. It’s meant to be a
pleasure. So we asked ourselves: what would make it a pleasure?
Being warm and dry will make it a pleasure. Plus with a yacht,
you’re buried in the hull when in the cabin. With a wheelhouse,“I’m a woodworker, and found working with
glassfi bre to be a miserable experience”To build a boat, fi rst
you must build a shedHOME-BUILD PROJECT