Caledonia Yawl weeks Two and Three

This post doesn't include pictures of the boat itself because it hasn't changed much since the last post but I promise we have been working hard 'fettling' different parts of the backbone structure read to accept the Garboards (the planks nearest the keel). One of the pictures is of me planing the starboard garboard to make sure the upper edge is fair and is a mirror image of the port side.

We have had some nice weather for the last couple of weeks so any break time has involved swimming in the tea breaks on the beach, paddling a SUP board round to the harbour and taking Eleanor out on a fishing trip. Not a bad work/play lifestyle!

This weekend was the start of lifeboat week and The Red arrows turned up to wow the crowds gathered on the beaches. Dave, John, Lula and myself stood on Monmouth Beach awaiting their arrival until the air was filled with a crackling roar as the 9 aircraft shot over the cliffs behind everone and began their display leaving trails of red, white and blue smoke trailing in the sky.

Now that the garboards are on the planking should speed up as the days go by so I will have more photos of that to show you>

Caledonia Yawl Week One

David and I lept into action as soon as we moved 'downstairs' onto the floor of the main workshop. We clambered down the creaky and over-steep stairs to our allocated area and spent the morning arranging our tools under the workbench that would be home for the next six months. After a little head scratching we realised the 19'6" Caledonia Yawl was not going to fit where we had planned to go and so a reshuffle of the workshop ensued.
It was past lunch time, after 2 moves that we finally got settled. First job was to level two eight foot long boxes on which the boat would be built. These has to be leveled along their length and breadth- a task which we seemed to do with relative ease.

Next we brought the plywood moulds down from upstairs and one by one we errected them on their pre- arranged positions on the boxes like the rib cage of a decent sized beached whale. We sat back at the end of day one and realised that we had made up for lost time and had pulled level and ahead of some of the other parings. Its not a race, honest!

Over the rest of the week out next jobs all revolved around making the backbone of the Yawl. This includes the 'Hog' which is a central single piece of timber which will sit on the keel and provide a place for the bottom planks to secure to and the two stems, bow and stern. The stems are back by aprons so in all there were four major laminations to be done and we chose to do two of these off the boat and two of them on the boat to give us varying experiences. There were pro's and cons to both techniques, David preferred laminating off the boat whilst I liked the other method.

One thing became apparent and that was the size of this boat. 19'6" long and 6'6" wide. It dominates the workshop and when planked it will obstruct the view across the room which one currently has through the gaps between the moulds.

Banter in the workshop continues to grow and David tag line of "Oh, no, no, no!" ring out along with "You slag", "you slag"- a tribute to the double act of Smithy and Gavin from Gavin and Stacey.

The faces of tourist appear at the door as they seemed quite impressed with our early efforts and it seems pleased that hand tools are in abundance. Worthington, Justin's Springer Spaniel with his smashing quiff stands guard at the entrance and gives a fierce bark to passing dogs warding them off his patch and away from the sausages Wendy sometimes brings out to him from the kitchen.

Every few days we all flock around Dave Govier like seagulls around a trawler as he shows the second hand tool he has for sale. Vastly cheaper than buying new and a chance to buy tools that will outlast us all. 90% of my tool kit has come from Dave.

One of hte most valuable things done is observing others and listening to other peoples ideas. By doing so the best method or technique is identified and put to good use which enriches the experience and saves time in the long run.



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Lofting with David

There are eighteen people on the boat building course but only 9 boats are being built due to the space restrictions in the BBA and because if all of us worked on our own boats without any help thy wouldn't be finished this side of 2013. So 9 people will project manage and work on the building of their own boat from materials they have purchased and the other 9 people (me included) will work on these boats and get to move around from boat to boat. The advantage of being transient is that I can experience as many different types of building techniques as possible and walk away with a more rounded experience and potentially a better chance of getting a job. I will miss out on owning a boat and will have not put the hours in to project manage a build but its all swings and roundabouts.

Lofting is when full scale drawings of the boat are produced on huge pieces of hard board. I worked with David to loft his 19'6" Caledonian Yawl which took the best part of a week and a bit. We lofted three different views of the boat on the same piece of hardboard- Profile (side on), Half Breadth (Birds eye view) and Body Plan (viewed from the bow/stern), after which the lines resembled spaghetti thrown at a wall, as Mike our instructor would say.

Pencils, rubbers, rulers of all sizes, lofting batons, wooden batons and quick clamps became very familiar to us as we used them to manipulate the table of offsets provided by the boat's designer. We plotted these points on our huge grid and drew lines that connected into what we thought were fair and would produce a good looking and functional boat.

We then used the lofting to take full scale measurements used to produce the plywood moulds around which the boat will be constructed. There were seven moulds in all and it was important that all of our lofting and mould measurements were exact. A quick way to transfer the shape of the moulds onto the plywood was to tap small nails on their sides into the lofted lines. The plywood is then laid on top and a after a few whacks with a mallet the imprints of the nail heads are left on the plywood. These imprints are then connected with a lofting baton and a pencil and the shape of the moulds can be cut out.

Doing this for over a week produced many furrowed browns and gasping yawns as we tried to soak up the information and work load. David and I worked well as a team with my drive and his considered thoughts and calculations. I cant wait to start building the boat for real and to see these lines become a tangible 3D form.

Week 5: Clinker Section and Tool Box

We seem to be spending longer and longer in the workshop as each day goes by. Less time has been taken for lunch and I have stayed behind until 8pm on a few occasions as there is so much to do! I also started two new jobs- working in one of the pubs called The Vounteer and working as a handyman for a local lady which should help keep the wolves from the door.

For the past week we have been building a Clinker Section- a scaled down model of a cross section of a wooden boat built by overlapping wooden planks which are nailed into place using copper nails and roves. There are numerous techniques and tools used in its construction which kept everyone focused and the workshop had a definite industrious feeling to it as the chatter died down and furrowed brows hovered over workbenches strewn with pine shavings, copper nails and tools.

Next on the list was a tool box. This is a piece of work we have all been looking forward to making. Its a typical thing for an apprentice to produce and use as a tangible CV when visiting prospective employees- the quality of one's dovetail joints could be scrutinised and hopefully a job would follow. We have chosen to use mahogany which is a very nice wood to chisel accurately.

















As of next week we will begin the Lofting stage of our course which involves making full scale drawings of different parts of the boat and in preparation for that we took the lines off an existing boat which one of the lads will use to make his own boat. It is becoming clear just how quickly we are moving through the course and time is tight as no sooner than one thing is finished than another set of technical drawings are presented to us. The lofting means we will be taken away from our workbenches in the day so anything unfinished will be tackled in the evenings or on the weekends.

The weather has continued to draw us all outside on our breaks to listen to waves swash up the beach and on one such occasion we noticed a large section of the cliff above Monmouth Beach had collapsed into the sea. We eventually worked out it had happened between 9 and 10am one morning and before long there were people walking down to inspect eh pile of charcoal coloured earth and boulders strewn down to the low water mark.

I have taken myself off for a swim in the sea at around 5pm a couple of times this week. At that stage in the day I am fairly tired and my concentration levels are waining so to allow me to continue to work in the evening a quick dip is just the ticket. To say the water was bracing would be and understatement and after 5 minutes of swimming around my face was aching from the cold and my hands refused to close but I emerged from the water a new man.

A sunny start to the weekend

Friday arrived and baked us as we settled into our usual lunchtime spot on the deck of the Powerboat Club which sits right on Monouth Beach. A couple of sandwiches consumed, eagerly watched by our numerous canine friends in case morsels were dropped and then a snooze in the sun before heading back inside to pick up where we had left off.

In the evening we were back on the beach having beers when Jackson & Chris decided to settle the 'Last one out of the sea wins a beer' challenge and in true Reginald Perrin style they tackled the beach in bare feet whilst shedding their clothes and entered the frigid water. Jackson was indeed the last to leave and the beer was won although I think has yet to be delivered to the victor on account that both contestants were freezing and headed off to find some dry clothes.

Chris and James appeared with a bag of off cuts from the Academy and some firelighters and headed down the beach to find a suitable spot to set up for the evening and so we joined them as the fire roared, sausages were cooked in an old chip pan basket held over the flames and Liz & Sean entertained us all with a display of fire baton twirling.

Saturday was a lazy day and I awoke to find a large portion of the beach in my bed as I had returned home and collapsed after climbing back up into Uplyme on Anneka. I lazed around home most of the day and later a cycle down to the BBA resulted in some afternoon beers on the seafront amongst the tourists who leaped out of the way as I gave Jackson a croggy along the promenade on Anneka. Due to budgetary restraints we ended up back at the Powerboat club who's bar charges a bit less for a pint and settled in for the sunset.

Week Four: Fine Dining and a tired Carpenter

This week turned out to be quite a test both mentally and physically as the complexity of our woodworking projects increased and residual tiredness caught up with me. On Tuesday I struggled to keep my eyes open in the morning lecture and I could make no sense of the technical drawings laid out in front of me that would help me. Before I had some sort of accident I took myself of for 40 winks on the BBA sofa, but woke up 2 hours later feeling even worse. Phil, on of my peers, kindly gave me a lift home where I slept almost uninterrupted until 8 am the next morning.

I decided that a combination of things had brought this fatigue on, one factor was some looming paperwork deadlines due back in London so I decided to get those dealt with on Wednesday morning accompanied with a hearty breakfast. I cycled down to the BBA feeling mentally and physically rested and got on with my work.







The frame I had been struggling with still looked like a lost cause and in my dispair I fished for helpful instructions from the tutors but to their credit they did not divulge the 'secrets' but merely listened to my whining and subtly kept me on track. I started to see the wood and the trees and after one careful pass with the chisel, and then another it appeared that my mortise and tenon joints would indeed fit.

I left with BBA with Mike (one of the instructors who I cycle with) and we headed up Cobb Hill, a viciously steep climb up into the heights of Lyme that wrenches the air out of your lungs but slaps stunning views to your eyeballs if you have the presence of mind to glance back over the harbour and out to sea. My legs and lungs did not burn so much as I was still on a high from my success at the workbench (have faith in yourself Rob!), and said goodbye to Mike before climbing further still through Lyme, Uplyme and into the clouds where my cabin awaited.






I had an hour to potter around before heading down to the BBA once more where Ken had picked up the 'Wednesday Night meal' mantle and was cooking up a storm with a huge Paella. A very tasty meal and another chance to bond further with everyone and a few wives and girlfriends who joined us. I knew it was time to leave when Jackson & Frank produced a bottle of Jameson's Whisky and I was glad I did because those two suffered in Thursdays morning lecture, much to the amusement of everyone else.













As more techniques are introduced to us we get to experience new tools and a mental shopping list has now formed in my head of the tools I would like to own- a pairing chisel, spoke shaves, a dovetail saw, a Japanese saw and so the list builds. There is a tool for almost every job but rather than getting weighed down with 100's of kgs of kit, there are core tools that we all have our eyes on. Time to find a job so I can afford to buy a few items to fill my new tool box which I will begin making the week after next.

Lyme Regis is basking in the glorious sun this week as are the many tourist that now visit. The carpark next to the beach is full even on week days and 1000's amble to the beach, eateries and the many shops advertising their wares. You can tell people are in holiday mode as they seem to loose all sense of how to use pavements thinking that the roads are pedestrianised for their pleasure and so they get a rude awakening with a toot from a passing car as they make a sloth- like bee line for a shop or ice cream stand that has caught their eye.








The front of the workshop in the BBA is open so people can look in to see what is going on and we have people stopping at least every half hour so by the time summer really hits I think we could talk solidly to people if we wished but I am sure the pressure of boat launch day will keep our noses hovering over our planes rather than chatting away.

The beach remains a great distraction and I can see how the local reef breaks since a small swell arrived so time to get my board down here in case I can sneak out for a lunchtime surf, or at least a paddle