by Martin Hargreaves | May 8, 2014 | refit and repair
Spar making is often considered a bit of a black art; in fact it is quite straight forward but is a painstaking process and labour intensive. You also end up with an awful lot of wood shavings on the floor. First you have to prepare for a financial shock: Sitka Spruce...
by Martin Hargreaves | Nov 19, 2013 | refit and repair, wooden boats
Eleanora was built at the famous Gosport yard of Camper and Nicholson in 1927. She was designed in house, built largely in teak and her power came from a pair of 8 hp Stuart Turner petrol engines mounted under the floor of the aft cockpit. Much of her history is lost...
by Martin Hargreaves | Sep 10, 2013 | refit and repair, Sailing, wooden boats
The Thames sailing barge Lady Gwynfred was a 68 ton sprit rigged, wooden barge built by Glover at Gravesend in 1904. Like many barges she had a varied career and came to a sad end. She operated as general trading barge under sail up to 1933 when she sank at Blackwall...
by Martin Hargreaves | Sep 6, 2013 | refit and repair, Sailing
Aquila Maris started life with Barklays Bank ( Aquila Maris = Sea Eagle which is Barklays’ emblem). She is an early fin keeled Westerly Fulmar. Well used by Barklays she then spent two or three years ashore before a number of years of hard use as a family...
by Martin Hargreaves | Sep 6, 2013 | refit and repair
Designed by David Cannell of Wivenhoe and build by North Sea Craft, then in Norwich, the Samphire 26 has impeccable east coast credentials. In design terms she is one of several similar boats of the 1970’s which can be somewhat unkindly described as the fatter...
