by Martin Hargreaves | Jun 28, 2016 | refit and repair, wooden boats
Like many other technologies plywood production improved a huge amount during the second World War. As a result of this , the shortage of solid timber and rising labour costs, the 1950s and 1960s saw a boom in the design and building of plywood boats. As so often with...
by Martin Hargreaves | Nov 11, 2015 | News, Wild Goose
Every now and again a boat comes along that leads me to break my rule about not buying any more boats. The excuses this time are: She is a well known local boat with a local sail number and a reputation for sailing well so she should be easy enough to sell when she is...
by Martin Hargreaves | Jul 29, 2014 | refit and repair, wooden boats
Leila is probably the most elegant boat I have yet worked on. She is a William Fife designed 6 metre racing yacht built in his family yard at Fairlie on the Clyde in 1912. Much of the backbone and the larch lower planking has been replaced and now we are selectively...
by Martin Hargreaves | Jul 28, 2014 | refit and repair
All boats are to a greater or lesser extent built to a price; this means that even well build new boats can benefit from some careful additions. Parker Yachts are well known for their build quality and in latter years the internal joinery was particularly high...
by Martin Hargreaves | Jun 5, 2014 | refit and repair, wooden boats
Estralita, a 20 foot clinker motorboat spent much of her life carrying tourists in Salcombe harbour. She is now around a hundred years old and in need of a fair amount of repair. One of the most troublesome leaks was around the the stem where an old repair in the stem...
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...
