One could be forgiven for thinking that things have been a bit quiet over the past few months, but the long-awaited end to Covid restrictions earlier this year have allowed us to accelerate the boat build which has been progressing steadily through the summer. We’ve now celebrated a significant milestone: the fitting of the first plank to the hull. As can be seen from the accompanying pictures, we had to use just about every clamp that was going spare (plus a few that weren’t!) – 55 in total!
A great deal of fairly tricky work was required to get us to this stage, with the hog and apron timbers needing some careful shaping to accept the inside surface of the first planks. We had a couple of false starts on this front, but the great thing about working with timber and epoxy is that just about any mistake can be repaired. This is a learning experience for us all!
Now we’re over this hump we’re anticipating that progress should be both quicker and more visible going forwards. The hull of a St Ayles Skiff is made up of 12 planks – 6 on each side – which have already been made up (as described in the previous article). Now that we’re ready to begin installing them, we should see the hull start coming together quite rapidly over the next few months. It’s a very exciting part of the build, because we’re finally at the stage of assembling something that will begin to look vaguely watertight!
To mark this milestone, the club met up for a celebratory summer barbecue on the afternoon of Saturday 13th August. The weather was extraordinarily kind to us on a day that bathed most of the Firth of Forth in a thick haar, and it was a fantastic opportunity to show our wider membership (along with friends and supporters) the state if our build.
Special thanks are due to Irene who, not being content with lending us a building space for the boat, also allowed us to invade her garden for the afternoon. It only seemed right that she should be the one to remove the symbolic first clamp.
By the time this article has been published, the second plank will already have been fitted; hopefully this gives some reassurance of the fact that the build really is ramping up. Plank gluing is an activity where extra hands really do come in handy, so if you’re interested in helping out then now’s a great time to get involved. This invitation is open to everyone – members, prospective members, friends, family, and the innately curious! Build sessions are usually on Tuesday and Thursday evenings but this does vary week-to-week; by far the easiest way to keep abreast of our plans is to ask Elisa, our Membership Secretary, to add you to the builders’ WhatsApp group. If that arrangement doesn’t suit you, feel free to tie in with any of our regular builders.
We hope to see you soon!
Article written by Finlay Robertson
