Sunday 22 December 2013

Teal's 100th

I haven't made any progress over the last week or two really so I have little to show for it.
I've been putting coats of undercoat on the interior frame work and sanding varnish off the other spars
but the the weather at the moment is awful. There was a bit of a lull today so I went down to check the
boats were ok before it starts up again.

Percy Woodcocks book "Looking astern" contains a chapter about Teal (Little Pal) in which he writes
" I can't rightly remember if they laid Little Pals keel before or after the turn of the new year of 1914 ".
So within a week or two she will officially be one hundred years old.

The bottle of whiskey Andy Rankin sent me last year has not quite lasted to Teals launch but it has soothed my colds and flus from long days in the boatyard quite well over the year, Ken had his first, and the last glass of it the other night. Thanks again Andy.

So heres a few pics from today.

Just minor jobs and a bit of finishing on the interior and the restoration will be complete.





Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to all & thank you for following.

Sunday 15 December 2013

Sea-Boats, Oars and Sails

The Cornstore in Hegarty's houses the 1926 AK Ilen. The Ilen was designed by circumnavigator
Conor O Brien based on his own boat the Saoirse which he sailed around the world via the Great Capes in 1925. One of  only a handful of small boats to have completed that voyage at that time.
He wrote a number of books on sailing, one of which "Sea-boats, Oars and sails" has just been rereleased by lodestar books. The new edition contains new illustrations and photographs from local man
Tim Cooke's blog http://ilur.tumblr.com/ of his François Vivier-designed Ilur. 
There is more about it here on http://intheboatshed.net. Its certainly not expensive and I want a copy.

The Ilens story can be found at http://bigboatbuild.com/big-boat-build-auxiliary-ketch-ilen-beginnings.php
You can also get involved with the project in a series of workshops at Hegartys yard.
Unfortunately the Saoirse was lost in a hurricane while anchored off Jamaica in 1979, I'm sure she would
have been a much sought after vessel today.


Tuesday 10 December 2013

Small cheap jobs

Can't go mad now in the run up to Christmas so I'm just doing what I can. Fitted the lazarette door,
fitted a lifting eye in the cockpit hatch and undercoated all the interior framing white.
I have run out of money on numerous occasions throughout this project but one benefit of that is that
I tend to spend all that extra time on little jobs that otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with.





Thursday 5 December 2013

Controls

Few more bits in place, Engine remotes, water alarm, bat and oil lights, the original compass and hit & miss vent. I need to make a new butterfly piece for the vent. Front bunk fully framed and primed, the interior is ready for all the various sheeting to go in, Probably can't afford it now before Christmas though.






Wednesday 4 December 2013

Mast & Spars

Earlier in the year I took all the spars out of the big shed, washed them and put them in my workshop
for varnishing. That never happened and they got covered in dust again so today I took them back out, washed them again and set them up back in the big shed where I can at least get them ready for varnishing.
The mast is finished so I've hung it up out of the way for the winter, the few fittings it needs can be fitted 
where it is.





This is the reefing gear on the boom, I believe Teal was the first small boat to have this system which Percy Woodcock had made especially, The first one he received was made of brass but was not up to the job so they made him another in bronze. I can Only assume that this is it. Unfortunately I don't have the handle so I will have to make one.

Teals winches, I won't be using these, So if there are of use to someone make me an offer, To fit 125mm mast


Sunday 1 December 2013

Taken on the 15th of January 2013

God it doesn't take long to forget what we were looking at earlier in the year.