That's Better

Perhaps we launched her too soon, before adding the final touches and sorting out the rig (see previous posts). Yesterday, with her rig perked up and her rubbing strip fitted, she looked the part.

And here she is, Tammie Norrie, by Iain Oughtred, built in Scots pine from Balmoral Estate, sails by Steve Hall at North Sea Sails, built by Viking Boats of Ullapool, in all her glory under a big, yellow shiny ball that appeared in the sky finally after weeks of wind and rain.

As the warm spell came to an end Mattis and I took a few hours off from building the Arctic Tern (last strake goes on tomorrow by the way) to launch the wee boat at Ullapool's Wee Pier, and do it properly.

The photos tell the story. The rig is standing lug, with no boom to clout the owners or guests on the loch to which she is bound, and the construction sturdy, although even with 1/2in planking and fully fitted out she floats high enough. Which is an excuse to say once again that building a boat like this in plywood makes her too light, in my opinion.

Wednesday Afternoon

Floors began to go in yesterday and by tomorrow, Thursday, will be in place. At some point I will try and explain how the little gadget that Mattis made from his spirit level was used to fit floors to strakes. For the time being let's just say it was all done entirely by hand and eye.

Monday Morning

This was the sight that met me on arrival this morning. Mattis had been up until 10 the night before getting the fifth strakes on, while I was watching Inspector Montalbano and finishing a bottle of half price Tesco red wine.

Such dedication (on his part that is...)

Three Weeks' Work

Well, here she be; four strakes up and a fifth ready to rove. Can't say I had much to do with them as I left Mattis to get on with things while I headed south for a week. Progress has been reasonably swift as the Arctic Tern fledges in the cow shed and we should have the hull planked up by the end of the week, that'll be week four or 20 working days (give or take).

Interestingly for those who study the economics of wooden boat building, as I quoted on the basis of 36 working days, and there are two of us working, you can see that we should, if four hands are twice as fast as two, be close to finishing her her by now after three weeks, or 30 working days between us. They are not, of course, twice as fast, but it makes things much more enjoyable (if less lucrative). Notwithstanding, I know what I prefer after years working alone.

Now comes the fittng out, the frames, thwarts and all the fiddly structural stuff..

Not much to report, other than that things seem to be going smoothly, after some initial head scratching. The seven strakes are a compromise between the orignal's six and Iain's redrawing at eight. So far we have been able to get the planks out of the larch stock, but the sheerstrake will need to be of Scots pine, I suspect, which will give the topsides a nice contrast, as the larch will weather darker than the pine.

Sign-o-matic

The Tammie Norrie is about to depart for her loch side home, but before she goes there's one detail that has to be finished: the name on her transom.

I won't divulge the actual name, but here's what I have chosen from a compnay called Sign-o-matic in Sweden (I've added their link on the right). In simple black letters, I reckon it will look the part, although I have to say that the typeface chosen is called Stonehenge. Well, that's Celtic, isn't it?

One for Rieke...

Here's one for Mattis' sister, who recently joined the blog to check up, no doubt, on her brother and make sure he's actually hard at work, which he was when I last saw him this afternoon, slaving over a hot plane. Although he admitted when I asked him about whether he'd be in the shed over the weekend that "he would probably not be in a great state on Sunday morning." Something to do with St Patrick's Day, perhaps?

With a name like Mattis Voss I find it hard to believe he is indeed Irish (almost as hard as I find it understanding what he's on about sometimes, but then I am a little deaf from all that power planing and hammering, not to mention motor bikes in my youth).

A week Ago

This was how I left the Arctic Tern a week ago before heading south to see old friends, two weeks into the build. The photo was posed so as to impress our owner with the extreme accuracy of our methods, hence the spirit level. Since then the moulds have been braced to the ceiling and levelled to within a millimetre using a laser.

While I was away my partner Mattis was keen to put on the fourth strake on his own, without my, er, help. He emailed me to say that he had beaten his record: two strakes in two days, which is pretty good, especially as I could find no fault with either the fitting or the shape.

More photos after the weekend when there should be five of the seven strakes up. Then we'll have to see if there is enough larch for the sheer strake, or whether we will use a nice piece of Scots pine, which should look superb in contrast to the darker timber.

For the record the planking is 11mm and the copper nails, 12 gauge, have been set 4in apart, the lands being 3/4in. Note the mix of metric and imperial. The apron will be married to the separate stem once planking is complete. Framing will be traditional Shetland style, with no steamed timbers for a change.

While we build the hull, Collars are making the spars and Steve Hall at North Sea Sails will stitch the canvas. Launch date is set for the end of April.

Guillemot Afloat Again

The Guillemot I built last year came back for a pre-season refit, after a very hard first season on the Firth of Forth. Work included the fitting of a rubbing strake (she was badly chafed on her mooring) and for some of her steamed oak timbers to be replaced. Whatever the reason, five had developed cracks at the turn of the bilge, so we replaced them with Scots pine, which, together with larch, I believe are better for timbers.

For a start it is much easier to find totally clean larch or pine - which can be offcuts from good planking stock - rather than oak, and when you do find some you think to yourself  "what a pity to turn this lovely piece of oak into strips".

I have seen many broken oak timbers, but never a larch one. It is not a down market solution, in my opinion, but a better one for boats of this type that are built to be used hard, rather than as show pieces.

The refit also included making a wider thwart at the transom and general sprucing up of the topsides.

Working on a Saturday?

To get a head start on Monday we spent a couple of hours steaming a second strake onto the garboards. We'll do the other one after the weekend, unless Mattis decides to sneak down to the shed and do it on his own; which he has shown himself to be clearly capable of doing (albeit on The Sabbath).

Now working on the Lord's Day up here is still frowned upon in some circles, along with washing your socks and hanging out the linen. A sheep in distress can be helped and emergencies attended to, but I think the line would be drawn well short of steaming a plank on a wooden boat.

So, here's the scene as I left it on Saturday morning... I suspect when I arrive on Monday Mattis will have finished the boat, such is his skill and enthusiasm!