Boatbuilders

[Garry R]

My Auntie Cedent was never very good at boat building. She was too busy in the house.

[Ancient Geek]

Roger, with your Hovercraft anticedents you might be interested in this picture of the forst Hovercraft built bey two very young dinghy / boat builders -Nick truman & Richard Debenham- at Oulton Broad Christopher Cockerill was a friend of Desomond Truman Nick's father and owner of the boatyard. This working model is now in the Science Museum and for want of anything else painted with Broads Red antifouling!

[jon711]

I beleive Desmond Truman, was offered either a share of the patent or a cash sum. Not sure how true this is, but he apparently took the cash. If you were to drive through Somerleyton, they have the sign "Somerleyton Home of the Hovercraft"....

Jon

[chris]

I learnt French Polishing from a man, now long deceased, who had polished much of the interior of the Queen Mary, which is as near I get to marine training itself. He knew so much about how to make wood look good wether it was varnish, stain or polish.

My first apprentiship was to a coffin maker in the '50's. This was in the fens and I was only about 7 then. I had already got keen on woodwork and asked if I could go round to his workshop every saturday, which I did for several years. He was a lovely man -Jack Buck-and did everything in the village from coffins to farm carts and their wooden wheels. At the other end of the village was Jack Cooper the blacksmith.(useful for repairing young boy's steam engines). He was one of the last farriers in the area and was still shoeing horses aged 90.

I have built two boats from scratch but I don't claim to be a boatbuilder as such but if you need a coffin...

[Michael Brigg]

My first apprentiship was to a coffin maker in the '50's. This was in the fens and I was only about 7 then.
...and did everything in the village from coffins to farm carts and their wooden wheels. At the other end of the village...etc
... I don't claim to be a boatbuilder as such but if you need a coffin...

Did Davidh ever come into the village on a mule, sporting a Poncho and a Cheroot. Americano Blondie chases out the renegade Hornet fleet with help from his Handicap bandit!

Talking of making coffins, I worked for a while on an ITU. We took delivery of the latest all singing and dancing beds. It had a sophisticated air flotation pressure management system for patients who were too sick to turn, and all sorts of other clever bits.

The Rep asked the consultant if he thought it needed any other gadgets.

...."A lid??"

[Ancient Geek]

Would Garry be able top get a lid at Lidl?

[Rupert]

Chris, I knew you had rebuilt several boats from the ground up, but not that you had built new ones...what were they?

[Garry R]

While most of us on this site have had a few boats passing through our lives the fact is that each of us will need only one coffin. But what to go for. For lightness and therefore a non-bandit handicap race across the Styx should you go for Robbins Elite marine ply or sapele. Mahogany is way too expensive and not the colour of the past. Perhaps gaboon - easily rotted - would be ideal. Finishes - not epoxy but I would think G4 would have to be there somewhere. Nice Blakes or Epiphanes varnish. Copper nails? Stainless or traditional brass fittings? Shroud - terylene or Egyptian cotton? Cotton ropes with tufnol blocks for the lowering! A handful of woodshavings for the "dust to dust" committment. I am pretty certain that the design would be pre-1965 but getting hold of a pre-1985 build might be a bit more difficult. So guys, you see even at the shuffling off of the mortal coil decisions about your wooden box will have to be made - will nip over to Classic and Vintage Resting Dead Association's website and forum to see what they recommend. Alternatively - the Vikings had a great idea......

[Michael Brigg]

But what to go for. For lightness and therefore a non-bandit handicap race across the Styx should you go for Robbins Elite marine ply or sapele. Mahogany is way too expensive and not the colour of the past. Perhaps gaboon - easily rotted - would be ideal.

Yew is the traditional tree for graveyards, and of course Rowan. Mythology tells us it is good for resting souls that are protected by its shade. As it is a good material for a walking stick, perhaps your spinaker pole of jib stick.

[Ancient Geek]

A word on coffins, having attended a few too many funerals recently; if you should be persuaded to go for a wicker one (Very green!) DO get it stiffened, a couple of years back I was at the funeral of one of our better known sailors and a couple of points DO GET IT STIFFENED UP that one flopped around as if it was just a body bag, not very dignified, nor was the "did not quite fit", flag, and girls - white f**** me stiletos 6" variety are not quite right in a grass churchyard! Though when another grumpy mentioned this to me I quoted Stanley Holloways "Brown Boots" to him.

[alan williams]

As we are on to Wicker coffins. My father was cremated recently in a beautiful Wicker coffin woven in Somerset with a Crown and Anchor design on the lid (he was a retired Naval Officer), As a pallbearer the coffin was ridged but had a nice organic feel about. My father having been a marine engineer and metallurgist, the last thing he wanted was good quality timber and brass or silver to go up in smoke. Needless to say he was not very green person and was more interested military matters than climatic change. I hope that when my time comes that my coffin will have Hornet insignia wovern on the lid. Mike DaveH would have been one of the Hornet hordes.
Cheers Al.

[Michael Brigg]

...shoeing horses aged 90. (!!?? )

I have built two boats from scratch but I don't claim to be a boatbuilder as such but if you need a coffin...

You'll need a bloody big one!!

(I think this comes into the category of an "Eats shoe(t)s and leaves" type of joke!)

[Ancient Geek]

You can of course leave your body to science, there was a feature recently saying that there is again a shortage of cadavers, a medical (Urologist at UCH.) friend of mine who has a fund of such stories tells of when he uncovered his cadaver for the first time, it was his former Head Master who used to beat him regularly so it was all a bit easier.
For myself if it could be arranged and the beaurocracy for a burial at sea is so bad I hate to think if it could ever be arranged would be for a Viking Funeral with the boat set up on a spinnaker run into a setting sun. Failing which the Medical Students can have me.

[Ancient Geek]

I meant to add a bit of funeral humour at the late great Jack Knights funeral one of the pall bearers David Hunt turned to another Peter Danby, and said:
"you know what we have here? -Jack in a Box",
even the padre was in stitches!

[chris]

Rupert, I built a 15' rowing boat. Designed to go on the car roof yet be as large as poss to take the family. Best trip was a week rowing down the Thames from Lechlade to Sonning, (1996) camping as we went. Then I lent the boat to a friend on the Nene and after a year he asked me to make him one. Still have mine if anyone wants to borrow it to do the 'Three Men in a Boat' thing.
Have also made a complete coffin too... but that was for a stage prop!


Camping kit on board...