Solent Wooden Boats

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United Kingdom
Portsmouth
Solent Wooden Boats

We build and repair small wooden boats and make oars and paddles.

19/12/2023

Keel boxes installed in 8m boat. Involved the usual stress of cutting holes in the hull in exactly the right place. Then made wooden trial assemblies to ensure fit before making moulds. 2 required as inevitably the 2 sides were 'handed.' 8 layers of glass vacuum bagged to produce dense product with consistent thickness. Due to parallel sides of the mould it took some persuasion and destruction to separate the two. Installed in the boat with stainless fixings for clear cover so any ingress of water into the keel boxes can be monitored from inside the boat.

08/10/2023

Atropos house roof finally on. Deck fitting blocks in place, 1st layer of ply glued on, starting to apply epoxy and 2nd layer persuaded into shape. Due to the shape of the roof, some torturing was required. Only some of which related to the ply. Main problem was the clean up inside. There was inevitable glue ooze out around the deck beams but due to it being the hottest day of the year by the time I had worked myself around the straps to the inside it had almost set. Result - a big mess to clear up later which resulted in yet more painting. Best laid plans.....

14/06/2023

Keel metalwork finally arrived and after some persuasion was bolted and bonded into place. That meant the planking could go on and after a coat of epoxy the hull is ready to be faired. The large vertical plank is only 6mm thick so inevitably, with few bulkheads, has some slight variations.

12/04/2023

Cockpit side seats laminated in place and rear deck glued down. Foredeck faired, underside of roof painted and first layer glued down. Second layer done in 2 halves to get centre join as tight as possible. Took quite a combination of ratchet straps, blocks and clamps to hold it down evenly but it has worked well. Just the coach house roof to do then laminating is over!

03/01/2023

After some trials and tribulations with the paint, the underside has been top coated. This has hardened over the holidays and the hull is now ready to be turned over. Always interesting!

19/11/2022

Keel bolt holes drilled through hull and metal floors. These can now be removed and sent for strengthening webs and a fl**ge to be added. The keel plate was a bit wobbly due to the fabricators trying to get some rocker on it to fit the boat. Strengthened epoxy was applied to the hull and the keel bolted down to take up any gaps. The top surface was cleaned and more epoxy applied to give a fair surface ready for fairing onto the hull. Packing strips added to allow for the glass on the plate and the hull.

12/11/2022

At long last the keel has arrived. Whilst the hull is on the strongback so level and upright, we can accurately align it and drill for the fixings. Then we can finish fairing and get on to painting.

25/10/2022

Usual technical disagreement over scone construction today. And the best way is so obvious!

20/10/2022

Waiting for the keel to be fabricated so using the time to get ahead with other items. Lots of bits machined and labelled. Not particularly satisfying now but should speed things up once the hull is turned over🤞

11/09/2022

Rest of the planks on, nose attached and faired in and stem chain plate attached. Next fairing and the torture boards.

08/09/2022

First planks are on. The front pieces needed saw cuts to get them persuaded to conform! The pics don't really show the full twist and bend between the first frame and the stem. But all went well so very happy.

11/07/2022

Strongback for Atropos set up with moulds and frames in place ready for bracing. Apart from 2 bulkheads, the rest of the shape is provided by ring frames. With many curves they were fiddly to build but are now on the ply formers which will be removed after the hull is built, leaving just the frame.

Address

Fort Cumberland Road, Southsea
Portsmouth
PO49

Telephone

+447775517831

Website

http://www.solentwoodenboats.co.uk/

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