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AMATEUR BUILDERS; T I 0 N

JULY/AUG -01

Geoff Leggatt,

John McKillop.

Chris Davis,

Mike Beilby,

ABBA COMMITTEE

President, ph 9410 1900 (Wk)

Secretary, ph 9410 1900 (Wk)

Treasurer, ph 9222 5664 (Wk)

Newsletter, ph 9397 6209 (Hm)

Contact any of these four people for clarification of association activities.

BEYOND THE BLACK STUMP

9367 3595 (Hm)

9313 7442 (Hm)

9387 5042 (Hm)

Those of us who had to stop home and earn acrust were treated to the delights of attendingthe South Australian and Australian WoodenBoat Festivals, held in February and Marchthis year, at a great pair of talks on the eveningof 29th May. Mike Igglesden and CliveJarmine attended theSouth Australian event,held at Goolwa, near the mouth of theMurray, while Peter and Dale Leggett went tothe Australian Festival in Hobart, mostly inand around Constitution Dock.

Mike and Clive kicked proceedings off with apair of maps of the regatta site on awhiteboard. This was a good idea as weSandgropers have only the sketchiest idea ofthe geography of the Murray mouth, and it'squite complicated. Basically, LakeAlexandrina, into which the Murray empties,has been separated from the sea by barragesand locks since about 1936, before which itwas accessible to ocean-going craft. However,since the barrages and with increased use ofMurray water upstream for irrigation, there'snow not enough flow to prevent the lake

silting up and water depths have reduceddramatically. The shallowness also makes forshort, choppy seas in a fresh breeze and thishad a serious effect when Wally Cook took hisyawl, Karina, on which Mike was crewing, byroad to Wellington at the top of the lake,meaning to sail the 80km back to Goolwa. Astiff southerly came in and eventually it wasdeemed necessary to road-haul back againrather than try to punch into the seas in thelittle, flat-bottomed yawl.

Friday afternoon and evening saw the streetparade followed by the mayor's cocktail partyand serious on-the-water events started,despite a little rain, on the Saturday morningand continued into the Sunday at a rate of 25events per day! There were about 200 boatsinvolved ranging from the large, original paddlewheelers "Marion" and "Oscar W" down tosmall dinghies and Clive's sea-kayak, "Maid ofPligh" which he'd car-topped over theNullarbor. A good collection of photos wasused the illustrate the range of boats, both onand off the water, including a part-finished

"Eunamara" which was of great interest toClive as he's building one, too. There waseven a shot of the Victor Harbour to Goolwasteam train which ran frequently and talked tothe paddle steamers with steam whistles atevery opportunity.

And was it a successful excursion? Well, Cliveentered a lot of events, winning the rubberduck canoe race and placing well in others sothat he was awarded best overall competitorand this he only admitted to bashfully at thelast minute. I know Mike (and Wally) wouldhave had a good time with Karina, having seenWally at this event once before (his tan sailsseemed to be everywhere when I attended) sothere's no doubt the answer is an emphatic"Yes!"

Then it was Peter's turn to describe theAustralian Festival in Hobart in mid-February.This event had even more boats at around 300,and more old boats, the majority dating tobefore I960, including a fleet of "Derwent"class yachts of the '30s, with the oldest beingthe passage boat, "Olive May", of 1880.There were also the replicas of the"Endeavour" and Bass's round van Dieman'sLand "Norfolk" and a whole host of smaller,recent boats, both afloat and on thehardstanding. Many of these were illustratedby Peter's photos and he was obviouslyespecially taken with the model hall withshots of everything from a largish Tumlarenclass to a delightful steam launch. Back intheopen we were treated to shots many live-aboard boats from a tiny, Ian Oughtred "GreySeal" by the manual arts teacher at adjacentGeeveston District High School to large motorsailers of '50's vintage, to a recent product ofthe Shipwright's Point Boat Building School (a

Lyall hess design) and a wide-sterned, modernKnoop 39, this one, "Magellan", owned by thedesigner. GDHS also had a stand of its own,selling timber craftwork using nativeTasmanian timbers such as Huon Pine, CeleryTop, Sassafras and Blackwood.

Ashore around the dock there was always somuch going on that it was impossible to seeeverything from serious forums such as"Whether to Restore or Ignore" to streettheatre to demonstrations on subjects toonumerous to list. Through all of it permeatesthe idea that Tasmanians take their maritmeheritage very seriously - indeed most of theirfishing boats are still of wood!

Following evening coffee, Peter showed us theofficial video of the festival. It's too long andcomplicated to allow full description here butit did point out the near-death of wooden boatinterest in the '60's followed by the revival ofinterest in the *70*s with the widespread useof marine ply and glues and the short stepfrom plywood to real wood. It alsohighlighted the founder of the AWB Festival,Andy Gamlin, he being inspired by theinternational traditional boat festival of Brest(France) and getting the first AWBF going in1992. Also explained was the native timberdebate and conservation issues, 8 000 Ha beingset aside for special timbers but still threatenedby clear-felling and, would you believe? -timber poachers! Let's hope they can controlthat.

Once again a very full evening finally came toan end with nobody begrudging the trip in thewet, windy evening and all of us appreciatingthe hi-tech audio-visuals of John Harskampand Chris Davis. Who'll go east next time?

WE VISIT A GLUED LAPSTRAKE PROJECT(end get more than we bargained for)

On June 9th we visited the home of Clive and them, metal and wood, side by side and neat asLinda Jarman, in Nollamara to see Clive's a pin. Ostensibly we were there to see his Ianworkshop(s). That's right, there are two of Oughtred, glued lapstrake, double-ender, Eun

CHve Jarmin's Workshop

A general view of the workshop, including handsaw.Maid of Pligh on end wall.

This piank is waiting for the other scarffed halfto be glued on.

Inside the hull. Plenty of room to work here. Clamps wedged in place to hold a glued seam.

The sea kayak on the end wall - seemed a little forgotten.

One of the station moulds with a permanentframe attached and being glued to planks.

Clive and Brian Lemon share a joke beside the work. Peter Leggatt admires the traction engine.

Mara (wrongly printed last issue as Eunamara)but there was plenty more to see besides.

The boat itself turned out to be about 21' longwith seven broad planks of Queensland hooppine ply per side and Clive has two and a halfplanks currently fitted each side of the keel.He's changed the building procedure a little sothat frames ultimately destined to bepermanent are cut and glued in from the outset.The original specification is to turn the gluedup shell over with no frames at all, and fitframes where needed at a later stage - but sincethe final frames match up with mould stationsClive's approach makes sense. It wouldactually be harder to make the frames (or ribs)fit properly later. I noticed also that Clive hasscarffed up his stem and stern posts fromsolid, rather than laminating them, therebysaving a lot of wood and glue. I'll do it myself,next time.

Adjacent to the boat is a brand-spanking newtablesaw/spindle moulder/planer/thicknesser,the latest addition to an extensive collection ofwood and metal tools in Clive's collection.The box from this awe-inspiring machineprovided the chipboard for the large collectionof long reach clamps which are necessary tohold the plank edges together while glue driesin the glued lapstrake process (see photos).They are just fixed jaws with a wedgesupplying pressure. Also shoe-horned intothe floor space is a bandsaw and a small woodturning lathe. Side benches displayed the boatplans.

All this is in the woodwork section of Clive'sbackyard empire, a section which was onlyadded on just before the commencement of thepresent project. His Maid of Pligh sea kayakis mounted on one end wall and a scale patternof the new hull was tested out on the sheddrawings in advance to be sure the hull couldbe moved out when complete, because it's notbeing built in line with the door but at rightangles to it.

The real work room, where Clive earns hisbread and butter, was next door, the metalwork department. The main item-in-trade isan optical measurer of wool fibres which Clivehas designed and now completes to theengineering stage following some items whichare subbed out. From Clive they go to anelectronics expert for the fitting of computersbefore going out to a world-wide market. Sowhen the Department of Trade talks about 20micron wool, or whatever, Clive's machine ismeasuring the microns.

But in amongst the wool measurer, two lathes,two milling machines, a drill press and asurface grinder was plenty of evidence ofClive's other hobby, model engineering. Alarge, passenger-hauling traction engine,beautifully built, was on the floor while a7 1/4" guage loco chassis, wheels and cylinderswas atop a bench. The latter was only in theshop to have cylinders and valve gear fitted forthe owner - but that's virtually the heart of asteam locomotive anyway. On a side benchthere was a miniature boiler feed pump and adiminiutive single cylinder vertical steamengine, both of which ran on only one or twostrokes of a bicycle pump. Clive even put thetraction engine onto compressed air (from acompressor, this time) and its twin compoundengine ran happily for ages, much to thedelight of all our would-be boat builders. Sowell sorted is this engine that on turning offthe compressor it continued to tick over untilpressure was down to only a pound or two,and this despite the fact that compressed airdoesn't expand much between the high andlow pressure cylinders so the low pressure islargely carried along for the ride.

It was a great afternoon in both a practical andsocial sense, with a broad cross section of themembership and several spouses having a greatold chit chat over Linda's endless afternoon teawhile continuing to admire Clive's manytalents.

JULY EVENING MEETING

Our guest speaker for the July eveningmeeting will be Mr Bob Murphy ofAusco Products in Dianella. Auscospecialise in metal casting andmachining operations and carry a widerange of marine castings. If they don'thave the item that suits your vesselthey can cast one from your ownpattern or perform both the patternmaking and casting operation.

Bob will be talking on the topics of:• Casting materials available• Casting finishes to be expected• Ausco's range of cast marine

products• Requirements of a casting

pattern

Bob has asked that the evening bemore of a question and answer sessionrather than a formal presentation, so ifyou have any questions related tocasting bring them along and havethem answered by a man who has beenin the casting business for more thanforty years.

AUGUST TOOLBOX VISIT

Our next Toolbox Visit is on SaturdayAugust 11. This month we are off tosee the activity at 'C' Shed VictoriaQuay at Fremantle. Our host will bewell known boat builder and CoutaBoat identity Chris Bowman. Chriswill be available between 2.00 pm and4.00 pm (please note 4.00 pm finishfor this Toolbox) to show us over thevarious projects currently happening at'C'Shed.

The projects we will be inspectinginclude the following;

Herrishof *Neria' designOwner: Gene MerrillOverall length: 36 feetWaterline length: 31 feetName: AtmosphereThis vessel is to be gaff rigged and isbeing built with timber spars.

Couta BoatsChris Bowman has sold the all huonpine Couta boat 'Eclipse' which hebuilt several years ago and she is inthe shed for a refit, as is a secondCouta boat from the regular racingfleet.We will also be able to view the earlystages of a new Couta boat whichChris has commenced building forhimself.

Kit Boat'Secret' designOverall length: 19 feetThis vessel is being built as a demoboat to promote this new kit boat.

Power Boat RestorationA major restoration/rebuild of apower boat for Mounts Bay memberBruce Bennett.

CALENDER

Tuesday 31 JulyBob Murphy of Ausco Products onmetal casting and machining - bringyour questions along.Mounts Bay Sailing ClubUpstairs, Perth end7.30 for 8.00pm startSaturday 11 AugustToolbox Visit 2.00 to 4.00 pm'C' Shed Victoria Quay, Fremantle,meet at the east end door - our hostChris Bowman.Monday 20 AugustCommittee meeting 7.45 pm