In the Shed's Boat Shed.

[Yambo]

I started work on the first paddle board (the one I think needs the most work) on Monday.

These boards have had a fairly hard life and have been in use every summer for 6 seasons now and have been used considerably more than your average board. They reside down at Oba Restaurant where Sunshine (his real name, he changed it from Mustafa a few years ago) rents them out to tourists and makes a bit of pocket money. The one I'm working on is his and mine I suppose. When I was makining the boards he wanted to buy this one off me but I refused to sell it to him as it has a slight twist in it. But it's his as I rarely use it.

The other two boards belong to Steve, a friend and I made them in his basement. He wanted them for his two kids but one of them is now in Oz and the other in a stable relationship so doesn't come out here so much. He's happy they're being used and like me, won't take any money off Sunshine. We maybe get a beer now and again.

The boards have held up very well which has got to be testament to a good design and lots of epoxy. There's some seam splitting on the deck/hull joint and the bow section needs quite a bit of work (on all 3 boards) as despite telling every fecker that uses them to come in parallel to the beach and step off and not drive them straight onto the stony beach they still do just that. Anyway, here's the first board:



The hull and sides have been sanded and it's time to tackle the top.









You can see there's a bit to do on the bow, cut away more fibreglass and rebuild it a bit but it's not difficult and I did the same with my kayak a couple of years ago. It'll be good for a few more years.

[Yambo]

Mmmm, images are not showing for me. Could this be a Postimage thing?

[Count Steer]

Mmmm, images are not showing for me. Could this be a Postimage thing?

Showing fine here.

[Yambo]

The boat shed has seen a fair bit of action the last few months interrupted by a holiday to SE Asia. Both the kayak and rowing boat have been sanded to remove all the old paint.

The kayak is going to be white this time around as although it has been fine for the last 7.5 years black is not the best colour for our summer temperatures.

The rowing boat is going to get a couple of thin coats of epoxy, a couple of coats of epoxy barrier coat (really tough stuff and an excellent undercoat) then some decent white paint with a green top band. The antifouling will be red so like previously there'll be a bit of Italian chic about her.

When they're both sorted I'll be starting on the big boat. Not much to do and the biggest single job is a new hard roof over the back end. A few smaller jobs, holes to be cut to give better access to storage areas and a general tidy up. The Hull cleaning and painting is going to be done by a couple of local lads - my arthritic hip would complain too much. Whatever it costs will be worth it!

[Yambo]

Over the last few weeks I've been painting the rowing boat (Panana) and she's looking pretty good. This evening, I marked the waterline ready for the undercoat and then the antifouling paint. She's going to sit in the sea all summer and I don't want lots of marine creatures sticking themselves to the bottom and making it harder to row.

Marking the waterline is easy but a bit tedious (the professionals 'strike' a waterline) but although I can spell it correctly I'm no professional. To mark the waterline I use a container of water with the water level in the container at the height I want the line. I then syphon the water into a transparent length of tubing making sure one end stays in the container.

The first job is to get the boat flat and level. I do that by measuring (with the water level tube) at the 4 points where the boat sits on the trestles and inserting blocks where necessary to make it flat across the beam. Once it's all equal I raise either the back or the front of the boat so that the bow and stern points of the waterline are also level.

Then it's simply a matter of going around the boat with the tube and when the water in it settles, making a mark. Join the dots when finished and you have a waterline marked out. Apply masking tape to the line and apply paint to the bits above the masking tape (the boat in inverted). Easy peasy.
First coat of undercoat will go on tomorrow morning.

While I was busy making marks on the hull my neighbour brought tea round. All very civilised.

[Count Steer]

Q? Is the waterline the level the boat sits in the water with the boat empty or with passenger(s)?

I assume empty but don't actually know.

[Yambo]

The waterline is generally done on weighted boat and generally will be shown on the plans (if you're building from plans). However, a moving boat, when it's generally going to be loaded, doesn't get a fouled bottom, it's sitting around when that happens.

My boat is a Chesapeake Light Craft 'Skerry' and I would guess that most people who have built one don't bother marking the waterline and antifouling the bottom. It's a very light boat and easily trailered or even stuck on the roof of a car but I keep mine moored in the bay for the summer, April to October or even November and the bottom would be covered in sea life by the time I'm going to take her out. My waterline is about 30 mm above where it gets wet.



I think most owners keep theirs on a trailer and just stick it in the water when they're going to use it which is what I do with my kayaks but I never made a trailer for Panana and I like to walk down to the beach, swim out and pull her in, kit up and go rowing. I could go sailing but I'm a shit dinghy sailor and getting the boat upright, getting in it, emptying it and sailing again after a customary capsize is hard work nowadays. She rows well though.

[Count Steer]

That's a very pleasing design. Nice bit of function and form.

[Yambo]

Yeah, gets lots of comments like that. I tell everyone that she's the best boat in SW Turkey (because she's mine).

Designed by John Harris the CEO of Chesapeake Light Craft late 90s I think. It used to be touted as a good rowing boat that you could sail but it's now firmly in the sailing boat that rows well camp.

One of my neighbours has sailed her a couple of times but it falls over too easily for me. Very popular in N France for some reason.