July 2023

We have often written and talked to visitors about the ‘live’ nature of the fabric we work with in building the ship, this being ‘green’, unseasoned oak. Whilst working with…

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June 2023

As suggested in last month’s report, June has seen significant progress with the planking of the ship. This started with the cleaving of the largest log donated by the National…

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May 2023

During May we reached another milestone and completed the garboard strakes! The garboards are the two strakes which run each side of the keel and in this ‘shell-first’ style of…

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April 2023

April has been another very busy month in the Longshed. We decided that the stern underloute, replaced in November 2022, had seasoned sufficiently to be worked to its finished section.…

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March 2023

This month, we have completed the conversion of the first log received from the National Trust at Blickling Hall (near Norwich in Norfolk) into planking for the ship. Each section…

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February 2023

We are now well into the phase of making, fitting and fixing the planking to the Ship. This involves taking a triangular cleaved section of oak log, turning it on…

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January 2023

This month, we have commenced work on converting the logs delivered from Blicking Hall in December into planking, ready to be fitted to the Ship. This first task was to…

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December 2022

December has often been a short month in the Longshed, but this year it has been marked by two significant events. Firstly, we took delivery of four large logs from…

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November 2022

Over the last month, we have made significant progress with the completion and fitting of the replacement stern underloute. The October 2022 newsletter details the trials and tribulations involved in…

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October 2022

This month, we have been concentrating on converting the timber which was delivered at the end of September to replace the damaged underloute at the aft end of the keel…

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September 2022

As we move into Autumn, we continue to gather the resources necessary for the build to continue through the winter months. A new batch of nails and roves has arrived…

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August 2022

In boatbuilding things seldom go to plan, and so it has proven this month! We were hoping to see timber felled and delivered for our replacement underloute happen in August,…

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July 2022

During July we have made progress with making sections of planking and several new tools that we need to actually fasten up of the planks. Unfortunately, the defects found in…

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June 2022

This month we have been concentrating on producing planking from the cleaved sections of timber that were brought to the Longshed last month. In order that we can fit sections…

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May 2022

There have been a number of times during the build so far where the modern techniques we would usually use in boatbuilding today do not appear to fit the construction…

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April 2022

April has seen the conversion of the log, which was cleaved at the end of January, converted into planking stock. As is the nature with all cleaved timber, (and quarter-sawn…

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March 2022

As I have written before, boatbuilding – perhaps like a house undergoing renovation – goes along in fits and starts; lots of preparation goes on behind the scenes and then…

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February 2022

This month has seen two major milestones achieved. The first was that the Stem, the final element of the backbone of the Ship, was hoisted into place and set up.…

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January 2022

As has happened each time we have re-started work, be that after Covid lockdowns or Christmas breaks, volunteers have returned to the Longshed very keen to get on with the…

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November 2021

After the great progress made last month, November has seen a return to the steady work of checking the bevel angles on the keel and underloutes and hollowing out the…

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October 2021

Having begun to set up the molds on the backbone last month, we have continued through October to work towards the completion of the backbone of the ship. Both the…

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August 2021

August has been a busy month and it has really begun to feel that we are back in business and progressing the build of the Ship on all fronts. This…

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July 2021

This month we have continued to work on the keel and underloutes. The keel is nearly complete, just requiring scarfs to be cut on each end in order that it…

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May 2021

Following the successful delivery of the keel and available backbone timbers on 18th April, work has commenced to shape these in preparation for assembling and setting up the backbone. Covid…

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ladder for the chainsaw mill

March 2021

As we continue the behind-the-scenes planning to return to working in the Longshed we have, at last, been able to commence preparatory work on the timbers for the backbone of…

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February 2021

This month progress on the build has been very limited because of lockdown restrictions.  This report is about essential work that we are doing to source wood for the hull,…

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January 2021

Unfortunately, lockdown has again slowed our progress.  However with the arrival of two logs for the backbone we are in a good position finally to begin the build of the…

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lofting and frames

December 2020

As the year comes to a close we are back in the Longshed and continuing to make progress, with restricted numbers of volunteers. Whilst we wait for delivery of the…

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November 2020

Planking the 12′ section The floor for trying out rowing positions in the 12′ section Trying an oar in the 12’section Chopping willow 12 foot midships model Since we returned…

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