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…
Shipwright Reports
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
December 2021
As we come to the end of the year we can reflect that despite all the delays forced upon us by Covid we have this year made solid progress in…
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…
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…
September 2021
If you look into the river end door of the Longshed you will see a very different view to that seen this time last month, and it might seem that…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…