I have been very lucky to have the opportunity to document the build of a 22ft clinker boat. Unfortunately the boat will be complete after my graduation show, however I intend to continue with the documentation after the completion of my studies, out of personal interest. Whilst I am on the course, the more informative elements of the build will be undertaken. The photos below show the initial stage of the calculations and technical drawings used in the building process.
Lofting is the first stage in moving from drawings to the building of a boat, whether made from wood or metal. It is the process of drawing the hull lines full size on the mould loft floor from the designer’s scale drawings. The intersections of the contours of various horizontal and vertical sections are measured from an imaginary base line using a naval architect’s scale. These junctions are then laid out, point by point, to their full size. Because it is difficult to take accurate dimensions from a small drawing, it is necessary to adjust these lines to assure that they are fair. A listing of these points is called a table of offsets (see picture below).
One of my biggest learning points at the boatyard has been that there are many similarities up until the 1970s between industrial shipbuilding and constructing wooden clinker boats. In a nutshell, the lofting process collates all the different paper drawings onto one wooden template (see picture above) which is scaled up to life size. The template is then used as a type of pattern to inform the cutting of the wood. Its a lengthy and complicated procedure which is also used as a double checking process to ensure engineering calculations are correct, (see pictures below). The special building in which this work is carried out is called a Loft from the fact that the moulding floor and scrive board were often laid out in the loft above the drawing office.
Initial photos were also taken before the boat build started of spare parts, boats in disrepair, scraps of wood etc for further inspiration as the pictures show below.
After the lofting process has been complete, there are various tasks that need to be undertaken in preparation for the boat build:
Making Nuts & Bolts -
Preparing The Wood -
Pattern Cutting -
Laminating, Bending Wood & Shaping -
One of the great benefits of finding a local boat builder is that Greg is also very knowledgeable of industrial shipbuilding using metal as the material. Similar techniques and terminology is used in shipbuilding as with wooden boat building until the 1970s when construction methods evolved in the metal industry. This knowledge is helping me create the contrast needed in my work, showing the timeline from a thriving shipbuilding industry to the now forgotten rotten wooden boats in the Walney Channel.
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