Waiting for the tide
Addressing a fundamental need
You were right. The many of you, that is, who after visiting our last project boat Hantu Biru at her various boat show appearances, commented ‘you’ll miss her when she’s gone’. Ben Meakins and I lasted about five minutes before looking around for another project, cooking up our latest venture in a few bleak winter afternoons and sessions bouncing emails halfway around the world.
The result is now in our garage/workshop, a 20ft plywood gaffer very much in kit form at present. You’ll find the full story on pages 26 to 29, but in short she’s based on an Essex smack, designed by an Englishman who now lives in Australia, comes as a kit consisting of a keel, pre-cut plywood frames and a lot of extra bits of wood, has travelled here from Queensland and on completion will become a very pretty little yacht called a Secret 20.
The unsaid words between those last two points are the daunting ones – we now need to build her. It’s a huge amount of work which we somehow have to shoehorn into already busy jobs, but Ben and I are both eager to start. We do miss having a project boat – putting words to paper and even going afloat to test gear and research seamanship articles is all very well, but there’s a fundamental need in some people to create something tangible and lasting.
This need never goes away, and finishing a project is both an achievement and a bereavement. People deal with completing projects in different ways, some by moving straight on to another one and others by never finishing at all – but being without a project is not an option. We complain about the work, but imagine a future where all you have to welcome you home is a sofa and a television – I, for one, would be bored in five minutes.
So, despite obligatory grumbling, our new project holds the promise of lots of practical satisfaction. It will doubtless be measured in years rather than months, but the kit should allow us to build something boat-shaped relatively swiftly. We’re excited, and I hope you catch the bug too as you read about it in the coming issues. If you do, and you’re not already a subscriber, a subscription is the most cost-effective way to keep reading PBO: find out more on page 38.
This month’s issue is packed with stories from people who enjoy working on their boats. Mark Ryan, who somehow juggles work, boat ownership and looking after a young family while still finding time to do extensive projects on his Albin Ballad, tackles the contentious issue of DIY gas system installation, while an ingenious reader carries out a budget fix to repair the broken mast on his Hallberg-Rassy Rasmus 35. Norman Eastwood gets to grips with onboard PCs, we show you how to get a lasting shine on gelcoat and Stan Cockeram, erstwhile technical guru for Harken UK, discusses the whys and wherefores of furlers and how to fix them.
On the water we re-rig a motor-sailer to make her easier for a couple to handle and Peter Poland talks to several crews for whom sailing has become a way of life, taking them all over the world in ordinary, affordable boats.
But maybe sailing is a way of life for all of us. Kenneth Grahame’s Rat had it right when he extolled the virtues of messing around in boats, but he never said if it involved wood shavings and epoxy. I think it does: if you’re a practical boat owner, it doesn’t matter whether you’re messing around in or on the boat, it’s in the blood.
We’ll be on hand at on Dave Selby’s stand (A134) at Southampton Boat Show to talk about the new project, where there will also be plenty of practical demos taking place. Come and visit!
Fair winds,
Being without a project is not an option