The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Angus boatyard plays key role in Waverley re-fit
Heritage: Masts being fashioned by Arbroath boat builders
An Arbroath boatyard is helping to give a new lease of life to the last seagoing paddle steamer in the world.
Mackay’s Boat Builders is working on two 55-foot logs from the Enchanted Forest as part of an effort to re-mast the world famous Waverley.
The paddle steamer is undergoing a refit and Richard Kelly and Graham Swankie at Mackay’s have been working to remove the bark and plane the logs which were planted in the 1960s.
Named after Sir Walter Scott’s first novel, Waverley was built on the Clyde in 1947 – to replace the original Waverley that sunk off Dunkirk during active war service in 1940.
Paul Simpson, director of Mackay’s, said it was a great honour to be working on the re-mast of one of the country’s best-loved tourist attractions.
“We previously restored the timber decks last year and that was when we were asked if we could re-mast the Waverley,” he said.
“Richard and Graham are currently working on the aft-mast before they move on to the fore-mast.
“Each log takes up almost the whole length of the workshop and we hope the entire job will be finished by the end of next week.”
The logs, which were originally felled last August, were sourced from Faskally Wood near Pitlochry – home of the Enchanted Forest – by Forest Enterprise Scotland’s niche marketing adviser Doug Halliday.
They were transported to Mackay’s by theGeddesGroup, basednearArbroath.
The team at Mackay’s then used a crane to get them into the boatyard where they are now being shaped and fashioned.
They will then be taken to Glasgow for fitting to the Waverley.
Once the work is completed, the Waverley will once again grace Britain’s coastal waters.
Mr Simpson added: “The whole process takes a few weeks but we’ve experience of this as we have worked on the Reaper and the Falkirk Canal boats.”