A St Ayles Skiff is a twenty two foot long rowing boat based upon the original design of a Fair Isle fishing boat. Our first Stranraer skiff, the Lady Bay, was built by a diverse group of volunteers, none of whom was a trained carpenter. I think we all assumed that each other had more experience than ourselves, but we learnt from each other, and not just the carpentry! We also had to learn a new language, as nautical names such as thwarts and strakes were unfamiliar to most of us.
The boat arrives in what can loosely be described as a kit. This is sheets of marine plywood where some of the components and the jig have been laser cut, and planks of larch of various lengths and widths.
The boat is built upside down on a jig, this is six boards which are the shape of the cross section of the hull and outline of bow and stern mounted on a rectangular wood frame. This has to be perfectly straight and level achieved with old and new technology i.e. a piece of string kept taut passing through holes and a laser spirit level borrowed from a local plumber!
The skiff was being built in a boathouse beside the seafront in Agnew Park and was open for passers-by to pop in and see what was happening. This was a great benefit, as one day a retired carpenter wandered in, he would love to have been involved, but was prevented by ill health, but his asset was his knowledge. He leant down, cast his expert eye along the hog and said “son, you see three quarters along, that is where you’re going wrong”. He also gave us many other tips such as using squares of glass to produce a smoother finish on wood than using sandpaper.
After many trial fits and adjustments, the hog – the backbone of the boat - was ready for the first plank. This is where having a few extra pairs of hands is useful to position the long plank and hammer in wedges and clips to hold the plank in place until the glue sets. The flat planks are transformed into the curved lines simply by the flexible nature of plywood being pushed up against the jig. From here on progress is fairly rapid, limited only by the time taken for glue to set in a cold boathouse.
After the final plank is in place, the bow, stern and keel are fitted which secures all the planking. The timber has now been transformed into the hull of the boat and is then ready to be lifted off the jig to be placed upright on the floor. Although the hull is not heavy - the rules stipulate a finished boat must not be less than 150kg - it is floppy and awkward, and this is where more people are called in to help.
While the hull must conform to a standard, the next component, the gunwale or top lip of the boat, can either be functional or decorative as well as adding rigidity. We chose functional beauty by matching the grain of the wood and inserting spacers to form hand holds.
Running in parallel with the boat construction, other volunteers were producing the rudder and sets of oars. Although the dimensions of the area in contact with the water are set by the rules, how you achieve this is up to you and throughout the project there have been design changes based on experience gained from use.
After months of work, the boat is prepared for painting. This is where more manpower was required and a chance for volunteers who didn’t feel confident with some of the technical woodworking to become involved. Many hours were spent removing excess glue and sanding wood.
We chose the paint colours from the Stranraer Academy badge, being the old town colours of yellow, white and blue. Many hands started painting, but we quickly discovered that different people apply different strokes and thickness of paint, not the result we wanted, so in the end two volunteers with previous experience applied the four primer coats, two undercoats, a tie coat and a topcoat of gloss paint to achieve a consistent finish.
We have to admit that an item of beauty was produced. It was a very therapeutic project as neither hours nor cups of tea were counted and there was no company director to answer to or production targets set. If something wasn’t going right, we adjourned for a rethink or came back another day, rather than rushing and spoiling it.
Building the boats was just one aspect. Behind the scenes there were many people with other skills organising funds and obtaining equipment and materials. Some people from youth training organisations had a chance to learn practical skills and others, who would otherwise be lonely or at a loose end, could wander in for a chat. The boathouse is open to all and on a calm day with the large front door open, there can be a constant stream of inquisitive people from near and far leading to many interesting conversations.
The biggest testimony to all the hard work is the gentle gurgling sound as the skiff displaces the water as she glides through a calm sea towards the beach after a long row. Lady Bay does us proud and everyone who played a part in building her enjoys watching her plough through the waves of Loch Ryan.
Building the skiff Lady Bay
