The hull had a water line scratched into the planking which we had just assumed was the correct water line. It was only when I decided to just check it for overall length that it dawned on me that its was nowhere near correct! This waterline was from when the motor and lead keel had…

Once the planking was complete all those nail / screw holes had to be plugged! There were a few days’ work to first drill out the holes, make the plugs then plug all the holes. We mixed into the epoxy some of saw dust made from old planks. As there was deterioration around many of…

The rudder blade apeared to be the original, made from red cedar. It had a section cut out for the propellor that had been done when the boat was converted to power and the blade was significantly weakened with cracking. Although cracked the cedar still looked beautiful! The rudder had also been pinned with stainless…

Before working on any of the planking the hull had to be secured to the floor and adequately supported at the gunwale. This enable the hull to sit true and square with most of the weight taken on the trolley which was supporting the keel. Tony and I had been trying to source veneers which…

The only structural point in the workshop to support 1820 was the roof beams across the roller door entrance. First, we had to skate 1820 into position, half in and half out of the workshop. We already knew from unloading 1820 off the trailer where the balance point of the hull was. This time we…

A distinctive feature of 1820 was its tumblehome sides, however other than at the transom this shape had been lost when the new timbers were steamed in. Additionally 1820 had lost much of its sheerplanks so there was no clear sheerline to work from. A number of broken sections where recovered and with some detective…

The old stem was removed from the boat and used a template to make a new laminated stem. Used spotted gum cut into approximately 4 to 5mm thick veneers, steamed and then bent into shape. Once the correct shape was formed the veneers could be released, coated with epoxy and clamped till set. The rabbet,…

We were aware that ‘Tassie Too’ a well-known 21-footer that Tony had restored in the early 2000’s and now back in Tasmania run by the group ‘Friends of Tassie Too’ had been digitally ‘surveyed’ and line drawings made using photogrammetry.  With the assistance of Peter Higgs, the public officer of the ‘Tasmanian Wooden Boat Guild’…

By Peter Lethbridge (Boat Builder) My first introduction to 1820 was in February 2017 when Tony Siddons took me to view the boat amongst other delicts at the back of a boat yard on the Mornington Peninsular. Tony along with his friend Chris had recovered the boat from a previous life as a keel boat…