A Boatbuilder’s Paradise!

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Boathouse 4, Portsmouth March 2023

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

When visiting Portsmouth Historic Dockyard recently I noticed that free tours of the No: 4 Boathouse working floor were being offered. This building is devoted to boat building and repairs and is responsible for maintenance of the dockyard's fleet of small vessels. The work is done by volunteers.I wasn't able to take advantage of the offer on that occasion but when visiting again with a friend yesterday we booked ourselves places.

As it happened, we were the only 'customers' and were greeted by a cheerful gentleman named Tom who gave us an hour of his time explaining what was going on and describing the various building techniques being used with examples. I found it fascinating and there are many parallels with the way modelmakers work but scaled up of course!

There were a wide variety of craft being worked on and many different types of construction including double diagonal planking, clinker and carvel building and all manner of techniques using fastenings and gluing. I took quite a few photos, some are shown below and others can be seen in the Album here.

**LINK**

The jigs for contructing clinker boats were especially interesting.

If you have the chance to see this for yourself, don't miss it.

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Concur with Colin, it’s a fascinating place to visit, I mean, The ultimate boat Shed!

Good snap of the top/rear of the landing craft Colin, that’s the sort of view you want when building something like this, when all you usually find are front and side views.

Ashley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I took it especially for you Ashley!

Colin

[Author]

Posts