Yard News

APRIL 2010.  Spring is finally here!  Pilgrim is almost in frame with her wonderful stem in place(18ft long, 20inches fore and aft, and 8inches sided and is a flawless piece of timber - absolutely perfect!)  The Heritage Lottery Fund and PPPL are delighted with progress and looking towards their openday on Sunday 9th May.

The Fife restoration of Rosamary is coming on well.  Her new stem in now in place and with all her dove tailed joints on the sawn frame heels retained, it has been a skilled and beautiful demonstration of the craftmanship required for such a classic.

Just days before the eve of Christmas, on a freezing dawn with etherial mists on the river, the first frame of the new 50ft Mayflower yacht was stood up in the slipway shed.  Her lead ballast keel and iroko wooden keel were laid at the beginning of December and since then, over the last four winter months, this majestic wooden yacht is evolving into shape.  She is currently in frame with a third of her palnking fastened.

The spring rush is upon us once again at Old Mill with the excitement of the coming season. Chloe May is in preapration for her departure with her stunning 10ft 6inch 'May Bug' tender - one of the Lily Class.  Lyra, is also  about to emerge after her winter hibination, to grace the waters of the Solent for another season.

DECEMBER 2009: with cold, dark December days upon us and the last of the autumn colours faded away on the banks of Old Mill Creek, rather than sleepy hibernation there is a sense of enthusiasm and anticipation with creations and restorations evolving steadily at Old Mill – a time of excitement at Yuletide, so different from a year ago.

  The beautiful 34ft Mayflower Class, which completed her commissioning in August this year as a counter-stern yacht, (transformed from her transom -stern Itchen –Ferry inspired origin as she appeared on CB stand at the London Excel Boat Show, Jan09) is having a few extras added to her exquisite yacht interior.Following the success and admiration of the Mayflower 34, Butler & Co are embarking a 50ft Mayflower.

Other new builds in progress are two of Bulter & Co’s Lily Class Dinghies.Both are commissioned as yacht tenders built to 10ft 6inches standard length and yacht finish.

There are three restoration projects at the yard.The 1925, 38ft William Fife, Rosemary, is being prepared for her restoration work in the top workshop.  Her first part of her staged refit involves replacing of stem, removal and refurbishing of the iron floors and new chain plates to better spread the load. The Rampart 48, Sabby Star, has had some bulkheads replaced and is about to have her deck house veneered with some new windows.

Finally the mighty Pilgrim, the 75ft Brixham Trawler undergoing extensive restoration funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund in association The Pilgrim Preservation Project Limited, is now protected under a purpose built roof in our dry-dock. A quarter of her new frames are sawn and are currently being shaped and bolted together in preparation for their erection inside her supported hull.  Pilgrim's new keel has been laid of English oak, scarfed together out of two pieces making it 65ft in length, whilst every fourth frame has been removed in preparation for their reconstruction. Quarter of the floors and part of the deadwoods are now in place.You can follow Pilgrim’s progress on the PPPL website, www.pilgrimofbrixham.co.uk and the charity is always grateful for more support.Witnessing the gradual metamorphosis from old to new of Pilgrim’s enormous wooden structure is much like watching a time lapse of a natural process.Seeing the size of the broken up timbers to be excavated and weight of the new hardwoods to be erected, one can’t help but recall the saying of boatyards of old, “Men of iron, ships of wood”.