Deepening The Rabbet

The original Rabbet was a bit narrow with, it seems, no fastenings. At a later stage someone had added galvanised screws. No doubt she leaked like a basket under sail.

The line for the deepened rabbet was easily marked with the help of a laser.















Once the line was marked the long slow job of cutting the rabbet could begin.

However life is too short so a router was used to speed things up.

Rabbet being cut with router.

To get the proper angle of cut, it should be normal to the section curve at the keel, two battens were screwed to the keel and as the router moved along the keel the changing bevel was accurately cut into the wood.

Down Below

Down below.

The smell of dampness was the first thing to hit our nostrils. The deck leaked like a sieve (the deck fittings had not been lifted prior to fiberglassing!!). The water level was just below the floorboards and had obviously been a good bit above just recently i.e. just before we arrived.






























She has a nice traditional layout below with a Queeny Stove. (Just for show, it had never been connected to the deck fitting)

High, Dry and Sad

And here she is as seen for sale and on the hard.

Looking rather forlorn with rust streaks coming from here iron fastenings and it would seem having been out of commission for a number of years.

She's Launched

First Build 2

Seeing her being put together from his own design must have been a fantastic thrill. I wonder if he thought she would still be around after 73 years. 20 years in those days would have been considered a useful lifespan.

First Build

Providence was designed by Nigel Warrington-Smyth, for his own use, and built in Porthleven (Cornwall, England) by Gilbert and Pascoe in 1934.
Her particulars are:

Length 38 feet
LWL 33 feet
Beam 11 feet
Draft 6 feet 10 inch
Displacement 15.05 tons
Planks 1.25 inch Pitch Pine
Frames 2.5 inch Oak, Sawn
Deck 2.0 inch Pine
Deck Structures Teak

She was not built as an expensive yacht, which is part of her appeal. Her builders were mainly fishing boat builders known for inexpensive boats and she has a workboat feel to her. She has Pitch Pine planking over Oak frames on an Elm keel. All fastenings were galvanised wrought iron. Over the years she has been much admired and has possibly influenced a few other designs. Andrillot and the Vertues and their big sister Dyarchy. There are also some up to date interpretations, check out Ed Burnnet's web page designs 116 and 119

New Stem

The stem was built up from laminations, not ideal but i could not at the time source large sections for the various parts. In the end they are probably a bit oversized. I should have created a drawing on paper  which would have given me a better feel for the correct proportions for the stem, stem knee and gripe.

Laminating up some Iroko with resorcinol adhesive

 Working on my own the resorcinal adhesive was a bit of a nightmare. Germany can get pretty warm in the summer and the adhesive has to be spread quickly and the mating faces brought together quickly to ensure the adhesive does not start to loose its moisture.

Running the laminatins through the thicknesser.

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 This is the kind of work that makes the project enjoyable. Shaping these bits of timber is great fun and once the curves are fair, immensely satisfying.

Starting to get the feel of the finished article.

The saw kerfs between the pencil lines on the face and the rabbet give something to aim for when planing and shaping.