Earlier Projects
The Vagabond class was designed by Jack Holt and looks very much like an Enterprise class dinghy, also designed by Jack Holt. It is a two man, two sail 12'/4 metre hard chine boat with bright yellow sails. Mine is no.37 and was built sometime around 1985. When we bought it in 1991, it had been upside down on a driveway for 6 years and needed a fair amount of work to get it into shape. The work involved removing the peeling veneer on the gunwhales and taking the whole boat back to bare wood before refinishing. I raced the boat quite a lot at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club in Co. Cork until I left Ireland to go to university. The picture on the left shows the boat partially prepared for painting and you can see the original blue colour. The picture on the right is the finished article. Since that photograph was taken, the boat has been painted sky blue and has travelled to Holland where it is sitting in my parents garden slowly deteriorating. When I have the time, somewhere to keep it, and a towbar on my car, I'll retrieve it... The next project seemed like quite an undertaking at the time. I ordered plans for a 5 metre tortured plywood touring kayak from the US. I think it was called a K-158. The results speak for themselves: When I built Orca in 1994, we lived in Ireland and had a garage in which to keep it protected from the elements. After I had gone to university in England, my parents moved to Holland and no longer had a garage. With frost and strong sunshine and no care and attention, the plywood delaminated and Orca is now ready to be scrapped. Again, when I have time and space, I'll probably build another (with better plywood next time!) - it's a really beautiful design. Erm.. no actually, I got my saw out the other day to chop Orca into little bits to throw away but couldn't bring myself to do it! My kayak will now reside atop the narrowboat in a big weatherproof sock. When I get tired of working indoors, I can pop up top and sort it out! Erm.. no actually, it currently resides inside Uisce and is in the process of being renovated.
