boatbuilders in australia

[wim]

I'm looking for some addresses of boatbuilders in australia, doesn't matter where.
can anyone help me with that?

[Mike Field]

WIM, I notice that you're in the Netherlands, so I can't believe you want a boat built in Oz. I assume, therefore, that you're looking to pick a few Oz boatbuilding brains.

May I respectfully ask which, of the many sorts of things we have in our collective brains out here, you might wish to learn?

[This message has been edited by Mike Field (edited 03-07-2001).]

[wim]

Originally posted by Mike Field:
WIM, I notice that you're in the Netherlands, so I can't believe you want a boat built in Oz. I assume, therefore, that you're looking to pick a few Oz boatbuilding brains.

May I respectfully ask which, of the many sorts of things we have in our collective brains out here, you might wish to learn?

[This message has been edited by Mike Field (edited 03-07-2001).]

thanks for your reply, mike.
at the moment I am studying to become a boatbuilder down here in Denmark.
now I've heard that Australian ships survive longer in European climate than American ships.
I would like to know in what ways your building techniques diver from American or Scandinavian boatbuilding.
or if anyone has any idea why that is.

so I guess it is just a long distance chat about boats.

[Mike Field]

Hello again, WIM. I don't think this is going to be too easy to do long-distance except by email, but I notice you don't have an email address listed.

I'm happy enough to act as a clearing-house for you if you can let me have a contact address of some sort, and a list of starter questions you'd like to ask.

My email address is in my profile, and our postal address is on our website (URL in profile also.)

------------

Are there any other Aussie boatbuilders out there who'd like to contribute?

[wim]

Originally posted by Mike Field:
WIM, I notice that you're in the Netherlands, so I can't believe you want a boat built in Oz. I assume, therefore, that you're looking to pick a few Oz boatbuilding brains.

May I respectfully ask which, of the many sorts of things we have in our collective brains out here, you might wish to learn?

[This message has been edited by Mike Field (edited 03-07-2001).]

[wim]

Originally posted by Mike Field:
WIM, I notice that you're in the Netherlands, so I can't believe you want a boat built in Oz. I assume, therefore, that you're looking to pick a few Oz boatbuilding brains.

May I respectfully ask which, of the many sorts of things we have in our collective brains out here, you might wish to learn?

[This message has been edited by Mike Field (edited 03-07-2001).]

he mike, thanks for your help.
I'll work on the email address and the list of questions I would like to be answered.
thanks again and you'll hear from me later.

[Andrew Porteous]

If Australian timber boats survive longer than American ones it will be due to the timbers used. For example, when the Endeavour replica was built in Fremantle it was said that the jarrah hardwood used in the hull would give the ship a life of 100 years plus, far longer then the original ship's oak hull could be expected to last. In the early days of British settlement jarrah was sought after for ship repairs and was called Swan River Mahogany. The most sought after Australian timber for boat building, however is not a hardwood but Huon pine from Tasmania.

[py]

Hey Mike and WIM, please don't take this off line!! A bit of us vs US, in the way of some cordial comparative analysis of techniques and materials might be interesting.

Apart from different timbers, the US seem to prefer grown frames, widely spaced, and planks fastened with screws. Over here steamed ribs are more commmon, and planks fastened with copper through nails and roves.

Phil

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

.
It's okay Phil, no panic. This all happened eight years ago, and as I recall it didn't go any further at the time anyway.

Falchion, jarrah is still certainly in use here still. There was an old West Australian pearling lugger being rebuilt in Victoria a few years ago almost entirely in jarrah. And we make a lot of our fittings out of it too.

Spotted gum is another good Australian hardwood for boatbuilding (both it and jarrah being used for framing, keel, endposts, and deadwood especially,) along with the softwoods celery-top pine, kauri, and white beech for decking and planking. (Huon pine is virtually ungettable these days. It was highly prized for its oil content as well as for its light weight and ease of working. But turpentine is also well-protected by its oil content, and is used for that reason.) Other timbers like black-butt come in for boatbuilding use too.

I'm sure Phil will be able to add to the list, as will TonyH.

The only softwoods we ourselves use are red cedar or oregon for jackstaffs. But we also use Aussie red gum for fittings (which looks rather similar to jarrah, only it's a whisker softer and has an even richer red colouring,) along with Aussie mountain ash and merbau imported from Indonesia.

As far as Aussie boatbuilders themselves go, Phil's dad was a noted one, and there are others whose names can probably he supplied. But it seems this is no longer an issue for WIM, so it probably isn't for anyone.

Mike

[Bob (oh, THAT Bob)]

It's because down-under they use left-hand screws. When a boat of this construction is transported to nearer the northern pole, this decouples the electrolytic decomposition that would normally occur in the wood, and to a lesser degree in some metals. Or so I've been told.

[JimJ]

It's because down-under they use left-hand screws. When a boat of this construction is transported to nearer the northern pole, this decouples the electrolytic decomposition that would normally occur in the wood, and to a lesser degree in some metals. Or so I've been told.

And our pigs fly

[Paul Fitzgerald]

And our pigs fly

Swine flew?

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

Over here steamed ribs are more commmon, and planks fastened with copper through nails and roves.

Yep, we do it properly here.

Mike

[RFNK]

Properly? How about laminated frames - spotted gum/flooded gum/jarrah etc. laminated with epoxy - should the planks be fastened to these with nails and roves or SB screws - why? Rick

[RFNK]

We'd like to but where do you find a fat kangaroo?

[py]

I hadn't noticed the dates-good pick up. I should point out that my Dad is not a "real" boatbuilder, in the sense of building wooden boats for a living. He's really an academic historian, built himself a wooden boat around 1970, both he and the boat are till together and both going strong. He tried to save an old South Australian coastal trading ketch, the Annie Watt, but for various reasons didn't quite succeed. Went on to drive, organise, cajole etc the volunteer organisation which built the One and All-which is largely planked in Huon Pine. Retired to Tassie maybe 20 odd years ago now and set up a boat building school-again essentially a community based volunteer organisation rather than a business.
Phil