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Building

The Birth of the boat !

	In 1980 the boat skeleton was first assembled by tying the individual high-tensile steel formers into place. To fund the construction I had to take weekend job taxi-driving around Wigan and Liverpool. Most weekends I'd work until 3 am and then up again at 8 to go down to the farm to work on the boat.

		The skeleton frames were assembled from rod steel by s-bending the steel around a metal form and then welding in-situ on a set of boards laid over the back garden. The boards had been marked out according to the full scale drawings. The picture shows the frame #13 in assembly. The yellow is the rust-protecting paint on the steel.

		Shown here are some of the assembled frames prior to transportation down to the boat site.

		Right shows the stringer rods that formed the diagonal strengthening around the skeleton to provide frame flexibility and the major mechanism of tying the skeletons together.

		Once the initial skeleton was assembled the hard work began - the covering of the skeleton in 8 layers of 1/2" chicken wire mesh. The mesh was tied to each previous layer and the skeleton using 130,000 specially made wire clips. It took around 6 months of weekends and evenings work and was particularly nasty during the winter when you couldn't feel your fingers and the tears that were happening on the sharp ends.

		This photo shows the chicken-wire in close-up along the keel. 8 layers of 1/2 inch pitch chicken-wire had to be laid up to form the plastering basis. Each tie had to be twisted by hand, one every few inches, to the tune of 130,000 of them.

		This picture shows the boat skeleton assembled on the plot of farmland that was hired. The farmer provided power and water for a small fee. The entire boat was encased in a wooden framework to enable access and the keel rested on railway sleepers on chocks. Tarpaulins and the trees provided the little cover from the elements that was available.