Model Yacht Workshops & Races

This week Douglas was adjusting the lead ballast on the keel of his latest boat, which turned out to involve a lot of angle grinding and filing. Stephen is still working on the rasping of the hull shape - the hull is still too broad and too deep. This is slow but rewarding work, and must be completed before the gouging out of the hull.

This week, after the Christmas break, Douglas, Marianne and Stephen worked with the hail showers rattling overhead. Douglas was keen to get Loughie's views on some changes he has made on his new boat - the old colour is gone, replaced with a dark varnish, and some streamlining of the keel has also been done. Marianne brought down the old Brockley boat, to compare with the new ones as well as Loughie's old boat, and continued the shaping of the new hull with chisels. Stephen finally got to the stage of being able to begin the hollowing out of the hull. This is a two-step process, with a mix of old and new methods. An electric drill is used repeatedly to break up the surface, while most of the content is removed manually with 'gouges': curved edged chisels.

At this evening's workshop, talk turned to Fr McAteer, who passed away at the weekend. Fr McAteer - among many other contributions to the island community - was largely responsible for restarting the model yacht races in the 1980s. Without that contribution it's unlikely that any of us would have been gathering to make new model yachts today. The work continued though, with Marianne working on the very hard planing of the hull, and Stephen gratefully receiving the help of Douglas and Marianne on the gouging of the other hull. At times progress can seem slow, but it is ultimately very rewarding.

This week, as well as the Monday night workshop, there was a practice on Ushet Lough on Sunday afternoon. With three boats in the water, it was an ideal way to test Douglas's new boat and the reconditioned Brockley boat against Loughie's. It also served to show us the light at the end of the tunnel for the blocks of wood being worked on in Loughie's shed. This Monday, Brian continued the careful chiselling of his hull, while Douglas tried out a new template for future hull shapes, and Stephen gouged away at his hull.

This week, Stephen was checking the expanding foam he had placed in his gouged hull the day before, while Brian and Marianne continued the planing and rasping of their hulls, and James and Cathal continued the heavy work of chiselling their blocks into hull shapes. All photos Stephen Ryan.

The countdown to the first race continues, as Marianne and Brian keep up the gouging, and Cathal and James continue the shaping of their hulls. Meanwhile, Stephen is ready to attach his decking.

This week is the last workshop before the first race of the new season on Easter Sunday, so the pressure is on in particular for Brian and Stephen, who are determined to finish their boats in time for the race. Marianne is almost ready to fill her hollowed-out hull with expanding foam, and Cathal is not far behind in the gouging. Brian is now ready to fit his deck, going without the foam, and Stephen is fitting the keel that Loughie cut for him. Meanwhile, Douglas is cutting more keels for the other boats. Roll on the first race!