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TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGING |
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The effects Fibreglass had on
Boatbuilding. |
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It happened for me in the sixties.
Traditional boatbuilding was to
become a thing of the past. Quite a
few fellow tradesmen surrendered to
it early and found other ways of
avoiding it. Double Glazing I
believe the main option. |
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I remember working at Moodys, when
Gordon Moody stepped up on his box
and addressed the work force.
Apologising for the fact that they
had to move with the times and go
with the flow and produce and market
fibreglass craft. |
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Until then the three governing
bodies that issued guidelines for
the trade were Board of trade,
Admiralty and Lloyds. Lloyds took up
the job. I was happy with this for I
had worked with most of Lloyds staff
in their days as boat builders. Men
like Alan Strudwick, Dave Winn and
Eric Adams. They had parameters to
abide by regarding temperature,
humidity for the moulding shops,
also guidelines for lay-ups, too
much or too little material which
would be detrimental to the
designers wishes. |
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Many factories sprung up, some with
no temperature or humidity control.
I worked in one such place. This
firm turned out two 32ft. powerboats
per week. From a workshop equipped
only with a space heater or
Salamander heater. The laminator’s,
were on a production bonus. Mostly
earning 100% of their basic pay. Of
course to do this they had to take
short cuts. One of which was to wet
out two 2oz layers of mat at a time.
Of course this practice left huge
voids of air trapped. |
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Hugo de Plessy an expert in
fibreglass. For he had written books
on it and succeeded in carrying out
the manufacture of structures in
subzero temperatures. This man
bought one of these craft. But
before taking delivery he turned up
with a roll of Bacofoil and taped it
to the topsides. Then going inside
with a lead lamp. He was able to
view the lay-up and saw the huge air
bubbles. He then cancelled his
order. The bonus system stopped.
They did get their act together
later with Lloyds influence taking
part for “Translucent” was one of
these craft, and we all know how
well she did. Whilst I was there. A
Moody’s built yacht turned up. A
35ft. Laurent Giles design named”
Salar” Picture the scene. It was
February the field in where it stood
was a quagmire. First of all the
vessel was healed over to port. A
tent was erected, where the Welly
wearing laminators layed up one half
of the mould. It was then tilted the
other way and the other side had the
same treatment. The finished mould
was taken away. Somewhere on the
East Coast where the yachts were
moulded and marketed as a “Salar
40”. |
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About this time I also saw the need
to escape from what was happening
within my chosen profession. A job
became available at Borden Chemical
Plastic Tooling. Entailing the
manufacture of wooden prototypes for
the motor industry. Also involved
was the training in the use of epoxy
resins. So by taking the job it
would be not much different to my
own trade, only finer limits and at
the same time be brought up to date
with plastic techniques. One of my
claims to fame came about whilst
employed in this work. That I am
responsible for the shape of every
Triumph Stag ever made! However to
join this company meant that I had
once again join a union.. The
Woodworker’s union!. There were sit
downs and meetings for trivial
reasons. The floor was too slippery
and needed acid etching for safety.
The walls were to dusty and
considered a health risk. Although I
thoroughly loved the job, I needed
to escape. |
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Two friends of mine were working for
John Wilment, Neil Cozens and the
late Brian Corlett. Neil I knew from
Bournecraft and Brian from Botley
docks. There was a job going there
and the work was varied. We got on
well and at one time talked of
forming a business. Calling
ourselve’s CBC. It was the first
time I met Ken Raybold and Miss
Delson. I was not involved with the
plugwork but helped in fit out of
Miss Delson. In fact the very last
day before the Cowes/Torquay race.
Roger Kimish (now RK Marine) and
myself worked late ready to present
her for the scrutineers the next
morning. It was dark when we left
and the owner pushed a note in our
top pockets for our efforts. On
arriving home I found it to be a £20
note. Half my weeks wage at the
time. |
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Ken introduced us to Richard Wright
of Danamos who was using an old race
boat Hot Bovril (originally Tommy
Sopwith’s Souter built T2) as a
plug.. We agreed a price and
travelled to Havant every night
after work to complete the plug.
The mould was taken off and Niel and
Brian ended their part. I decided to
stay and finish the project. Making
the deck plug and later helping with
the rigging of “Hot Omelette” at
Rye. It was a long haul daily being
pre motorway days. I there met Tim
Powell for the first time, also
Ralph Seavey an accomplished
American power boat driver employed
by Bobby Buchanan Michaelson to get
the best out of this craft, a very
likeable man, who was to know then
the fate that lie in wait for him? I
was enjoying the work there. Any
fibreglass work was placed in the
capable hands if Geoff Lush. In my
opinion the only laminator worth a
mention.. Geoff and I have kept in
touch, it was he that flew out to
Viareggio when things went pear
shaped for “Hot Omelette”,her sister
ship was the Gas Turbine powered
“Passing Cloud” owned by Tony Frost
of Epsom. |
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Travelling to Havant on a daily
basis but I was enjoying the work
and the ambiance within the work
force. But this all was to end when
Richard’s partner decided to stop my
meagre travel allowance. |
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It was when Planatec started up by
Doug Garland. Making Neil and Brian
joint managers that I was again
offered a job on the plugwork of one
of the best looking craft to come
off Don Shead’s drawing board, Abo,
Miss Embassy, Uno Embassy and
Cobra. The latter a cruiser in gold
and black livery would turn heads
even now. The first Abo had problems
with hull flexing. Thereby losing
large amounts of Gel coat one its
first run. Tim Powell bought this
craft and had it repaired and
converted into a stylish cruiser,
not unlike the Cobra. Another Abo
was built but the hull was made much
stiffer, with lots of diagonal
intercostals. There was no way this
hull would flex. Ralph Seavy also
worked here as it proved to be..
Work was afoot to build a 55ft
patrol launch for the middle east. I
made a 4 ft. long desk top model cut
off at the waterline to be sent to
the customer. |
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It was that beautiful summer of 1976
when I decided to go freelance. I
found premises in Eastlands boatyard
on the Hamble (close to the motorway
bridge). Work really took off, a
constant flow of work, which caused
me to take on a partner. Then I had
a call to look at some work at Don
Sheads office in Fareham, building
Tank test and desk models. They had
made a workshop beneath the offices,
thinking it was short term I left my
partner to look after things in the
yard. I never returned, as this man
allowed others in to help. That
became Midas Marine. I started at
Fareham (how could I refuse?),
working at Don Shead's place was a
treat. I grew to know the staff John
Mace and Pat Mant and Graham
Stevens, who were all very helpful.
Then another job came in which
opened another door for me. Mike
Doxford had a commodity brokerage in
St. James St. London. Don had
designed the table arrangement for
the banking hall. Sixty feet of
table space set out in a lozenge
shape. All with Key and Lamp
fixtures, plus Vdu’s. to be made of
fibreglass mouldings. I took the job
on but had to take on new premises
in farm buildings close to home. I
completed the work and went to
London to assemble it all .There I
once again met Tim Powell where it
was his place of work also. The job
went well and on finishing returned
to Shead’s jobs which were by then
drying up. |
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Another opportunity arose by a
chance phone call from Tim Powell,
asking would I be interested in
working for Mike Doxford at
Farnborough, where he kept his Limit
Up race boats. To me the journey
involved a 100 mile round trip, but
I did not hesitate and took the job.
My first job was the repair of a
Cigarette 35 which had returned from
the River Plate with a serious
amount of damage. I had seen this
damage before for it was common on
centre cockpit powerboats. The main
bulkhead, forward of the cockpit was
a stiff section but immediately
behind was a shallow coaming
inboard. As the coaming itself was
very narrow the chine in the area of
this bulkhead becomes a hinge point
for any stress occurring, when the
craft falls hard on a wave with its
extremities unsupported. This
results in the topsides tearing all
the way from the top of the coaming
down to the chine. A temporary
repair had been made before
shipment. Ali plate outside bolted
through with Kevlar inside. Removing
the Kevlar being the hardest part of
the job. Otherwise an easy repair
but this boat never raced again.
The Limit Up 40 was my next job in
converting it into a cruiser. Then
came the Cougar cat which I had very
little to do with as Clive and his
crew saw to that. Tim was
responsible for much of my work
after that. Introducing me to many
contacts for which I will be
eternally grateful. |
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