UK Thames Sailing Barge (UK East Coast sailing craft)

[scratchbuild]

I have received several positive comments concerning the recent completion of my Thames Sailing Barge and a few have asked to see some more pictures. I will try loading some pictures. Not sure how that will go. The barge is genuinely scratch built (I am strictly low budget) and was intended partly as a construction model so that the hold is exposed and some of the ceiling and floor planking is omitted. Most of the model is constructed from recycled timbre. All the fixtures and fittings are fabricated from scrap aluminium or copper wire. Machinery is made from clock parts (big bag of miscellaneous bits bought on the internet). Finally, I must thank my wife for donating a redundant pendant chain which became the anchor chain and hoists for the lee boards! The model is based on a barge called 'Asphodel'. I worked from concept plans and the actual build is based on previous knowledge and various bits of research. Experts will notice that I have made some simplifications and a few departures from the real thing. I hope members will find this of interest.

 

[Graham]

Nice job.

 

[barba]

Hi scratchbuild

Very nice and interesting work.

I love to see works like this, and the fact that it was made without too much investment in my eyes raises the value of the construction. I have gone through the situation many times when I sit in front of a blueprint and think about how to do it !!

And if I really had a lot of money, I would buy tools, a workshop, and build the big boat like I want!!

regards

 

[scratchbuild]

Hi Barba

Thanks for showing interest in my Thames Barge. I know what you mean, I probably spent as much time staring at the plans trying to figure what to do as I have actually building the thing! In my case I only had a concept plan of about the right scale so I began by making frames from the cross sections down the length of the hull. These then had to be set up on a base so that they did not move around. You can probably see what I did from the pictures. It worked, more or less, but there were mistakes. I did not have full building plans but luckily I do have personal knowledge of these barges and plenty of research material. I was, therefore, able to put together a construction that was not far from the real thing. I am now scratching my head over lines drawings for a fishing smack.

 

[barba]

For me, the research part is as interesting as the construction itself. I used to have a wooden boat (5.5m x 2.15m) with a cabin. I was totally in love with it, I had to sell it when I moved to Zagreb, which is 300 km from the sea (that was the moment when I started with this hobby). When you have a wooden boat, you have to maintain it all the time. Basically, I would like to make a model of my boat from my memory, I made a small model, it fits for the most part, but there are also a lot of deviations. When time permits, I have ideas for version 2.0.

I look picture of fishing smack on the net, very nice ship!! Go for it!!