The reasons for owning a particular boat are dependent on a sequence of previous decisions and experiences. They are not always in practical terms logical, but the ownership of boats is not always logical anyway. When the children were young (2 and 3) I built a flat bottomed 11’ dinghy using the Mirror dinghy principles of stitch and glue, but rigging it with a leg-o’-mutton sail sleeved onto a pole mast and building in a centreplate. We had four years sailing this on the rivers Erme and Helford and on Coniston Lake. As the weight of the crew increased, the performance became more and more disappointing and there was less space for picnic baskets and all the other paraphernalia. So we decided to go up in size.

My interest is in sailing not in boat building, but I had found the technique of stitch and glue very easy and quick. So I tried a number of designs on the back of an envelope before deciding that the appearance was too ugly and I really wanted a round bilged boat. The next thing to look at were fibreglass shells to which we could add our own gear. When the market was surveyed there were few shells of the size required. However, putting appearance first and then size, weight and cost, we finished up buying a Shetland Skiff produced by Cox Marine of Brightlingsea. The standard boat has bulkheads under each thwart containing buoyancy. This ruled out sleeping on the bottom boards. The lack of a centreboard case meant that the bottom could be completely free, so we bought a bare shell to which thwarts could be added, giving clearance for the sleepers. The shell is 15.25’ LOA, 5.33’ beam and 1.15’ draft. It is very strong with a heavy keel section which means it retains its shape without any bracing.

To the shell I added foam buoyancy contained by bulkheads fore and aft giving 1200 lbs lift and leaving an area 6.5’ by 4’ for sleeping on. At the gunwale a 2” x 1” inwale of Keruing was nailed and bedded on fibreglass, to which sheets could be led and rowlocks attached, and outside a rubbing strake screwed to the inwale to protect the gel coat. There are two rowing positions (making her a foureen or four-oared boat), a sliding rudder projecting 1’ below the hull when sailing, but flush with the keel for beaching, a gunter mainsail and a range of headsails.

The timetable for the work to the boat is shown in the following table:

1973 Bought the hull before VAT applied. February The hull was left lying upside down in the garden where it sagged slightly (½” rise in the keel section).

1974 February Moved house to Manchester. June Installed bulkheads and foam. July Steamed round inwales with boat in rose beds. September Moved hull into garage and finished fittings on the hull. December Made mast and boom from solid balks of pine. Laminated gaff from the off-cuts.

1975 January Spliced rigging and began sail making. May Built trailer after old one’s suspension burst apart under a load of earth. July Had trial sail on Rudyard Lake. August 2 weeks sailing on Coniston. September Weekend sailing on Bala Lake. December Had new sails made by Progress Sails of Bristol.

If you like traditional craft the appearance is very satisfactory, and the boat has been much photographed on the occasions when we have been near other people. Since buying the shell I have read a number of books on the history of double-ended boats in Norway and the Shetland Isles. The type was developed as a rowing sea-boat, and, as such, the Skiff has lost nothing. No matter how heavily loaded, there is no tendency for the pointed stern to drag, unlike a transom-sterned boat which can stop between each stroke. The Shetland fishermen always rowed to windward until the middle of the 19th century.

In order to make the Skiff more of an all round sailing boat, the designer has emphasised the keel and added prominent bilge rubbers. To achieve this he has lengthened the straight part of the keel and reduced the curved stem and stern posts. The effect is that the bow and stern are fuller than in the traditional types and the sheer has been reduced. When running, the stern can be pulled down to the level of the water by the stern wave, unlike a transom-sterned boat where the water breaks away from the transom and planing begins. Another effect of the pointed stern is that the helmsman cannot sit out to much effect.

There is considerable flare on the topsides, and to get a good waterline beam the boat has to be well immersed either by crew or ballast. This affects the initial stability, of course. The crew were used to a very stable boat, and it was a problem getting them to work together to keep the boat at the right angle for sailing. The stability steadily increases as the boat heels, until the water comes in over the gunwale, when the boat would presumably fill up and capsize. If the boat is moving fast, the gunwale can be underwater without any water coming in.

The steering is not spectacular because of the long straight keel. Short tacking to avoid the tide is agony. Every time we go about we lose five or six lengths against a modern boat. After the first trials on Coniston I increased the width of the rudder and had the new mainsail made with a longer foot to increase the weather helm. Now on smooth water we tack in a stately fashion, but beating down Ullswater in a good force five with williwaws of six or more we did not stay at all if a squall was on us, and only stayed otherwise if I watched the waves and got plenty of speed up before putting the helm down. Since writing this I have added another block to the mainsheet, so that the boom is pulled right to the centreline of the boat. The result is dramatic, and we are now sailing closehauled for the first time. Going about is now a question of releasing the tiller, the boat sliding up into the wind, the jib coming aback, and the boat spinning onto the other tack. Previously we had been going from close reaching to close reaching, swinging the tiller over making it act as a brake. The extra block has made the boat more enjoyable for the children to sail as they can hold the mainsheet easily now, whereas before there was too much pull. The boat is easier to hold up in a squall as we can feather into the wind more. I am amazed what this one modification has done for the boat. My father told me to do it the first time he sailed the boat, but I put his advice down to failing strength due to age, and anyway inefficient hull shapes should not be pinched.

Heaving to is a delight especially welcome in family sailing. The boat lies very quietly with the mainsail eased off to the shrouds and the helm lashed down. On the run, the long straight keel keeps you running true until rolls to leeward occur, for instance when a squall strikes, when the keel starts skidding and the boat tends to broach, pivoting on the bilge. Trying to correct the broach with the helm leads to more heeling still. The only thing to do is to get the mainsail off, after which the boat becomes very docile. The centre of effort of the mainsail is outside the beam of the boat, and has a leverage which is not there in the original square rig of the Shetland boats.

The sail area is the maximum which can be set on a gunter rig, with spars which fit inside the boat. The combination of sails and the resulting areas and their suitability for different conditions is shown below:

144 sq. ft. Mainsail, jib, reaching jib, storm jib set below mainsail as bonnet Downwind only 109 sq. ft. Mainsail, reaching jib Largest area for windward work 97 sq. ft. Mainsail, jib

81 sq. ft. First reef mainsail, jib

56 sq. ft. Second reef mainsail, storm jib Smallest rig for windward work 42 sq. ft. Second reef mainsail

14 sq. ft. Storm jib Downwind only

The maximum areas are satisfactory, and this is where sailing is enjoyable. The problem at the other end is that the smallest area for turning to windward is 56 square feet. This is because of the limitation of the gaff on reefing. To get a smaller area would require the unlacing of some of the head of the sail from the gaff. The naval whalers carried a trysail which also doubled as a reaching jib. I regret not having the reaching jib made to satisfy these uses. The present reaching jib cannot be sheeted in tight enough when set in place of the mainsail to enable the boat to turn to windward. The boat will not stay under jib alone, but will under fully reefed mainsail after the adjustments to the mainsheet arrangements.

In ghosting conditions the boat will keep up with small cruisers such as Silhouettes and Leisure 17s if well heeled over. After this, if the boat is kept upright, leeway is not too bad. Eventually, when the boat is heeled to the gunwale she makes a tremendous show with spray leaping over the weather bow and pushing out to leeward, but not in fact making much to windward (1½ miles in an hour on Ullswater).

The historians are always going on about the ease with which the Vikings beached their boats. The big 60 footers with their thin planking would have required delicate handling on a beach, and the small ones need two feet of water to float. They cannot be moved by one person unless you want the bilges worn out. The technique we have developed is for one adult to hold the boat upright and the rest of the crew to pull ahead or astern as required. Waders are essential in the early part of the year, as you have to go in above the knees. The boat will float heeled over on the bilge before it will float upright. We have a rubber dinghy now so that we can anchor off, but it has not been the time saver I hoped it would be. For loading on to the trailer on dry land, No. 1 holds the boat level, No. 2 lifts the bows onto the trailer, No. 3 winches the trailer under the boat. We have started floating the boat onto the fully submerged trailer, which takes all the strain out except for the thought of what is happening to the bearings. A jockey wheel will be the next addition to the trailer.

One adult and two children seems to be the maximum for sleeping aboard. Stowage of all the personal items with three is really the main restraint on cruising in this size of boat. The tent is in two parts, one over the bows and coming to the mast, and the other a straight tent over the boom. They are made of Lancashire cloth, and are held down by the shape of the boat rather than hooks and eyes. One hook is needed just forward of the shrouds. The cover stays very wind-tight, but there are drips which fall out at the gunwale and run down into the bilges avoiding the sleepers. To cure the drips will need a hoop at the widest part of the boat. There is a removable stern locker and two under-thwart boxes for food. Originally I used a net in the bows to hold down the sleeping bags and kit bags, but now I have added a foredeck. The deck is made of two layers of plywood (¼” or metric equivalent), with a centre spine holding it up and a laminated beam to take the mooring cleat. It is strong enough for walking on and has improved the storage capacity. At the same time as building the deck I made the centre thwart removable, with four large brass bolts to hold it down. The final result is that sleeping is much more comfortable, but stowing the sailing gear has become a problem. Previously the thwart kept it off us. The side benches have had to go, which has not, in the event, proved a disadvantage. The crew can now sit on the bottom boards, out of the wind but where their weight is needed.

We are finally reaching the layout and fittings that we want. The activities which have taken longer than expected have been designing-out particular problems without disbenefit to solutions already adopted, and acquiring materials such as wood and non-ferrous fastenings. Another restraint has been not having a big enough shed to get the boat in easily. At the same time as completing the boat, we have had to learn a number of techniques for handling the boat ashore and afloat. Because of the infrequent use we make of the boat, I have adopted the policy of writing down instructions for various routines so that we don’t forget the easy way of doing things. In our inland situation, attention to the car and trailer is as important as attention to the boat in ensuring trouble-free sailing. In the three years the boat has been sailable, we have sailed on Loch Linhe, Ullswater, Coniston, Windermere, Rudyard Lake, the Conway Estuary, Bala Lake, Poole Harbour, Weymouth Bay, and Falmouth. We have not sailed in any of our local sandy estuaries, a nettle we must grasp. Of course, Scotland and Lepe fitted ideally, with deep-water anchorages in little bays and long reaches across to interesting islands. Concurrently the crew have been getting bigger, so what will the next boat be?