Pinky Ketch
I have had a passion for wood and boats all my life; this has had to fit in around my farming activities, as an occasional hobby. The dream to build an ocean going yacht became a reality in 1999 when I started to build a 36 foot double-ended ketch. The hurricanes of 1987 and again in 1990 offered the opportunity of bountiful supplies of local timber, at very low prices. So I started collecting fallen trees, using a mobile band-saw to mill them on site, then stacking them to dry under a basic pole barn type drying shed.
This Pinky Ketch is quite unique, designed for me by Paul Fisher in 1992. She is based on the Pinky Ketches originating from East coast USA around the early part of the nineteenth century. These were very safe and seaworthy designs that would have originally been brought by the early settlers from Norway. They would fish offshore travelling as far North as the Artic circle and had a reputation for being easy to handle and very safe. The rig is gaff ketch, easily handled by a small crew and offering good performance especially with the wind on the beam.
I have built her myself having started in 1999, should be complete by 2009, it has been a very long project and to date I have spent over 14,000 hours! All timber except deck planking is from trees that I have harvested and dried myself from the woods on the estate where I run an organic farm. I started collecting the timber after the 1987 and 1990 hurricanes. No plywood at all anywhere, so she is built using a hybrid of traditional and modern methods. Hull is strip planked Thuya overlaid with two layers of sawn oak veneer, over laminated ribs, all bolt fasteners are made on site of bronze. Deck beams are Oak laminated with a Cedar of Lebanon tongue groove and vee ceiling overlaid diagonal Douglas fir two layers on coach house with fibreglass glass cloth epoxy sheath and painted. Main deck is topped with Pitch Pine the only non local timber, this came from Huntley and Palmers biscuit factory in Reading. Bought huge floor joists and quarter sawed them into planks. I can tell you exactly where each tree came from and there are some interesting stories to tell.
Cabin structure is double layer diagonal softwood overlaid oak. All fittings are bronze. The ballast keel I made on site from steel and lead and weighs in at 4.5 tonnes. Masts and spars are laminated on site from Douglas fir. She will be launched in the River Thames, which is just 400 yards away, it is the only way to get her out as roads are too narrow for road transport.
She is 35 9"' length on deck, has an 11' beam and draws 5'6" weighs around 10.75 tonnes, her sail area is 680 square feet. She will have a comfortable accommodation with all services such as hot cold water, shower, heating, basic 12v electrics and some modern navigational equipment.