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Builder of the Hebridean`Birlinn` model
Stockholm tar or an oil varnish between the lands is all that is required to guarantee a watertight fit. However, it is normal practice to caulk the garboard strake and the hood ends with cotton caulking, or oakum in heavier work, and seal it over with a filling compound. In carvel construction, where the frames are set up first and the strakes are added butting flush against each other, it is vital that every seam is well caulked throughout. I recently spoke to an islander who related that his father, a boat-builder, used dried moss with Stockholm tar for caulking his boats - exactly the same as the Norse shipwrights of a thousand years ago! Present-day
materials demand new techniques and, usually, a factory environment. Regardless
of the perceived convenience of new products and innovative production
methods, there can never be anything to compare with the special relationship
that develops with any particular wooden boat. It begins the very first
day that building commences and continues to grow throughout the boat's
career. There is a bonding that embraces the builder, the owner and all
the natural materials that are used which expresses itself in something
far deeper than what the eye beholds - almost as if life had been created
by the craftsman's hands. And it is that essence which causes people today
to succumb to the values of traditional boats and which will ensure continued
interest in this ancient craft.The rapid acceleration in boat production
from synthetic material in the last thirty years or so is only now showing
its effects on the traditional industry. Many of the long established
boatyards around our coasts have closed down, though some still survive
to service the existing fishing fleet. Each passing year sees fewer craftsmen
who are skilled in the traditional ways of building wooden boats. The
new generation of boat-buiiders are only familiar with steel or glass-reinforced
plastic. The decline is serious and the prospect of revival can only be
through an active stimulation of the current interest in these ancient
skills.
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Books
by John MacAulay: Seal-folk
and Ocean Paddlers
Glossary
of Terms used
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