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Peggy, the 1904 Bristol Channel pilot cutter by ‘Cracker’ Rowles, provided the lines for Lance Whitehead’s boat

Above: Oak going through Cockwells’ Forrester 150 sawmill

Left: Larch for the planking being seasoned ‘in stick’

Oak for the frames was purchased ‘in the round at roadside’ from estates in the Scottish Borders

When Lance Whitehead decided to commission a cruising boat for charter operation,

he soon found that what he wanted was a pilot cutter, and a visit to Cockwells, with a

sail on Polly Agatha, persuaded him that they should build it. By Nigel Sharp

StAgES OF BuILdINg A PILOt CuttER

Stage 1 the client, some history and procuring the timber

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Throughout the 19th and the very early part of the 20th centuries, pilot cutters played a vital part in the safety

of shipping around our coasts. Ships have always needed a pilot’s local knowledge to guide them into and out of our ports, and the cutters’ role was to deliver the pilots aboard at the right time and place.

The cutters needed three main characteristics. They had to be handled by a very small crew – nearly always just a man and a boy, with the pilot himself making no contribution to the sailing; they had to be fast to give them a better chance of reaching the ships first and picking up the often lucrative business; and they had to be extremely seaworthy, to be able to go to sea and stay there in whatever conditions prevailed for however long was necessary.

The pilots of the Bristol Channel might have argued with some justification that this latter characteristic was particularly important in their often brutal home waters, and by the early 1900s the design of their cutters had pretty much reached perfection in terms of fitness for the job.

Pilot cutter pedigreeOne of the best known pilot cutter builders was Edwin ‘Cracker’ Rowles, who was based at Pill, and one of the last boats he built, in 1904, was Wave, later to be re-named Sea Hawk and then Peggy. In her working days she was run by at least three pilots and has had almost 20 owners in total. Since 1973 Peggy has been owned by Diccon and Jan Pridie, who have cruised her extensively.

Dave Cockwell, a Falmouth boatbuilder originally from Bristol, is a good friend of the Pridies and in 2001 they allowed Dave to

take the lines off Peggy, as he had in mind that one day he might build a pilot cutter for himself. However, circumstances changed, as they so often do in life, and, in 2007, Dave’s company, Cockwells Modern and Classic Boatbuilding, completed a replica called Polly Agatha for a client who now runs her as a charter boat based in the Solent.

Contemplating having a boat builtAround the time that Polly Agatha was being built, Lance Whitehead, a former RAF squadron leader now working in the financial industry, was contemplating having a boat built, for his own use and some charter work. An experienced sailor who had first sailed in dinghies with his father as a child and had sailed in two Admiral’s Cups in the early 90s, he found that “searching the market for suitable boats was a frustrating business”.

However, on one particular heavy weather sailing trip he noticed a gaff cutter and was, he says, “struck by her speed, how much better she was coping

with the sea than us, and the relaxed demeanour of her two-person crew”. This prompted him to read up on the Bristol Channel pilot cutters and he noted repeated references to “their sea-keeping qualities, speed and ease of handling with minimal crew” – all qualities which Lance recognised were entirely appropriate for a 21st-century cruising boat.

He then booked a sailing holiday on Eve of St Mawes, the 38ft (11.6m) Scillonian pilot cutter skippered by Adam Purser of Classic Sailing. This hugely enjoyable experience led him to make the decision to have one built, so he set out to find a builder.

Lance made several appointments and the first of these was with Dave Cockwell. It so happened that Polly Agatha had just been launched and Lance grabbed the opportunity to go out on her during her sea trials. He was impressed with her speed (despite the light airs on the day) and the quality of finish, and the fact that “Dave had successfully combined traditional construction and appearance

with modern comforts”. Finally, “Dave’s forthright approach and the skill and dedication of his team” convinced Lance that he should place the order for his new boat, as yet unnamed, with Cockwells.

Procuring the timberAs soon as the contract was signed, the priority for the yard was to procure and allocate the timber for the hull construction. Most of it was already in stock at Cockwells’ sawmill – in fact more than enough of some species as the yard were also due to start building another pilot cutter, the contract for which had been signed several months earlier. At 55ft (16.8m), she was to be considerably larger than Lance’s 48ft (14.6m) boat, but sadly her build programme was subsequently put on hold due to her owner’s changing circumstances.

Dave had previously purchased large quantities of oak (for the frames and deck structure) and larch (for the planking) from estates in the Borders and North Scotland respectively. Both had been bought ‘in the

round at roadside’ – in other words as whole trees – and transported to Cornwall. They were cut into the appropriate thickness by Cockwells’ own Forrester 150 saw, which is capable of cutting longitudinally through 1.5m (5ft) diameter trees, and they were then put ‘into stick’ (stacked with sticks separating individual boards) so that the air could circulate and they would have a decent period of time for seasoning before

use. As we shall see later, this process of buying whole trees and machining them in this way gives the boatbuilder much more flexibility and freedom in choosing suitable pieces for particular jobs than buying square- edged boards from timber merchants.

tracking down hardwoodsOpepe, an African hardwood, for the centreline components, including a continuous piece 40ft (12.2m) long for the keel, was purchased from JB Timber in Yorkshire. For the decking, high quality teak in reasonable lengths being increasingly difficult to obtain, buying it machined (including the rebate for the deck caulking) and ready to lay was considered, but it was eventually decided to buy it as square-edged boards from Timbmet of Oxford and then to machine it at the yard. All of the varnished deck timber would be iroko, another African hardwood – obtained partly from Timbmet with the remainder coming from Clarks Wood in Bristol.Next month: starting the lofting process

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Far left: Sternpost and knee assembled and upright

Left: Cutting the mortise for the sternpost

Cutting oak frames with a chain saw

Last month, Lance Whitehead ordered his replica pilot cutter from Cockwells and the

timber was obtained. This month we see how lofting provides guidance in cutting the

timber for the frames and the assembly of the skeleton. By Nigel Sharp

StAgES Of buIldINg A PIlOt CuttER

Stage 2 lofting and hull framework

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Once Cockwells had procured the timber to build the replica Bristol Channel pilot cutter, the next step

was the lofting. The purpose of this is basically two-fold – to ensure that the lines of the boat are as fair as possible before any wood is cut, and to generate various bits of information to assist the tasks ahead.

The starting point was the lines plan, a series of lines in three dimensions – the waterlines, which are parallel to the Datum Water Line (DWL), the buttocks, which are the lines which cut through the boat vertically fore and aft, and the sections. From this lines plan, the elevation and plan views were lofted half size, and the sections and the detailed ends of the centreline structure were lofted full size.

At the position of each of the 30 frames, a full-size section was lofted. The thickness of the planks was then taken off, giving the exact shape of the outside of each frame at its biggest point – ie the forward face of the frame in the aft part of the boat, and the aft face of the frame in the forward part of the boat.

A template was then made showing the profile of each half-frame section and also each of the timber floors which would join the port and starboard halves together. Each frame would also have a corresponding bevel board, showing the angle of the outside face of the frame at all of the waterlines.

up to the sawmillThe templates were then taken up to the yard’s sawmill a few miles out of Falmouth, where all the seasoned grown oak was already machined to the correct thickness. There then followed a process of trial and

error whereby the templates were offered up onto all the oak boards available to try to get the best match in terms of the grain following the shape of each frame. Usually it’s not possible to make the half-frames in one piece, so there would have to be a butt joint with the two sections (known as futtocks) held together with a clamp.

The position of each joint would be determined by the timber available, and with due consideration to the joints in other frames – the joint in any frame would be a minimum of a foot (0.3m) higher or lower than the joint in its neighbour, with a minimum of two frames between two joints at the same height. The timber for the clamps was then allocated, to overlap both parts of the futtocks by 18in (0.46m).

As it happened, it was possible to find suitable timber to make the five forward frames and the two aftmost frames in one piece per side. This timber selection process shows the advantage of obtaining timber ‘in the round’ as Cockwells does – square-edged boards from timber merchants would just not give a good enough choice.

Once the pieces were selected, they were roughly cut out, oversize, with a chainsaw, then transported back to Cockwells’ main yard where they were cut out more accurately on an angled bandsaw.

As the bevel on each frame changes over its length, the bandsaw was set to correspond with the least bevel in each case. The outside faces were then planed to match the varying bevels shown on the bevel board, created during the lofting process, and the inside faces were planed parallel to the outside faces.

The component parts of each frame were then assembled on the loft floor to ensure the result would accurately match the lofted

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Above: frames stacked ready for assembly

Left: framing almost complete, with temporary braces

Left: lofting can be hard on the knees

lines. The joining faces were bedded on a 50/50 mix of white lead and linseed oil putty (as all the joining faces in the whole hull construction would be) and they were held together with 1/2in copper rivets, of which a total of around 700 were needed. A temporary brace was put across from the top of one side of each assembled frame to the top of the other side to ensure stability during the subsequent processes.

Centreline structureMeanwhile work on the centreline structure was progressing. This would be made up of the one-piece 40ft (12.2m) wood keel, the stem, sternpost and sternpost doubler (all in opepe), with substantial oak knees fitted in the angles between them. Further vital information from the lofting process was the changing angles at which the garboard plank would meet the wood keel, and the hood ends of all the planks would meet the stem and stern post. With this information, it was possible to cut the rebates into these three components before they were assembled, so that it could be done in a relatively easy, and therefore more

economical, position. Also at this time, the opportunity was taken to cut rebates into the sides of the keel at the bottom, to take the fixing tabs for the stainless steel band which would be fitted to the underside of the keel at a later date.

These centreline components were then assembled. The stem and sternpost were each joined to the keel with a mortise and tenon, and all the sections, including the knees, were fastened together with 7/8in diameter aluminium bronze bolts. This

process was carried out with the centreline structure lying on its side. Once it was complete it was lifted off the ground and set up vertically, with the waterlines, which had been previously marked on the components, level. It now stood proud and ready for the attachment of the frames.

framingOne of the midships frames was the first to be fitted. Great care was taken to ensure that it was vertical in elevation, and that the waterlines were level viewed from forward or aft. When it was certain that this accuracy had been achieved, the frame was fixed with a single 3/4in aluminium bronze bolt through the floor and the keel.

Two separate teams, one forward and one aft, then fitted and fixed all the remaining frames, working from the midships frame. Temporary braces were fitted between frames and from the sides of each frame down to the workshop floor.

When this process was finished, the skeleton of the boat was complete and ready for the hull planking.Next month: planking up

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Left: Garboard and first plank, as seen from the stern

Engine beds and, to right, starboard stringer

With the hull framework for Lance Whitehead’s replica pilot cutter set up at

Cockwells, it’s time to start putting on the planks. Not as simple as it might seem,

and there are a few jobs to do first. By Nigel Sharp

StAGES Of buIldING A PIlOt cuttER

Stage 3 Planking up the hull

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Last month we saw how the hull framework was set up on the pilot cutter replica under construction for

Lance Whitehead at Cockwells Modern and Classic Boatbuilding. Even though the lines had been accurately lofted, it was now necessary to run long battens over the outside of the frames to check the fairness, and then to make minor adjustments with hand planes.

The beam shelf and bilge stringer were then fitted and riveted to the frames. These both add considerably to the longitudinal strength of the boat although the main purpose of the beam shelf is, as its name suggests, to support the ends of the thwartships deck beams. The 4in (100mm) thick engine beds were also fitted at this time so that they too could be bolted through the frames and floors.

Planning the plankingIt was now time to start planking. The process started with the ‘lining off’. This involved planning exactly where every plank was to be fitted, and marking fore-and-aft lines on the outside face of each frame

showing where the edge of each plank would be. As the maximum length of timber available for the planking was around 39ft (11.9m), there would need to be a series of butt joints, and the schedule for this was also planned at this stage. Section 32.2 of the old Lloyds Rules for the Construction and Classification of Wood Yachts is still recognised as an excellent guide for this – butts were to be no closer together than 4ft (1.2m) with three strakes between them.

Just like the oak frames, the larch for the planking had been bought ‘in the round’ some months before it was needed, and had been cut into the required thickness (in this

case 1½in or 38mm) by the Forrester 150 saw at Cockwells’ sawmill a few miles out of Falmouth. This saw is easily able to cut timber up to 40ft (12.2m) in length, or even longer with the addition of an extension. The larch was now transported to the yard.

Every plank needed to be shaped in two ways. They were tapered at the end – simply because the girth of the boat at the bow and stern is not as great as amidships; and they were given a curve across their width to allow them to lie naturally to the shape of the hull without attempting the impossible task of bending them that way to fit.

fitting the garboardsThe garboard planks and sheer planks were the first to be fitted. This allowed two teams each side of the boat to work up and down towards each other and meet at the turn of the bilge where the closing plank would be fitted. Several planks, such as the garboards and those which run under the counter closest to the centreline, had a fair amount of twist in them and therefore had to be steamed – in this case for an hour and a half, as the guiding principle is that timber needs an hour of steaming for each inch (25mm) of thickness. As soon as they were pliable, they were temporarily clamped into place so that they would assume the required twisted shape as they cooled.

Two of the planks each side (the belting or the wales) were different from the rest. The second plank down from the sheer, known as the upper belting or gunwale, was 3in (75mm) thick opepe (and would later be oiled rather than painted) and its outside face was rounded so that it stood proud. Its traditional purpose was to take the wear when leaning against a quay wall although, in the case of this boat, it is highly likely that

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Above: Planking from the bottom up

Left: fairing the completed planking

Left: the rudder: two pieces (note the strengthened join) of solid oak

this problem will be solved with fenders! The lower belting, or bilge wale, was fitted (as its name suggests) at the turn of the bilge and its purpose is to take any wear should the boat take the ground and lean over. It, too, had a rounded outer face but only at the midships part of the boat.

The planks were bedded on to the frames with the ubiquitous mix of white lead and linseed oil putty, and fastened with around three thousand 3 ½in x 18 gauge silicon bronze screws. While most boats built a century ago would have had iron fastenings, the pride that the pilots had in their cutters often determined that they would specify copper and bronze, as Cockwells does.

Once all the planks were fitted, long battens were again used to check the fairness, and this indicated that a small amount of planing was necessary.

caulkingNow it was time for the caulking. Each plank had been fitted so that the inner third of the edge touched its neighbour, with a V-groove widening to 1/8in (3mm) over the outer two-thirds. Firstly, strands of caulking

cotton were twisted together with an electric drill running at a slow speed, and this was then driven, with caulking irons, into the seams which were then payed with white lead and putty.

lead ingots and concretePeggy, the 1904 Bristol Channel pilot cutter of which this boat is an extended replica, had internal ballast as did all of the pilot cutters of that era. After detailed calculations by a naval architect regarding

the longitudinal centre of gravity, 9 tonnes of lead ingots were fitted into the bilges. A very fine grade of concrete was then poured over the ingots to fill the spaces, including every small void, around them.

There were several areas on the centreline forward and aft of the ballasted area where there would be the potential for water to collect. These were filled and levelled with pitch so that any such water would just run to the deepest part of the bilge where the pumps could deal with it.

A conventional single-pack paint system was applied to the inside of the hull and to the topsides. After some debate about the pros and cons of applying two-pack products to a traditionally-built timber hull, Lance decided to have Coppercoat (an epoxy resin mixed with copper powder) instead of a more traditional antifouling.

To complete the hull building, the rudder (with integral stock) was made from two pieces of solid oak fastened together with bronze bolts, and a stainless steel band was fitted from stem to stern on the underside of the keel. Next month: the deck construction

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Deckbeams, thwartships, and carlins, fore-and-aft around cut-out areas

Two views of the ply sub-deck. Would the old boatbuilders have used ply if they could? Probably – it helps stiffen and waterproof the boat

With carlins, coamings, and custom-made

cast bronze fittings. By Nigel Sharp

STAgES Of buIlDINg A PIlOT cuTTER

Stage 4 constructing the deck

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The first stage of the deck construction was to fit the oak deck beams. While the camber of the deck was nothing

like as pronounced as the curve of the hull frames, it was still advantageous to be able to select the timber for each beam so that the grain followed the shape of the camber as closely as possible.

Once the beams were cut to shape, they were fastened to the beam shelf with 1/2in diameter copper rivets. Substantial oak lodging knees were then fitted in the angles between most of the deck beams and the top plank, with spacers filling the space above the beam shelf.

carlinsNext to be fitted were the fore-and-aft carlins between the beams wherever openings in the deck such as hatches and the cockpit were to be created. The fairness of the whole deck structure was then checked with long battens, and hand planes were used to make small adjustments. Upstands were fitted onto the inboard faces of the beams and carlins, wherever deck hatches would later be fitted.

Sub-deckCockwells believes in fitting a plywood sub-deck in its pilot cutters and this is a major difference to the way in which the 1904 Peggy and other boats of her era were built. It will be an enormous advantage – partly in the way that it makes the whole boat considerably stiffer and stronger, and partly because it will considerably reduce the risk of water ingress. Both of these factors will help to prolong the boat’s life greatly. The boatbuilders of a century ago

didn’t have plywood, but it seems highly likely that they would have used it if it had been available to them.

For additional strength, the plywood was fitted in two layers. The first layer (15mm) was initially dry-fitted to a line within 7in (180mm) of the outside of the boat, to allow for later fitting of the covering board.

The sheets were then removed, and a series of fore-and-aft v-grooves were routered into the underside face to match the seams in the teak planking which would later be laid. This exact replication involves considerable thought and planning, and perhaps for that reason is unusual. In fact it is not uncommon to see straight fore-and-aft v-grooves on the underside of a deck, while the planking above is actually swept parallel to the covering board.

The undersides of the sheets were then painted, although not in the areas that would be glued to the top faces of the deck beams and carlins. These had been carefully marked during the initial dry-fitting of the ply and then masked up to ensure thorough adhesion of the epoxy. When this first layer had been finally fitted, the second layer was

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Above: The teak deck, with mast aperture, skylight frame, hatch, coamings and bulwarks

Left: fitting the covering board

The cockpit, with its coamings

added – with the joins between the ply sheets carefully avoiding the joins in the first layer which lined up with beams and carlins – and also glued with epoxy.

The whole of the plywood deck, with particular attention to the end-grain edges, was then sealed with a thin layer of fibreglass roving and epoxy resin.

covering boardsNext, the iroko covering board – 38mm (1½in) thick to match the combined thickness of the ply and the laid teak deck – was fitted around the outside of the sub-deck. Before it was finally fixed, the square holes and seams for the bulwark stanchions were cut into it.

Teak deckThe teak decking was fitted in straight fore-and-aft planks, as was the tradition on the pilot cutters, and a rebate was machined in one edge of each plank for the seams. The easiest way to hold the planks in place while the epoxy glue cured would have been to screw them to the sub-deck and then glue dowels over the heads of the

screws. However, no fastenings were used at all – weights were used instead – for two reasons. All laid decks experience wear over time, and the effective life of a deck which is screwed down is considerably reduced as the dowels will disappear and expose the screw heads long before there is a problem with the decking itself. Also, having hundreds of screws penetrating the glass/epoxy layer and ply sub-deck could just be inviting future problems in terms of water ingress.

Once all the teak was laid, the seams were neatly raked out to remove any epoxy which had squeezed out and to ensure they were of a uniform 5mm width. They were then primed and caulked with Sikaflex 290DC.

Hatches and skylightsWhile all this work was being carried out, the deck hatches were under construction on the bench. These consisted of a skylight over the owner’s cabin aft, the companionway hatch combined with the saloon skylight, and the forehatch. They were built in iroko, to traditional construction and styling with dovetail joints and brass round bar to protect the glass in the skylights. As soon as the decking was laid, the lower edges of these three hatches were spiled and trimmed to match the camber and sheer, and they were then fixed around the previously-fitted upstands.

cockpit coamingsAfter discussions regarding various ways of building the cockpit, Lance, the owner, chose to have the cockpit coaming enclosing a large area, primarily to give a more secure

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feeling when moving between the cockpit well and the companionway at sea. The coamings were made from solid iroko 3in (75mm) thick at their base with angled inboard faces for leaning comfort. They were fitted to the aft corners of the companionway hatch at their forward ends.

bulwark stanchionsMeanwhile, other members of the team were busy bolting the bulwark stanchions to the hull planking, and then fitting the bulwark planking and the iroko capping rail.

Ten coats of Coelan Boat Coating (a long-lasting polyurethane based liquid polymer which Lance preferred to conventional varnish) were then applied to all the external iroko.

custom-made deck fittingsA few of the deck fittings were available from suppliers such as Davey and Co, Classic Marine and Toplicht. However, many of them had to be custom-made – some in fabricated bronze or stainless steel and some in cast bronze.

Cockwells has plenty of experience in the processes necessary to achieve the latter. First of all, drawings were produced so that timber patterns could be made – replicating the fittings but slightly larger to allow for the shrinkage that occurs during the casting process. The patterns were then sent to Bristol Foundry which created sand moulds, into which the molten bronze was poured. When they had cooled, the rough castings were

returned to Falmouth, where they were polished to produce a smooth, shiny surface, and machined as necessary. In some cases this machining process just consisted of drilling and countersinking for the fastenings. In other cases it was more involved – the boom crutch, for

Far left: Preparing the teak deck

Left: frame for deck prism

Left: Aft corner of bulwark

The companionway hatch and saloon skylight being made up ‘on the bench’

caulking the teak deck with Sikaflex

instance, consisted of a U-shaped top fitting which had to be machined to match the bronze tube which supported it, which in turn had to fit into three separate bases, each of which had to have flanges at different angles to match the deck camber where they were positioned.

Some fittings, such as the chainplates for instance, needed to be of stainless steel and Lance and Cockwells agreed that these would not look the part if they were bright polished. A dull mill finish however would replicate the traditional look of galvanising without the disadvantage of rust steaks appearing should the coating become damaged, so this was decided upon.

The detail of some of the deck fittings will be discussed along with the rig in Part 6.

In the meantime, next month, it will be time to look at the interior and the systems.

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Discussions over several months developed the layout

Fuel and calorifier tanks with the aft cabin berth being built around them

Forward access to the Nanni diesel engine

Much ingenuity goes into fitting out the interior of a Cockwells pilot cutter, marrying

the provision of creature comforts for the crew with the discreet accommodation of

necessary equipment – engine, tanks, pipes and cables. By Nigel Sharp

StAgES OF buIldINg A PIlOt cuttER

Stage 5 Interior and systems

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While there are obvious benefits for an owner to be able to consider different options for interior

layouts in a custom-built boat, experience can be invaluable in making it clearer how a set of two-dimensional drawings will turn out in reality. Over a period of several months, starting before the contract was signed, discussions between Dave Cockwell and Lance Whitehead, the owner, developed the following general arrangement.

At the bottom of the companionway steps is a galley to starboard and a chart table to port; moving forward, the saloon with U-shaped seating to starboard and a seat/berth to port, a central table with a folding leaf to port, and folding pilot berths outboard on both sides; then an area originally intended to be a workshop which developed into a dressing table area, opposite a heads/shower compartment; and in the forepeak a double berth cabin. Aft of the main companionway is an owner’s cabin with a central double berth, with its own en-suite heads and shower to port.

The interior fit-out began with the structural bulkheads, vertical V-grooves routered into their faces to replicate

tongue-and- groove construction. They were epoxied to the sides of the deck beams and frames, but without coming into contact with the hull planking, giving an extremely strong and stiff construction, while allowing the hull planking to move as it should do.

Next, the sole bearers were fixed between the bulkheads, with temporary soles loosely fitted to provide a good working platform for the boatbuilders.

As much as possible, joinery was constructed on the workbench prior to fitting on board. This reduces the number of craftsmen who need to be in the relatively small spaces of the boat at any one time.

All of the joinery framework is solid oak, with the panelling in cluster oak veneers, personally selected at Reliance Veneers by Lance, who preferred this to the pippy oak chosen by the owner of Polly Agatha, Cockwells’ earlier pilot cutter.

Engineering installationsBefore any of the joinery was fitted, however, consideration had to be given to some of the engineering items. The 225-litre custom-built stainless steel fuel tank and the hot water calorifier tank, for instance,

were fitted in the aft cabin before the double berth was assembled around them. Should the need ever arise, it will be perfectly possible to remove these tanks.

The same also applied to the two water tanks (total capacity around 350 litres) in the saloon seating as well as the installation of the engine exhaust pipe outboard of the starboard cupboards in the aft cabin. In fact all the plumbing and cable routes were planned from the beginning so that allowances could be made in the joinery construction and installation.

GRP boats generally have internal deckhead linings; these hide the unsightly non-gelcoat side and compensate for the poor insulation properties of that material. They also provide cover for the electrical cables to the overhead lighting, but on a timber boat such as this it is highly desirable to leave the underside of the ply sub deck (routered to replicate the seams in the teak laid deck above) and the deck beams exposed, so another solution has to be found.

Cockwells solved the problem by routering T-section channels into the top surface of first layer of the ply subdeck, once it had been fitted, following carefully planned routes. After the cables were positioned in the deep part of the channels, 1mm-thick stainless-steel strips were fixed

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Plumbing and cable routes were planned from the beginning

Panelling in cluster oak veneers, personally selected

Above: the nav area with, inset, behind the switch panel

Left: base of the u-seat in the saloon

Right: the well-equipped galley

over the top of them, to protect against damage from anyone drilling for new deck fittings without reference to the plan, and then the second layer of ply was fitted.

A Nanni N4.60HE diesel engine, selected because it is small and quiet for the 60hp it develops, and has a strong UK dealership, was installed between the companionway steps and the aft cabin dressing table with good access on three sides. It was connected via a Python Drive thrust bearing and a 1.75in-diameter stainless-steel shaft to a feathering Variprop, preferred by Lance to a fixed-blade propeller which would produce unwelcome drag when sailing.

cooking and comfortThe galley equipment includes a Wallas gimballing diesel cooker with hob and oven, a domestic 240-volt microwave which can be used through an inverter (with careful respect for the batteries!) when shore power is not available, and a Vitrifrigo freezer (in a custom-insulated box) and fridge, each with its own keel-cooled compressor. The work surfaces in the galley (and also the heads) were made of a solid surface acrylic called Hi-Macs.

A Glemring diesel heater in the saloon also provides hot water for the small, discreetly-placed radiators in the forward and aft sleeping cabins as well as the galley and heads taps.

Both the toilets (electric aft and manual forward) were plumbed into the top of a stainless-steel holding tank which has an outlet pipe from its lowest point to a seacock. This gravity drain system is very simple – when out at sea the seacock will be kept open (and so the tank is effectively just part of the outlet pipe) and when in harbour

the seacock is closed – no additional pumps apart from those on the toilets themselves, and therefore less to go wrong. The tank can also be emptied in harbour via a pump-out fitting on deck.

InstrumentsThe navigation and communications equipment consists of an Icom VHF, Furuno GPS, Comar AIS, and Fleet Broadband. Sailing instruments are Tacktick’s wireless system, particularly beneficial in cutting out the need for a cable in the topmast for the wind vane. It also means instrument heads can be unclipped from their brackets and not left on permanent display on deck, which satisfied Lance who was keen, as far as was practical, not to have modern displays spoiling the traditional look of the deck.

For the same reason, a brass cover plate was made for the Raymarine autopilot control unit which, through its course computer, drives a custom-made bronze-bodied hydraulic ram which had been specifically developed by Cockwells for its tiller-steered pilot cutters.

Next month: on deck; fittings and rig

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64 CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2010

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Far left: Hounds and spreadersLeft: Deadeye and lanyard

Left: Leather work on wire

Below: The mainsheet

horse and sheet, and the

name on the rudder stock cap

Lance Whitehead’s Cockwells pilot cutter is given her name and

takes to the water – but there is still much to do. By Nigel Sharp

STAgES Of buILDINg A PILOT cuTTER

Stage 6 Launching and rigging

7

On 2 November 2009, Cockwells launched the pilot cutter they had been building for Lance Whitehead

over the previous 15 months. One of the last jobs to be carried out prior to this was the signwriting on the stern. Lance had actually decided right from the start that he wanted her to be called Merlin. However, enquiries with the British Registry of Ships revealed that this name was already in use so, after some consideration, he decided that the name Merlin of Falmouth would set his boat apart in an appropriate way.

There was nothing particularly dramatic about the launching process – the boat was merely moved to the bottom of the slipway at a low spring tide and then, towards the end of the flood, she calmly floated off her cradle. This can be a nerve-racking moment for a custom boatbuilder as this is the first time that his calculations regarding the weight of the boat and its distribution are put to the test. However, it was immediately apparent that Merlin ‘looked right’ in that respect, bearing in mind that there was still a fair amount of weight to be added – the rig, chain, fuel, and water, for instance.

Inevitably there was some seepage through the plank seams, but certainly no more than was to be expected. However, taking a cautious approach, Dave Cockwell decided to stay on board that night. He slept

lightly and was conscious of the occasional noise of the automatic bilge pump each time it cut in. If there had been a serious problem he would have been alerted to it and in the best possible situation to deal with it. However, there wasn’t, and in the following days and weeks the hull ‘took up’ very much in the way that was expected.

bigger rigMerlin is 3ft (91cm) longer than Polly Agatha, Cockwells’ previous pilot cutter, but the rigs on both boats are the same size, albeit a fair bit bigger (about 6ft/1.8m on the mainsail luff) than the original rig on Peggy, the 1904 boat on whose lines the two boats are based.

The basic construction of the five spars was carried out by Wesley Massam of Noble Masts, well known to Dave Cockwell from his

days building boats in Bristol. The mainmast, topmast, boom, bowsprit and staysail boom were all built of Oregon Pine (imported from the west coast of the USA) and were of hollow construction with the sections held together with resorcinol glue, considered by Wesley (and indeed most timber spar makers) to be more forgiving than epoxy. They were then sealed with one coat of Coelan and delivered to Falmouth so that all the various fittings could be dry-fitted by Cockwells.

The custom-made fittings aloft were all fabricated in mill-finished stainless steel to replicate the look of galvanised steel, just as some of the deck fittings had been. At the top of the mainmast there were four such fittings – the top one included a leather lined ‘spectacle band’ in which the topmast was held, an attachment point for a peak halyard block and a sheave for the timinogee which supports the middle part of the topsail luff; the next two fittings had further attachment points for blocks for the peak and jib halyards plus the jumper stays, and the lower fitting included the spreader bracket and the throat halyard crane.

At that point there was also a timber bracket to hold the heel of the topmast in place. Another fitting at the top of the topmast included sheaves for the topsail and burgee halyards, and attachment points for the masthead light and wind indicator.

A number of other rig fittings were made of bronze. Where possible they were proprietary items, but most of them were custom-made involving the same processes of designing, pattern making, casting, machining and polishing as many of the deck fittings, and described in the earlier article on the deck (CB 262). Cockwells have the experience and contacts to produce these fittings relatively easily.

The gooseneck consisted of two bands, each one in two parts to allow them to clamp around the mast. Between the bands

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65CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2010

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Above: gooseneck fitting with an extra swivel for the spinnaker pole, roller reefing and belaying pins, all on nine coats of coelan Left: coating the spars Right: Top of the mainmast

Left: Merlin is positioned at the bottom of the slipway at a low spring tide to await being floated off her cradle by the flood tide

there were two vertical swivels – one aft for the main boom and an additional one forward specially requested by Lance to allow occasional use of a spinnaker pole. All of that was custom made but with the addition of six belaying pins which were available from Davey and Co.

Once all the fittings had been dry-fitted, they were removed and a further eight coats of Coelan applied, before everything was permanently fixed and sealed.

On deck, the mainsheet horse comprised specially-cast end fittings, with studs going through the deck and the hull planking in the counter (with a spacer between) to cope with the considerable loads, linked by a piece of bronze round bar with four rubber buffers each side of the slider to take any shock loads, especially in the event of an accidental gybe.

Traditional winchesA length of bronze T-section track was fitted athwartships just forward of the mast for the self-tacking staysail. Working pilot cutters favoured tackles over winches but as Lance was keen for the sail handling to be as convenient as possible, he purchased a pair of second-hand traditional looking winches from which he had the chrome stripped before polishing the newly-exposed bronze himself. These were fitted outboard of the cockpit coamings so that they could be used for the jib sheets and running backstays.

The standing rigging was stainless steel wire with all the ends (30 in all) spliced, served and leathered. This skilled work was carried out by Dennis Platten whose company, Traditional Rigging, is based in Bristol. The three main shrouds each side, held outboard and clear of the capping rails and bulwarks by the channels on the hull planking, were tensioned by lanyards threaded through specially turned elm deadeyes giving a six-part purchase.

The running rigging was made up from English Braids’ polyester in a traditional looking beige colour – generally braid-on-braid for sheets and for running backstay and halyard hardener tackles, and 3-strand for halyards.

All the blocks – around 40 in total - were purchased from Claessons in Sweden. They have ash bodies, nylon sheaves, stainless-

steel pins and galvanised straps. When they arrived at Cockwells they were dismantled, soaked in a mixture of turpentine and teak oil for at least 48 hours, wiped with pure teak oil and, once dry, reassembled.

SailsThe mainsail, topsail, jib and staysail were all made by SKB Sails of Penryn in a cream coloured Dacron, and Lance is keen to expand this wardrobe at some point with the addition of an asymmetric spinnaker.

A couple of weeks after Merlin was launched the mast was stepped - on the next big tide so the boat could be brought alongside the quay wall for a reasonable length of time. Merlin would soon be ready for sea trials. Next month: Final completion, sea trials and handover, and a word or two on costs

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62 CLASSIC BOAT JULY 2010

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Left: Merlin tries out her topsail for the first time

Lance Whitehead’s Merlin of Falmouth is launched and

rigged. Time to find out how she sails. By Nigel Sharp

StAgES Of buIldINg A PIlOt cuttER

Stage 7 Sea trials

7

After Merlin’s mast was stepped, much had to be done to get her ready for sailing. The bottom ends of the

standing rigging were made off, the other spars put in place, the running rigging reeved, the bobstay and sprit stays connected, the mast boot fitted, and the mainsail bent on and laced to the comb along the top face of the boom and to the gaff.

Initial engine trials were carried out and temperature, oil pressure and boat speed readings were noted at various revolutions per minute. With the boat in the water and the mast wiring connected, Greenham Regis were now able to come down from their

Lymington office to commission all the instrumentation and navigational equipment that they had supplied.

One morning in early December when all this work had been completed, Merlin of Falmouth was very nearly ready for sailing trials. To give a bit more time for any finishing touches, Dave Cockwell motored her down the Penryn River (before the tide went out) to Falmouth Visitors’ Yacht Haven and moored up alongside an outside pontoon. By early afternoon, all was ready.

Dave decided to take the boat off the berth under sail and without using the engine – not necessarily the usual thing to

do with a brand new boat but the conditions were ideally suited: a gentle wind just off the pontoon-side bow, no tide and no other boats around to get in the way.

So the mainsail was hoisted, showing the sail number F14, chosen by owner Lance Whitehead – F for Falmouth, the place of her build, plus the sail number of his very first dinghy (a Fairey Duckling) which also happens to be the date of his birthday. The two headsails followed and the jib was backed to take the bow away from the pontoon as she set sail.

Merlin ghosted slowly away from the berth with her crew of six of the Cockwells’ employees who had contributed most to her build, and sailed past Falmouth Docks and out into the Carrick Roads. They found no more than 10 knots of wind, but it was a good start and Dave was pleased with the boat’s light-wind performance. However, there was still much to test and prove in stronger conditions.

Stronger windsThe next day, Merlin went out again. The weather was very different from the previous day’s sail, with a fresh southwest breeze in the morning and a forecast of Force 6 to 7 in the afternoon. Merlin left the berth at 11am (under power this time!) and motored out into clear water off the docks to hoist the sails. The mainsail went up first and then the staysail. Just then a gust came through and it was decided there might be too much for the jib as well at such an early stage of the boat’s trials programme.

During the subsequent sail she was found not surprisingly to be rather unbalanced with this combination. The decision to use just one headsail was wise but it would have been far better had it been the jib. Merlin sailed around in the Carrick Roads for a short time before returning to Falmouth just as the rain and stronger wind arrived.

“Dave decided to take her off the berth under sail”

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Left: Merlin’s easy motion impresses her new owner

Whilst all the trials helped to iron out the teething problems that might be expected, the next three sails (which took place during Cockwells’ holiday shutdown between Christmas and New Year) were also able to serve other purposes, thanks to Lance’s kind permission.

On Boxing Day, Merlin used her topsail for the first time during a fun race hosted by Flushing Sailing Club. She performed admirably and, despite Dave’s policy of staying out of trouble, finished in front of a variety of large cruising boats and small racing boats, and was only beaten by a twin-trapeze performance dinghy. It was a very welcome opportunity to show the boat off to some of the local sailing community.

Dave then had two further sails on which he invited selected potential clients, one in very light winds, the other in quite a blow.

During the light weather sail, one of the guests, having received a call from home with unwelcome news, needed to get ashore urgently. Merlin was south of St Anthony Lighthouse at the time but came back into the Carrick Roads and arranged to meet up with the Duchess of Cornwall, the St Mawes–Falmouth passenger ferry built by Cockwells in 2008, to take the guest ashore.

Minor problemsHappily for Cockwells, there were no major problems during these various trials, but there were inevitably a number of small ones and these were easily rectified. A traditional gaff cutter rig is a lot more complex that of a bermudan sloop – two halyards for the mainsail, for instance, the peak and jib halyards both double-ended with a hardener on one end, two topping lifts for the main boom, two sets of running backstays and many more additional lines and tackles which can all give potential problems with tangles and unfair leads which have to be resolved. The mainsail

roller reefing proved not to work properly, but this was easily solved by filing the locking pin and applying some grease.

There is a greater significance to trials on a custom-built boat than on a production one. Just one example is that all plumbing runs are unique and therefore need to be tested at angles of heel on both tacks.

Owner’s first sailIt was a while before Lance was able to find the time in his own busy work schedule to have his first sail on his new boat but, when the day came, the weather could hardly have been more perfect. When Merlin left the pontoon at Cockwells’ yard on the Penryn River, soon after 8am to catch the tide, the sun was shining and the wind strength seemed to be around the Force 3 to 4 that was forecast.

The sails were hoisted in the Carrick Roads, and then Merlin sailed south, past the lighthouse, into the open waters of the English Channel. Lance took the helm for most of the day, and his pleasure at sailing his new boat for the first time was there for all to see. He commented on the pleasant motion of the boat and on how easily she hove to – an essential quality in any cruising boat. For a while the boat steered herself perfectly well with no hand on the tiller!

A couple of weeks later, Cockwells formally handed Merlin over to Lance. She was now ready for her delivery trip to the Solent.

Merlin set off on a Sunday morning with Lance, his son Miles, his lifelong friend Richard, Dave Cockwell and myself as crew. Throughout the trip there was a cold Force 4 to 6 wind from the north with a frequent unwelcome hint of east in it. Initially we thought we might stop at Dartmouth for the night – however, while the boat was behaving beautifully, three cases of mal de mer and the cold breeze were taking their toll on the crew which prompted us to check if the tides would be suitable to go into Salcombe. They were and we did!

The next morning we left Salcombe and sailed to Yarmouth where we picked up a mooring soon after midnight. After some very welcome sleep we motored the remaining few miles to the Hamble River and Merlin’s new home at Universal Marina.

The cost of a Cockwells’ 48ft (14.6m) Pilot Cutter, built to the same standard as Merlin of Falmouth, would be in the region of £500,000 depending on specification.Cockwells Modern & Classic Boatbuilding, Mylor Creek Boatyard, Cornwall TR11 5NS Tel: +44 (0)1326 377366 www.cockwells.co.uk