Boat bash completed /:
A long overdue update with, unfortunately, very slow progress as I battle prolonged health issues. Nevertheless, I have finished the 25 foot longboat.
As mentioned previously I decided to make it mostly from pear instead of the supplied kit basswood, using the lift method for hull construction. Although I did use a few laser cut parts from the kit, such as the keel, stem and sternpost when I was having a lazy day
.
For fun I have added some small items in the boat including a toggle painter, boat hook, additional line etc. I lashed the oars in pairs but ignored the additional lashings securing them to thwarts. The oars would have been made from ash, beech or fir. I decided on fir and stained them to simulate a darker wood. I think a lighter AYC simulating ash would have been better but it is what it is.
The longboat will be mounted on the gallows bitts between the sweeps. The manual says to not worry about chocks but I think I’ll make them anyway, for additional security in place. The 16 sweeps have also now been sanded to shape and stained to simulate a darker fir. I believe the wood of choice for ships’ sweeps was fir.
I continue to be unpleasantly surprised at how close-up photos show every blemish. Something a lot of us are familiar with (except Paul @dockattner
). Of course at 11cm in length the boat looks better when viewed from further away.
Hopefully back to the main build from hereon. Thanks for using some of your valuable time to follow my progress.


A long overdue update with, unfortunately, very slow progress as I battle prolonged health issues. Nevertheless, I have finished the 25 foot longboat.
As mentioned previously I decided to make it mostly from pear instead of the supplied kit basswood, using the lift method for hull construction. Although I did use a few laser cut parts from the kit, such as the keel, stem and sternpost when I was having a lazy day
.For fun I have added some small items in the boat including a toggle painter, boat hook, additional line etc. I lashed the oars in pairs but ignored the additional lashings securing them to thwarts. The oars would have been made from ash, beech or fir. I decided on fir and stained them to simulate a darker wood. I think a lighter AYC simulating ash would have been better but it is what it is.
The longboat will be mounted on the gallows bitts between the sweeps. The manual says to not worry about chocks but I think I’ll make them anyway, for additional security in place. The 16 sweeps have also now been sanded to shape and stained to simulate a darker fir. I believe the wood of choice for ships’ sweeps was fir.
I continue to be unpleasantly surprised at how close-up photos show every blemish. Something a lot of us are familiar with (except Paul @dockattner
). Of course at 11cm in length the boat looks better when viewed from further away.Hopefully back to the main build from hereon. Thanks for using some of your valuable time to follow my progress.






