BOB KEMPS BUILDS A JANETTE |
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| August 5, 2002 John Welsford Small Craft Design Dear John, I am writing to let you know about the completion of another Janette. I will start by saying that this was only my second attempt at boat building, and that I know very little about sailing. My first boat was a D4, which is very heavy and probably indestructible, but is now hidden in the garden shed. This aside should be taken as a reflection of my knowledge at the time, and not a slight on the poor old D4s’ design. Since then I have read any available boat building books and magazines, while talking to people around Brisbane who build small boats, and who do know what they are doing. Once building started it took me several months of evenings and weekends, and was done in a single car garage, with an old desk as a workbench. I used the Golden Bay dinghy sail plan with self made wooden spars and mast. This was in part because I liked that sail plan, and also because I didn’t have much luck finding a decent second hand sail setup that would have been much cheaper. The sail was made in a light cream colour by Doyle Fraser in Brisbane, and is capable of catching the lightest breeze. This was evident last weekend when the wind dropped right off but I was still passing catamarans (at about 1/4 kt) while they paddled with their hands. The boat flies when the wind is up, and would probably match the dastardly catamarans if I were a better skipper. Building took a while, but was not particularly difficult and problems were usually of my own making. One part that did cause me some heartache was fitting the lowest bow plank. Trying to get the plank shaped correctly without cutting too much off, and then bringing the two sides together evenly, without twisting the bow, was interesting. In the end I used Spanish windlass between the points of greatest curvature, and epoxy filler to get the edge sorted out. One area I did deviate from the plans was the center spine and keelson. Here I used two planks either side of the spine, and cut the spine to rest on the bottom panel. My thinking was that this should increase the rigidity of the keel while hiding any imperfections in the lower edge of the spine. It also allowed me to use narrower planks for the keelson, which were easy to bend and screw down. Every thing else was done ‘by the book’ with any other deviations only being a result of my building skills. I finished the hull with Dynel up the second chine, hand painting the exterior with white enamel and blue trim, while spray painting the interior a light gray/green. I started building oars but they overwhelmed my workshop and skills, so I ended up buying a pair. Now that I have her in the water she stands out with her clean lines, clinker hull and lugsail. The boat has areas that could have been better built, but she is ‘straight’ and moves well. I have learnt a lot and will undoubtedly build a much neater boat next time. In closing I would like to put in a good word for Ross Lillistone at Bayside Wooden Boats. He bore with my obvious ignorance and offered advice that was useful. Indeed, he recommended the Janette design without knowing that I had already purchased the plans, and then convinced me to start building when I was beginning to doubt the wisdom of the whole enterprise. Sincerely, Douglas Kemp |
The Janette is available from John Welsford Small Boat Design. |