Bawleys at risk

[ianc1200]

On social media, the Bawley Thistle has recently been put up for sale. Some years ago a group of concerned people stopped it from being cut up, formed a group and set about work (doesn't as though they got far), now they are giving up & she's for sale at Faversham. I'm based in the Walton Backwaters (NE Essex) and was made aware of another Bawley in a shed. This is Mollie, a 40'+ Canns built Bawley from about 1890. She's all there, hull, spars, sails, has been dry stored for at least 10 years. There's even a replacement engine. I've tried various Trusts/interest groups, & no interest. The Lowestoft Boat Building School would love to take it on but only for a paying client. They have told me allow £400,000 for the hull alone. There's also the large (largest?) Bawley Band of Hope, on a buoy at the top of the Roach, slowly disintegrating. Also have recently found out the Leigh Cockler Resolute, a Dunkirk Little Ship, which went to Glasgow in the early 2000's to a drug rehabilitation centre, they were going to use to teach people new skills in boatbuilding, wasn't restored and now has been cut up. So sad these craft are being lost.

 

[Wansworth]

At least get a set of lines off her,as with the barge Cambria it’s difficult to get a group to take on the looking after,a mad dedicated individual is the real answer….aLeo

 

[AntarcticPilot]

A Quote of £400,000 sounds very much as if it's a rebuild, not a repair. And I think that's likely. It has been said several times before both by me and others, but these boats were never built for a long life. They were built using whatever materials were available at a reasonable price that would do the job and give an economic return during an expected life of (say) 30 years. Anything past 30 years would be a bonus. So we can expect the fastenings to be in a bad way, a lot of rotten or degraded wood, and quite probably what we would regard as bodges in hidden away corners, where it was "good enough"! We see them as heritage, but their builders and first owners would have seen them as a means to the end of making a living from the sea. Sometimes we get lucky and the boatbuilder happened to have materials better than necessary available, but the chances of every part of the boat being better than necessary to dictate a reasonable economic life are not high. So "restore" really means - as in the case of Leo with Tally-ho - a complete rebuild, often to a much higher standard than the original.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

At least get a set of lines off her,as with the barge Cambria it’s difficult to get a group to take on the looking after,a mad dedicated individual is the real answer….aLeo

Only worth doing if there are grounds to believe she is the same shape as she was originally. @jstarmarine has presented ample evidence of a well-built Silvers motor cruiser (Chance) being sadly distorted by neglect and bodged repairs.

 

[ianc1200]

Strangely enough I see Chance most days too - I have a similar motor cruiser in a tent just a hundred yards away from Chance undergoing another (third in my case for this boat in 39 years) rebuild. I think the hull of Mollie is close to as was built, she had been turned into a yacht at one point but mostly that has been removed. £400.000 would really be an almost new boat, with the odd bit left in (similar as was done to Pioneer, Baden Powell etc). Mollie (about 2 miles away) has 1.5" pitch pine planking, it doesn't seen to be larch, and the top/sheer/whale planks are 2" thick. Can't imagine where you'd get replacements now.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Strangely enough I see Chance most days too - I have a similar motor cruiser in a tent just a hundred yards away from Chance undergoing another (third in my case for this boat in 39 years) rebuild. I think the hull of Mollie is close to as was built, she had been turned into a yacht at one point but mostly that has been removed. £400.000 would really be an almost new boat, with the odd bit left in (similar as was done to Pioneer, Baden Powell etc). Mollie (about 2 miles away) has 1.5" pitch pine planking, it doesn't seen to be larch, and the top/sheer/whale planks are 2" thick. Can't imagine where you'd get replacements now.

I'm berthed at Titchmarsh and really must take a walk round the yard to see her!

 

[jstarmarine]

Only worth doing if there are grounds to believe she is the same shape as she was originally. @jstarmarine has presented ample evidence of a well-built Silvers motor cruiser (Chance) being sadly distorted by neglect and bodged repairs.

Strangely enough I see Chance most days too - I have a similar motor cruiser in a tent just a hundred yards away from Chance undergoing another (third in my case for this boat in 39 years) rebuild. I think the hull of Mollie is close to as was built, she had been turned into a yacht at one point but mostly that has been removed. £400.000 would really be an almost new boat, with the odd bit left in (similar as was done to Pioneer, Baden Powell etc). Mollie (about 2 miles away) has 1.5" pitch pine planking, it doesn't seen to be larch, and the top/sheer/whale planks are 2" thick. Can't imagine where you'd get replacements now.

Much of Chance in the same shape as she was build, Just had to deal with a death in the family over the past month and will be getting back on to Chance soon. The main job to get on with is putting the correct shape back in to the starboard side aft and rebuilding the transom then we will be getting underway again.