Here is Billy Blue

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grumpydog

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In response to Gordonmc, who owns a lovely 8-ton Hilly, and just for the hell of it, here are a couple of pics of my boat. I own her with four others, and we bought her in autumn 2006. Most of the work has been done by Tom Wilkinson, who is a carpenter, and whose last project was a pretty little 1950s Buchanan Wind Elf (25ft). The rest of us have chipped in when we can - varnishing, sanding, painting etc. A hell of a lot of work has been done - too much to go into here. We are now at the stage of looking for the right tide and booking the crane to launch - but we still have a way to go with rigging and interior. I can't wait till she's afloat, as I hate going up and down the ladder - pain in the neck. Billy Blue is a 1932 Hillyard 9-tonner, 30ft (a lot more with sprit and bumkin), 8ft 6in beam, weights about 8.5 tonnes, and draws 4ft 6in. She's pitch pine (faultless) on oak, with elm keelson and deadwood. She's largely original - but the skylight is an addition. Thanks for all the advice provided by forum members over the years!
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My gob is proper smacked.
A fine looking craft and its obvious how much work has gone into her. The hull, especially, looks well faired which takes a lot of elbow grease. I wonder if p.pine might be a tad more stable than mahogany which seems to move around a bit on Flap.
Did you move the chainplates outboard or did you get the boat like that? The reason I ask is that the chainplates go through the deck on my boat and secure to the inside of sawn ribs. I have never been able to properly stop leaks and contemplated moving them to the outside of the hull.
Here's the very best of luck for your launch, hopefully to take advantage of the Indian Sunmmer we are all looking forward to.
Ps. I missed you at SBS but all is forgiven if you were working on BB.
 
Glad people like it! I certainly do. I'll do a little piece in the mag when we launch. Fairing the hull did take Tom a long time. I did a lot of the coats of paint myself. Pitch pine is, according to our technical editor John Perryman the absolute biz for hull planking, in terms of its resistance to rot. As for stability I don't know to be honest. It swells and shrinks, cracking paint off, as the weather changes, which is a pain. Interestingly, it rained recently, when we forgot to pull a hatch shut. The water level of rain in the bilges has not changed at all over the past few weeks. This for a boat that has been out of the water under a tarp for 12 years at least. Chainplates: they came like this. The previous owner had taken the boat to bits, and moved the chainplates back to accommodate a common Hillyard rig alteration, the addition of a sprit (original 9s were inboard rigged I'm fairly sure). I think though, that the plates were external when the boat was built. It gives the boat a masculine appearance which is quite pleasant, but overall, I prefer yachty looks to workboaty looks. So on reflection I'd rather have them inboard! Apologies we were thin on the ground at Soton. I gather the sun shone as it always does... We will have our usual big presence at Excel in Jan, and we're always to be found at Beale too. I'm hoping to make a return visit to the Hillyards open day this year if they are holding one. Might see you there?
 
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