floydraser Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I so wanted to call this thread "Wooden Boat Porn" but I'm thinking about people in the future doing searches for information. Just like Vaughan, I was recently ferreting about looking for something and came accross this plan sheet for a wooden work boat and thought I would share it with you. I can't remember where I got it from but it's not a family thing. I think I just keep it because it's old and could be used for model making or something if I ever run out of things to do. Anyone want to speculate as to the age? 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 1895? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marshman Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I really doubt its that old - looks old but in those days the old boys didn't do a lot by plans -or thats my view!!! Just looks too detailed!! I think it might have been plans that were sent out to amateurs or a plan sent out to people who want to see how boats were built, but not one used to actually build them!!!!! I remember as a lad in the late 50's spending a lot of time with the two chippies down at Bells Boats in Brundall. Yes they had plans but I don't remember them in that detail!!! Agreed for the spacing of and the form of the frames but a lot more was done as they went along - they would nip out and look at an earlier one they might have built!! I am probably wrong again but remember vast numbers could not even read or write and a plan might not mean a lot! I think most just got on and built it because thats what they did. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floydraser Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 7 minutes ago, marshman said: I really doubt its that old - looks old but in those days the old boys didn't do a lot by plans -or thats my view!!! Just looks too detailed!! I think it might have been plans that were sent out to amateurs or a plan sent out to people who want to see how boats were built, but not one used to actually build them!!!!! I remember as a lad in the late 50's spending a lot of time with the two chippies down at Bells Boats in Brundall. Yes they had plans but I don't remember them in that detail!!! Agreed for the spacing of and the form of the frames but a lot more was done as they went along - they would nip out and look at an earlier one they might have built!! I am probably wrong again but remember vast numbers could not even read or write and a plan might not mean a lot! I think most just got on and built it because thats what they did. Good points. There are no specific dimensions marked so it would be difficult to build one from this anyway I would think. In the bottom left corner (not clear) it refers to drawings 790, 791, 792, 793 & 687, all being 30' boats. This was probably then a general illustration for a sales pitch? I imagine there would be more detailed drawings for the actual construction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grendel Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 post 1897 as that was when Harold A Underhill was born, so by my best estimates, maybe during the war for boatbuilders working toward the war effort, or post war, some of his books have a published date as late as 1987 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaceSwinger Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 For a minute then @floydraserI thought you'd bid on that hulk at Debdale 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grendel Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 harold a underhill plans are still available to purchase, it seems that there are quite a few. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughan Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 1 hour ago, marshman said: I really doubt its that old - looks old but in those days the old boys didn't do a lot by plans -or thats my view!!! Just looks too detailed!! I think it might have been plans that were sent out to amateurs or a plan sent out to people who want to see how boats were built, but not one used to actually build them!!!!! I remember as a lad in the late 50's spending a lot of time with the two chippies down at Bells Boats in Brundall. Yes they had plans but I don't remember them in that detail!!! Agreed for the spacing of and the form of the frames but a lot more was done as they went along - they would nip out and look at an earlier one they might have built!! I am probably wrong again but remember vast numbers could not even read or write and a plan might not mean a lot! I think most just got on and built it because thats what they did. Whilst I agree with Marshman in the way that boats were built "by eye" I would say that these are plans made to meet Admiralty specifications for "pulling boats" and "gigs" which served as ship's lifeboats but were also used for going ashore from a warship moored to a buoy, in harbours such as Scapa Flow. I learned how to row and sail boats like this when I was at naval college and they look like a small version of the standard Admiralty whaler, which was longer and with two masts. I would guess they are sometime in the early 1900s just before WW one, although Underhill may have used the design in his later line drawings. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floydraser Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 I've just found a bit of a biography on the Clyde Maritime forum after searching "harold a underhill - wiki". Interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughan Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 It seems that a "double banked" pulling boat with two oarsmen on each thwart pulling a single oar each, was called a cutter. A single banked boat with one oarsman on each thwart pulling one oar, was called a whaler. Your designs are single banked but smaller, and would have been called gigs. My Admiralty manual is a fairly new one, revised 1979, so it doesn't have all the designs of the old type pulling boats, which were not much changed since General Wolfe's siege of Quebec in 1759! I wish I had not lost my old copy, from when I was at college! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoryv Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 If you look at the title at the bottom of the plan it is produced using a Rotring stencil, I started my working life on a drawing board and we used the very same stencil, I would say late 60s early 70s 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoryv Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Rotring pens were invented in 1928, earlier than I thought, so post 1928, feels more like it ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Ricko Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 comparing them to the plans I have, I would say 1970s 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stationerystill Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Looking at the stencilled letters on the tittle at the bottom of the page I would say it could be anywhere from the 1940's. I have the same stencils which I used in the 60's on architectural plans and I inherited some more from my father who was a naval architect working from 1940 to 2002. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floydraser Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 Yep, I'm now beginning to think they are a lot younger than they look. I think they may be more like sketches to record an existing design rather than the design itself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotorBoater Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Probably originally late 40s into 50s, maybe produced to accompany one of his books (??) Matches design, and paper, of an unpursued project of my youth, recently disposed of. Plans, and books, are indeed still available, if rare it seems the pricing is designed to ensure they remain so ! Modellers Central have a number of plans, for books see the likes of Amazon and Waterstones. See below. The front cover pix are of a Jan 98 reprint (Amazon) note the foreground of vol 2. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grendel Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Also obtainable here - https://www.skipper.co.uk/catalogue/search?q=Harold A. Underhill for £10 per sheet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grendel Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 link to exact sheet - https://www.skipper.co.uk/catalogue/item/ships-boats-30-feet-double-ended-lifeboats-and-30-feet-transom-sterned-work-boat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotorBoater Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 3 hours ago, grendel said: Also obtainable here - https://www.skipper.co.uk/catalogue/search?q=Harold A. Underhill for £10 per sheet £10....That's more like it ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marshman Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Pretty small market even at that price I would guess!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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