Broadsmen (people)

[BroadAmbition]

Over the past couple of weeks I 'Met' another genuine Broadsman over the phone.  I have yet to meet him in person which I will do so this / next month.

I won't name him or his former yard for now as I'm hoping he may join the NBN

Nowadays he is retired but he used to be a boat builder and yard manager in a now long gone large boatyard on the Yare (Not Brooms btw)   We had an interesting conversation.  Two things he said that were really surprising, he told me that between 76 and 85-ish his yard was absolutely flat out fulfilling orders.  In one particular year they built and fitted out seventy six new boats.  Yes that's right seventy six in one year ! - Wow! they were all tupperware of course, the moulds done over in Rackheath.  He said managing the progress and workforce when it was manic was a breeze but more awkward during slacker times.  Nearly all the engines used were either Perkins or Bmc with Nannis's just starting to break through

I do hope he joins as it is always a bonus for the NBN to have such fascinating Broads Men' onboard with their historical knowledge to share / educate

Griff

[andyg]

Don't think it's that hard to guess 😕 be great to hear his stories griff. Fingers crossed 

[oldgregg]

I can think of quite a few large yards on the Yare that are sadly long gone...

But one at that scale which was fitting out that volume of Aquafibre and isn't Brooms ?

[oldgregg]

Got it, I think. The move is what threw me....

[floydraser]

I would have one question for any old Broadsman like the guy above: Any idea what happened to the old drawings?

[socrates]

2 hours ago, floydraser said:

I would have one question for any old Broadsman like the guy above: Any idea what happened to the old drawings?

Someone who worked at HW told me that the drawings for the Golden Light boats were chucked in a skip. Sadly, it seems a lot of the old drawings met a similar fate. I think I know where the drawings for the Ripplecrafts are, just a case of finding the time to sort through the piles of stuff to find them. 

[BroadAmbition]

I know where the originals drawings are for Star Supreme 1, (Our Broad Ambition of course) sadly not in my ownership but hopefully will be one day

What I don't know is where I can source an original Jack Powels build plate

Griff

[FairTmiddlin]

26 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

What I don't know is where I can source an original Jack Powels build plate

Griff

Do you have a photo of an original? If so and know dimensions, I would think they could be replicated as a last resort.

[floydraser]

1 hour ago, socrates said:

Someone who worked at HW told me that the drawings for the Golden Light boats were chucked in a skip. Sadly, it seems a lot of the old drawings met a similar fate. I think I know where the drawings for the Ripplecrafts are, just a case of finding the time to sort through the piles of stuff to find them. 

Well let's not give up hope; one day we may find a dusty old attic somewhere.... 

 

[BroadAmbition]

Do you have a photo of an original? If so and know dimensions

Not sure, I do remember seeing one on another JP craft though

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Ah Ha!

Knew I had a photo of an original somewhere, took some finding though

Griff

 

[grendel]

I know I could do a close match in wood or acrylic, theoretically I can do brass and aluminium, so not promising, but I can have a try for you Griff.

[ChrisB]

I bet those screw slots were aligned, both horizontal originally. Just me but I hate seeing Barometers,clocks, plates etc screwed on boats and the screws not aligned.

[ChrisB]

Microfilm Archiving has been around since the 1920s. What a shame that so many have not committed their place in history on it for posterity.

[TheQ]

Same happened to a lot of the records of all the railway locomotives built around the country. When BR started cutting back in the late 1950's to the 1970's they were mostly just taken out and burnt..

[Bikertov]

3 hours ago, grendel said:

I know I could do a close match in wood or acrylic, theoretically I can do brass and aluminium, so not promising, but I can have a try for you Griff.

Do you mean a miniature one for the model BA, or a full size one for the real boat 

[FairTmiddlin]

Grendel . Done a cut out if it's any good

[ChrisB]

You could use an Engraving Laminate. I know that Traffolyte do a Gold/Black/Silver that would replicate the photo of the original very well as you would get the gold lettering with the black background. You need to get hold of an off-cut and get it on a CNC Router. I think a 1.5m x 1.3m x 3mm sheet is knocking on £200, hence an off-cut.

[grendel]

https://www.908ltd.co.uk/shop/external-engraving-laminate/gloss-black-gold

not quite as bad as you think, this black gold black is £22 for a 2' x 2' sheet (610x610)@ 1.5mm thick

but I do have a small cnc router system, and I think I may be able to get close, (i havent found how to hatch the background yet and the font isnt quite perfect)

but I have a design in the software now

 

[ChrisB]

Sounds like you have an embryonic business there Grendel.

[BroadAmbition]

I need to have a dig around  to see if I can find any 'Wows', used em all up on the model thread

Griff

[grendel]

just running a test in mdf, I have a bit of 3mm brass that will do for the final bit, but just enough to make 2 so I am running the test in mdf.

[grendel]

Had a moment's panic when I thought it had missed the middles of the o's and other letters, but it went round and cleaned those out at the end, I will have to run it as 2 separate operations as the bit I used for the lettering was too short to go through the work readily, and if it catches in brass it will certainly break the bit. But quite pleased overall, even in MDF.

[Smoggy]

That's pretty bloody good Mr.G! 

[JanetAnne]

It's the way he makes it all look so effortless that's really impressive.