Page 31 - Folk Boat Year Book 2021

Boat Kits who are based in Kendal in the Lake District. Fyne Boats couldn’t have been
more cooperative and helpful. Of course, there is a
significant cost saving over buying the entire kit,
however the great advantage a kit has is that the
various components comprising panels/planks,
coamings etc. are laser cut precisely to shape, whereas
with just the drawings and the manual, it is necessary
to cut out the many shapes from drawings which takes
quite a while as I describe below.

The Oxford Shell MkII has a length of 6.350m and a
beam of 0.533m and weighs only 18 kgs without the
hardware which comprises the sliding seat, seat rails,
outriggers etc. and so is a one person lift which means
it is easily transported it on a car’s roof rack.

I bought the required 3mm and 6mm top quality marine ply from Robbins Timber in
Bristol and I bought the Epoxy and fibreglass matt and tape separately.

To envisage what the rowing shell comprises, think
of a long cigar tube which is formed from six
longitudinal planks forming the hull and the deck,
all joined together along their long edges with an
integral space formed just aft of midships for the
cockpit. To form the shape which tapers at each
end, the planks are laid inside seven upright moulds
which are fixed on a long low construction table at
precise stations along the boat’s length.

Step 1 is to join three 3mm. 8-foot x 4-foot ply
boards to form lengths of ply 7.5m long for the long
planks using a 25mm scarf joint along the 4-foot
edges of each board. This is tricky as 3mm ply is
bendy and it is necessary to get the scarfs to fit evenly and precisely. I used Resorcinol
marine glue to glue the scarfs. To work on, I needed a flat level table at around knee

31