The Boat

Katla is a 26ft Wooden Gaff Cutter built by Martin Lund in 2006 of the Wynfall design by Mark Smaalders.

She is Carvel built of Mahogany planks over sawn Pine frames. The planks are fastened with Stainless Steel (316) screws and the frames are glued and fastened using wooden pegs and Galvanised bolts. Before painting, all wood was treated with a mixture of Turpentine, Pine Oil and Cuprinol.

The deck is Marine Plywood epoxy laminated and covered with chopped strand mat in epoxy resin. The Spar is of Siberian Larch. The rudder is transom hung on Stainless Steel (316) pintles.

The ballast keel is a Stainless Steel (316) box of 6mm sides and bottom, which has lead ingots in it. The lead is then laid in poliester resin inside. Five Stainless Steel (316) tubes are welded inside vertically through the keel box, where the keel bolts go through, meaning the box is completely sealed from seawater. There are 5 Stainless Steel (316) keelbolts to carry 1.5 tonnes. It is a massively strong construction.

There are no through hull fittings and a water tight bulkhead under the cockpit.

The broker described her as: 'A sturdy and salty little lady. Which will appeal to traditionalists on a budget'.

There is no inboard engine, no toilet, no electronics, and traditional (Block & Tackle) rigging (no winches).

LOA: 26' - 5"
LWL: 23' - 10"
BEAM: 8' - 10"
DRAFT: 3' - 10"
DISP: 9500 lbs
BALLAST: 3300 lbs
D/L: 343
SAIL AREA: 466 sq. ft.

The Trip

View Katla

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Alongside the Taj

Well after getting a bit of an ear bashing from several people here it is at last – a new blog post! Thanks to Veracity for the spare volts…

I am still in English harbour moored up alongside James and his steel yacht we call ‘The Taj’, me being his ‘Walla’.

Since arriving, I have been spending the days mostly working on the boat and learning a range of new skills including working with wood, rope, leather and canvas.

The first job was to build a new set of Gaff jaws to at least make the boat sailable again. After a week helping James & Marcus in Sprouts woodshop they were complete and I even got paid a ‘wage’ for helping out on other jobs.

Other completed tasks include painting the coach roof and decks white so you don’t suffer third degree burns (she also looks 'real purdy' now), various sail repairs and rigging modifications.

Hopefully the sale completion of DORIS will go through on the 16th and I will have some spare money to install some batteries and finally get some power onboard. I have to say though, life by paraffin lamp is quite pleasant and simple.

I still haven’t got the outboard engine working mainly because I hate it. It looks like a huge cancer hanging off the ass of my boat, but I guess it makes sense to keep it.

Jobs (projects) yet to do include:

Build a wooden dinghy that stows on the coach roof

A sculling oar so that it may be possible to loose the outboard

Add a reef to my Staysail

Make some proper storm sails

A topsail made from an old wind surfing rig

Anyway, that’s me for now …

Boo & Katla.

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous6 October 2009 at 21:02

    Ear bashing > guilty as charged.

    Good to see you are alive!

    Drop me an email with update on what's cooking, Doris, Christmas plans, etc.

    When an old school boat like Veracity has to lend you volts you know you need to go shopping!!! ;-)

    Crutey

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jayson27 October 2009 at 09:32

    Hi,

    It is an interesting post.

    Yachts are an area where there are a number of yacht jobs available. These are based on organizations that take groups of people out for few months for a set fee. This is good for those who want to make sure that they frequently get the chance to get back on land.

    ReplyDelete

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