Winnie CK98

Morning Gerard, I see you are busy as always in the shed. Maybe you could share with us who you have in here at the moment.

Hi Lyndon, Good to see you again, cup of tea ?

We have Winnie in the Boatshed at the moment, having investigations into how to stop the constant leak she has developed over the last couple of years. Sadly the laying up of these wooden boats during the lockdown has not been kind to them.

They need to be hydrated in salt water for a period of time during the year. If not it leads to the timber moving and struggles to go back again once they are wet. This has occurred with her floors, many of which are original 1920 elm. The planks which were replaced in 1978 at Maldon by the shipwright Alf have now lost their fixings to the old frames. This has led to the bottom moving independently to the frames causing a weakness to the whole boat.

The remedy was to replace the rotten original frames and refasten the whole bottom. It was amazing how quickly the strength returned to her structure. It was necessary to burn her off inside under the floorboards and then what started as just the bottom of the outside of the hull turned into the whole boat being burnt off.

This is the first time I have seen these planks with no paint on since I helped put them in with Alf in 1978. My father had brought her for me in 1970, when I was 11. She was like a Rolls Royce compared to my first boat Tar Pot, who was literally held together with the help of her name sake ! Her previous owner was Jane Benham, who with her father Harvey Benham were instrumental in the formation and success of the East Coast Sailing Trust. SB Thalatta, who is also part of the Essex Heritage Workboat Fleet, was brought by the ECST for their work with schools on the East Coast.

I held on to every rivet during the restoration. The old shipwright was puzzled as to why I wanted this wreck touched when he could easily have built me a new boat. Even then I was aware of just how important these work horses were and if we just replaced them with a new one, their history would go too. I had listened to the stories told of these little vessels and learnt of their role, I was totally hooked. The fact there are now only six original sailing winklebrigs left, makes even more reason to take care of her.

Winnie was then able to sail to Mersea from Maldon to take part in the regattas there, safe in knowledge she wouldn’t sink ! So here she is again back having her checked over to ensure her owner, Simon Jacklin ,can take her out and sail without constant pumping. Simon has owned Winnie for nearly ten years now. When he was looking for a boat to race in the local classes, he knew he wanted to be involved with a bit of local heritage. Winnie fitted the bill nicely for him.

More tea ?