Ed asks… lots of questions...

used for enjoyment.  The St Ayles skiff is a very traditional shetland boat
design ‘re-imagined for the 21st century’  (my words)   It is a class boat, all
built from the same CNC prepared kits of 8x4 marine ply plus a few bits of real
timber for the hog, keel, stem and stern, gunwhales.   The Scottish Fisheries
Museum who started it wanted something traditional, that could be used to
encourage coastal communities to take to the sea in row boars again.  Of course,
there’s some competition - look up ‘skiffs Stranraer’  but to be honest, these
are not racing boats.  Put 10 men in a bar and someone is bound to say ‘We can
go faster than you’ and so they do.   The great thing is that anyone without
wood skills can make one, and can compete, if that’s their choice, with others,
else just go rowing on the sea for the pleasure of being out there.  Excellent
sea boat, as It’s double ended, so no transom to get pooped, and tall enough to
keep (most of) the sea out if it gets lumpy.

Oar shape - they are pretty traditional for sweeps at sea.  Wide modern blades -
shopper style - are not good for amateurs in a rough sea.  The class rules state
no curved (spoon) blades, and they must be symmetrical about the centre line.
Oar locks must not be metal, so a feathering oar is, well, difficult.  Most are
rowed with pins and plates, the original design called for kabes, but I think
most crews are not accustomed to rowing with an oar which can slide in and
outboard, so some sort of lock is usual.

That lock allows 4 gears.  The thole pin goes through one of the slots, and acts
as keeper for the oar, whilst allowing articulation up and down, back and forth.
The one I made for the ‘test’ oar had 3 gears.   Four may be overkill, but the
club primarily wants oars they can use for social rowing with beginners of any
height and weight.

Green plane? - My personal kit.  Workshop colours are green and something off
white I found in a tin.  Record did change from RAF roundel blue to a dark green
for their CS88 smoother, the last hoorah of quality when Martin Calvert and Mel
Stevens got together to produce something from the old days - heavy casting,
Norris mechanism.   I have a number of them….   Lovely plane in the hand.