superbly stiff. ‘The other thing we did was to put a piece of cotton caulking along a groove we cut in the edge of each plank, like the Fife boats have. And this helps to keep the deck waterproof,’ says Bo. The deck used 6,000 plugged screws but


no glue. ‘We used ship tar mixed with linseed oil on the areas under the deck where the planks landed on the beams and battens – it’s the best thing because it never gets hard and it does not affect the wood.’ Bo explains: ‘We did not dare glue the


deck with its solid mahogany wide planks because it would crack. You can actually see the deck working when the weather is very dry or if there is a lot of moisture in the air and this is the perfect solution. The deck is very strong; you can jump up and down on it, no problem.’ Another interesting feature is large


mahogany grab rails running from stem to stern about 16in (400mm) in from the gun- wale. They’re about 3in (80mm) high but bolted, with 60 bolts going down through the deck beams and into steel plates which connect to the steel frames in the hull. The connected grab rail, deck, batten and beam create a structure over 7in (187mm) thick,


40 SEAHORSE


with commensurate strength so this is where the runners, sheeting points and cleats are sited. The combination of the complex but light deck structure and the hull makes Ester unusually stiff and strong. When the boat was raised her original


below-decks turnbuckles had been removed and to recreate them Bo had to develop his own design. There are four shrouds on each side, the forward of which are parallel with the mast. ‘The available turnbuckles were too long to fit under the deck, so we had to custom design and make our own which connect to the chain- plates which themselves go right down to the keel,’ Bo says. He won’t explain the design, though; he says it’s a secret! Two of the chainplates connect across the keel and this creates a ring frame in way of the mast. When you look below deck you can see


these connecting steel plates, then either side of the mast, running almost the whole length of the boat, between the deck and the floors there is a further truss of painted pine. This further supports and contains the stresses of the rig. Everything is done with weight-saving in mind. So the runners travel along a steel


T-track but the upright of the T is made of oak – which is lighter, albeit by only a few grammes than the steel. The rigging pin rail around the mast is made of wood, with oak belaying pins covered in bronze tube to reinforce them in the same weight- loss to strength-gain rationale. Ester’s mast and gaff were made on site


of Sitka spruce. These were made of eight and six lengths of timber respectively and glued with Melamine Urea Formaldehyde (MUF). The mast is elliptically hollow in section with the sides 7mm thinner than fore and aft; it weighs just 73kg. The boom is of Oregon pine, to be just a little heavier than the spruce. Bo calls the rig a masterpiece. The


halyards are in three different thicknesses. When it’s hoisted there is only 6mm at the top, then there is a medium section and in the hand it is 12mm. The whole running rigging is a covered Dyneema and weighs just 13.5kg. ‘It all adds up to keeping the boat as light as possible,’ Bo affirms. Ester was then finished in a modern varnish. After a limited period of sea trials it was


time to take her south. She was launched at Hyères where she found a permanent


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120