Ian Lallow on Boatbuilding
Tracy: So, going back to the boats that you built. How were they built? Were they made of wood?
How were they built? Well, there were different forms of construction.
I mean the original would be a keel laid and then the frames round and planked. Put a deck on and whatever else had to go on it, but then as time went on, we got in to double diagged with fore and aft on the outside to make it look pretty and then eventually in 1982, we actually did a high-tech job. We were using Kevlar fibre glass, what have you.
That was built for Sir Morris Lang and using all the materials that were made by … the name of the firm … in Cowes. It’s called Gurit now isn’t it but it was called something else in those days, but I can’t think what it was. They supplied all the high-tech gear.
We built the hull and that was a really high-tech job and then of course we used to finish off fibreglass hulls that were produced by other people. We’d bolt the keel on, bolt all the bits and pieces on and do all the necessary.
Not just sailing boats but motorboats as well.
Yes, we used to employ Joiners who did all the joinery work and put place by the boatbuilders. It was all interesting work. It evolved over the years.
As I said, were spanning … I started in 1961 and in 1982 we eventually got round to doing a high-tech job which in fact was the last, what I’d call a fairly large boat that we built. After that we built lots of Dragons and XOD’s and boats like that, which were conventional, although the Dragon became a multi-skinned yacht in 1988.
Tracy: So, what does diagged actually mean?
Diagged? Well, you put loads of wood across at right angles to each other. Instead of being fore and aft on the side of a boat, you go that way and that way and then another one and another one. Thin layers of plywood, or it doesn’t necessarily have to be plywood, we used to use plywood ‘cos it was strong and cheap.
Tracy: So, is that why it’s built that way, for strength?
Yeah. Strength and lightness. You know, it came out slightly lighter than solid timber.
Tracy: So, how long would it take roughly to build a boat?
Well, depending on the size of it obviously, but I mean an ‘X’ boat for instance you wouldn’t do in less that three months and a boat like ‘Morning Cloud’ you’d probably take six months.
Tracy: So, what would be the longest part of the process of just getting the main …?
Umm, difficult to say what the longest part is. I mean first of all you’ve got to lay it off, get the drawings out and mark it all off. On something you take templates but then you’ve got to make a keel.
Then you put the frames in and I guess the planking probably take longer than anything, but again, go back to cold moulded, the double diag that makes it a bit quicker. And then of course to put all the interior in, once you’ve got the hull, you going to put the bulkheads in, the engine in and tanks and all the rest of it.
It all takes time.
Tracy: And how long would it take to rig?
To rig? Oh, well we could do that overnight. You’d have it all ready, you know we’d have the mast laid down and all the rigging on it and you’d just hope that it all went together, it was the right length when put it in the boat, you know, but that’s what we used to do overnight, before the launch.
