Prologue
I think it was in 1974 as a school boy I read Ken Duxbury's trilogy of books which I had borrowed from the local library. The books documented his travels in his Drascombe Lugger "Lugworm".
Two of the books record a two year passage during which he and his wife sailed from Volos in Greece home to Cornwall via Italy the Mediterranean and the inland waterways of France before crossing the English Channel.
Ever since reading those books (read again a number of times over the years) I had coveted a desire to own such a boat and perhaps in time carry out a similar voyage myself, but marriage, family and lack of time meant that owning a Drascombe was well down the list of priorities, at least that is until the kids had left home.
Ownership of a Lugger eventually came to reality when in 2009 I purchased a “project boat” from an outward bound school in the Lake District via EBay.
Having surprised Kathleen my long suffering wife with a romantic weekend in the Lake District she was even more surprised when I came to pick her up with a trailer behind the car. Later that night with the help of 12 men recruited from a local pub my newly purchased Lugger (Braveheart) was on the trailer and my project could begin.
Having lain derelict in a field for more years than the previous owner could remember Braveheart came minus all spars, sails, running and standing rigging, outboard, rudder, trailer and any woodwork at all. She was in effect a bare hull with two large holes in her bottom. The holes that were large enough to put your head through and although I joked that one was to let the water in and the other to let the water out, they were a sad reflection on the unloved state that Braveheart was in.
I think it was in 1974 as a school boy I read Ken Duxbury's trilogy of books which I had borrowed from the local library. The books documented his travels in his Drascombe Lugger "Lugworm".
Two of the books record a two year passage during which he and his wife sailed from Volos in Greece home to Cornwall via Italy the Mediterranean and the inland waterways of France before crossing the English Channel.
Ever since reading those books (read again a number of times over the years) I had coveted a desire to own such a boat and perhaps in time carry out a similar voyage myself, but marriage, family and lack of time meant that owning a Drascombe was well down the list of priorities, at least that is until the kids had left home.
Ownership of a Lugger eventually came to reality when in 2009 I purchased a “project boat” from an outward bound school in the Lake District via EBay.
Having surprised Kathleen my long suffering wife with a romantic weekend in the Lake District she was even more surprised when I came to pick her up with a trailer behind the car. Later that night with the help of 12 men recruited from a local pub my newly purchased Lugger (Braveheart) was on the trailer and my project could begin.
Having lain derelict in a field for more years than the previous owner could remember Braveheart came minus all spars, sails, running and standing rigging, outboard, rudder, trailer and any woodwork at all. She was in effect a bare hull with two large holes in her bottom. The holes that were large enough to put your head through and although I joked that one was to let the water in and the other to let the water out, they were a sad reflection on the unloved state that Braveheart was in.
Once I had Braveheart home and off her trailer she was initially placed upside down on two trestles that I made and set up beside my garage / workshop. While she was on these trestles, I repaired the holes, stripped her of all her old paint, replaced the wooden keel timber and rubbing strakes, repaired numerous gouges in the hull gel coat and finally painted the hull with Osmosis treatment (belt and braces), primer undercoat and top coat - all International Paint.
Once the bottom of the hull was completed I rigged a block and tackle system and with the additional aid of a chain lift I turned her over to be the right way up.
Before starting on the topsides and cockpit the approaching winter necessitated building some sort of covered shelter to work under. So in parallel with working on the underside of the hull I drew up plans for a large car porch (boat porch), which I submitted to our local town council for planning permission and a building warrant. With approval given for the car porch in October 2009 I started construction just after I turned Braveheart over.
The car port which had brick piers and a tiled roof with two "hip ends" was completed by early December giving me a sheltered place to work on Braveheart's topsides.
Sourcing Teak from a variety of places - I bought the old bunk beds from a police station in Yorkshire via Ebay and 3 large teak beams from a work colleague, I soon had enough to replace the gunwales, transom, floor boards, centre board cap, main and mizzen mast supports and the thwarts.
All the teak was ripped to size on my table saw and then dressed using a planer / thicknesser before finally being cut to the exact size by hand.
The transom which is curved was made by laminating thin layers of teak together with each layer being bent to the correct curve before being glued and clamped.
An order of Sitka Spruce from Robins Timber in Bristol gave me the material to make both masts, the gaff and mizzen boom.
New standing rigging was obtained from Honnor Marine in Rochdale while the running rigging and deck fittings were sourced mainly from local Chandlers or via the Internet.
The missing rudder was made from the original metal tube which was the main sheet "horse"as i had replaced it with a new stainless steel "horse". The Lugger would have originally had a fixed rudder, but I decided to fabricate a new "kick up" rudder which would prevent damage if it touched the bottom.
In need of a trailer I again managed to source one via EBay. Having considered a few I decided to bid on a large ex army (unused reserve stock) which had originally been intended for a Rigid Raider assault craft and which was massively over engineered to meet the army's requirements for strength and reliability. My bid was the winning bid and I was the proud owner of a break back trailer that I could modify to suit Braveheart. The modifications included shortening it by 2 feet and moving the rollers.
The final large purchase was a new set of "battened roach" sails from R&J sails
While I could write pages of detail about the renovation of Braveheart the blog is really about our voyages and with her, so suffice to say by the spring of 2010 we had a completely renovated Drascombe Lugger and we were ready to sail her!
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