February 2024: Peter Matheson, builder of traditional Scottish boats, and his volunteer team have taken on a new project at their boatyard near Glasgow. A yohl inspired by The Aegre. The backbone of the yohl is already built. It is 22 feet long. The Aegre was 21 feet 6 inches, but according to boatbuilder Peter Matheson, this may shrink a bit when he fairs off the stem post and sternpost.
Latest updates from Peter and Lorraina Matheson:
5 December 2024: Peter Matheson in Glasgow writes, “I have finished fitting the beams and the gunnals and started to paint some of the inside. See the latest photos taken by my daughter Lorraina.” Peter is building the boat with the help of volunteers, who, along the way, learn a lot about wooden boat building. But he spends much time working alone and is always looking for more help. Please visit Peter if you live within reasonable travelling distance of Clydeside, Glasgow and could lend a hand. If you would like to learn how it’s done or just share a yarn with Peter, please head his way. No experience necessary. Peter is building the new boat, American Lady, at Clydeside Traditional Boatbuilders, Rothesay Dock Clydebank by Glasgow G81 1LX . You can email Peter via myself at nick@nicholasgrainger.com.au
23 November 2024: Despite Glasgow’s chilly winter, Peter has been getting on well with American Lady, with special thanks to Sandy McDonald, who gave him a few days of help with the bottom (sole) boards. Help in the workshop also comes in non-human form, according to Peter… “This is one of the workshop cats. He makes sure that there are no rats. He also chases any stray dogs out of the workshop.”
In the cold but rat and dog-free workshop Peter and his helpers have been fitting the floor, beams and gunnals. See pics below. Click to expand.
28 October 2024: The new boat has a name! American Lady – (OK – Builder Peter Mathes0n’s wife is a Yank).
But where have all the frames gone? Peter doesn’t do things the conventional way. “Aye, We’ve taken all the frames out; they were just set in place, not fastened. We took them out so as to put wood preserver on all the planks and frames and engine bearers. Also to vacuum clean the hull out. We’ll will put all the frames and engine bearers (which are marked), back, that’ll take no time at all, and paint the bilges up to above the bilge keels inside, in white above them. Outside we’ll use linseed oil and real turpentine mixed as a preservative.”
The removed frames – carefully stacked in order.
And any thoughts on a completion date? “Well, I’ve been getting a fair bit of help recently from Sandy and the boys. We hope to get the boat to the Port Soy traditional boat festival next year in June. It would be nice, but it is a long way. (Not quite as far as from Scourie to American Samoa. But a fair bit for an old mannie of 78).
21 October 2024 photo update: Peter using the chop saw to cut off the ends of some of the frames, and also fit a bit of wood which will eventually form part of the gunnal. (Click on photos to expand).
18 October 2024: Framing progress and camber gauge on to measure bevel for decks. According to boat builder Peter Matheson, the camber will have a maximum rise of 5″. The Aegre, which inspired Peter to build this boat, had a maximum rise of 9″. Peter says, “I can understand why your camber was so much as it gave you some room under the deck and made the boat more sea-worthy.”
Peter also has a new volunteer helper, John Grier. Welcome and thank you John.
7 October 2024: Photos by Lorraina Matheson
5 September 2024: Boatbuilder Peter Matheson welcomes Nick Grainger of The Aegre to his Clydebank boatshed to view the boat being built, inspired by The Aegre.
Later on this same morning, Peter, Murray and Nick Grainger visited the nearby studio of Sunny G Radio in Govan, Glasgow, where Nick interviewed Peter and Murray about the building of the boat. You can listen to this interview at https://www.mixcloud.com/SunnyG103/book-boat-24-sept-2024/
31 August 2024
15 August 2024
6 August 2024 – photos from Lorraina Matheson:
3 August 2024 – Update from Peter Matheson “I had help from one of the boys yesterday so have steamed the eleventh plank and hope to get it fitted next week.”
26 July 2024– Progress update from Peter Matheson
I have completed the 10th plank now and hope to have one of the boys in on Friday, so I will start to fit the eleventh. It is hard going with the 3/4-inch planking. However, I have plenty of wood. The copper nails are costing a fortune. They are costing five times what they were when I built the ‘Boy Peter’. What appears to have happened is that the Chinese have bought the company in West Bromwich, which made nails for all over the World. They then closed the factory to stop the competition and charge what they wanted for the nails now. I believe they are doing this with other industries. We can not produce anything in Britain now. The bridge being built beside us was built in Holland and towed over.
12 July 2024 – Progress update from Peter Matheson
I should have the ninth plank finished by Friday (12 July). I am also fitting the engine seats just now as I usually fit the engine before I finish the planking. Access to inside the boat is less of a problem then. I don’t have to keep jumping in and out of the boat and at 78 years of age this has to be a consideration. Decided to put the 16 HP ‘Yanmar’ in the boat. If The Aegre could go half way round the world with no engine then 16 HP should be plenty.
19 June 2024 – Peter Matheson writes:
Here are a few pics of the heavy frames which the bilge keels are connected to. These frames which are over 3”x3” seasoned Oak will also support the engine seats. The engine will either be a 16 HP ‘Yanmar’ Which I have, or else a 60 HP ‘Betta’ Which I also have.
After I have fixed these frames in place I will carry on with the planking before completing the framing. The rest of the framing will be much lighter.
Peter continues: “This is a fairly heavy built vessel. Incidentally I have just been reading a book called ‘The Orkney Yahl’. It is of course about the Orkney built yahls which were a lot lighter than the Stroma built vessels. The Stroma yahls having to work in the Pentland Firth, a very wild place. My former yard was five miles from Stroma at Scarfskerry in the Pentland Firth.”
24 May 2024 – the seventh plank is fitted – Peter Matheson writes: “Here is the latest. I am working on the seventh plank but don’t get much help these days. A couple of boys come in most Fridays. They are a good help especially for steaming the planks. After the seventh plank is complete I will fit the bilge keels and fit the bottom framing and engine if I have one.“
Peter welcomes people to visit him at his Clydeside boatshed where the boat below is being built: helpers, anyone wanting to learn a bit, or just someone dropping in for a chat. If you are in the Glasgow area do go and visit him, but watch out for the cats! As he says, “We’ve got two cats to keep the rats at bay. One of the cats attacked me and put me in hospital. Wicked little moggy, it wants to take over.” You can contact Peter Matheson to arrange a visit through his Facebook page and/or Messenger
18 May 2024 – the sixth plank is fitted
7 May 2024
26 April 2024
23 April 2024: Peter writes that he and his volunteer team have completed the third plank and have the fourth plank ready for steaming. They have also fitted all of the floors (bottom framing).
30 March 2024: Steaming and fitting the second plank – see short video here shared by Sandy MacDonald
16 March 2024: Steaming and fitting the garboards – see the short video here shared by Sandy MacDonald.
7 March 2024 I have now started on the planking of the new boat. I have cut the garboards and am in the process of fitting them so all being well the planking will proceed as planned. I was lucky to get a lovely big tree butt, cut through and through at 7/8 of an inch so as to give me 3/4 inch planking. The keel and stem and stern posts are 3 and a half inches thick. My boats tend to be a bit heavier built than is the norm but this gives them a longer life in the arduous conditions found in the Pentland Firth.
The man standing beside the garboard strakes is Alexander McDonald. A native of Skye. ‘Sandy’ is one of our volunteers/students. We also have a couple of other trainees who come in on Friday. A few people come in and help from time to time. I never have to pay anyone.
21 February 2024: Peter Matheson wrote: Thank you very much for the pictures of the building of your boat [The Aegre]. It is almost identical to the boats that we build. The only difference that I can see is that when we plank them up, our garboard is the widest plank going up the stem. We then gradually reduce the planks’ width on the stem so that the top or second top plank is the narrowest. The reason for this is that it means that the strakes are more straight and as our logs are straight this saves wood.
As for the double enders, we always put a bit of a bend in the stems of them, but not always in the sternpost. They tend to be beach boats and get dragged up the beach over logs and seaweed. Also it is less of a problem fitting a rudder to a straight sternpost. The working fishing boats generally have a fairly straight stem post. About 2 inches in 6 foot bend and a rounded forefoot which is sheathed in steel as is the keel
Because of the licencing our boats tend to be rather ‘dumpy’ as they must come under 10 metres or 8 metres for the stupid rules that the fishermen must now follow. Extra beam gives extra capacity. We also fit what is called a ‘cat-catcher’. This is a framework added to the stern to hold fish boxes etc and is not included in the boat’s length. When I was at sea at the fishing there were no rules and probably less casualties than there are today.
The ‘Flower of Caithness’ and the ‘Hope’, The ‘Hope’ was considered one of the best boats on the coast. She had been owned by my old skipper . I think she was about 20 foot O.A. We have the larch now so should get started soon on the new boat soon. I intend to rig it like the Aegre. Incidentally how did you fix the 7 CWT of lead ballast. We seldom use any ballast as the engines act as ballast.
18 February 2024: Peter Matheson has received the wood for the new boat. It is a big log of larch cut through and through 12 feet long by 7/8 inch
Background
Peter Matheson, the moving force behind Clydeside Traditional Boatbuilders, is a boatbuilder from the North of Scotland who ran a yard in Caithness just 16 miles from Wick, where The Aegre was built, before moving to Clydeside, near Glasgow. Over the last 46 years, he’s built many boats similar to The Aegre, from 16 to 26 feet long.
Peter read ‘The Voyage of The Aegre’ book, and wrote to me saying he couldn’t put it down, and it inspired his latest project at Clydeside Traditional Boatbuilders.
According to Peter, although a Shetland man built the Aegre, he sees those of a Stroma yohl in her lines and believes the builder was inspired by these boats.
Peter says, “There’s a story that a Scandinavian fishing boat was washed ashore on the beach of Stroma island [in the Pentland Firth] and that this wreck inspired the Stroma men to build their boats. They built many of them, and they were the Rolls Royce of fishing boats back then. I believe these boats are the most seaworthy in the world, and The Aegre has proved this.”
In building many yohls and other boats, Peter Matheson says that like The Aegre’s Shetland boatbuilder Tom Edwardson, he never uses moulds. Just a string line, a level to make the boats symmetrical and a plumb line to make sure the stems are plumb. This, he says, is a lot easier than lofting and making moulds to someone else’s drawings. “We knew the best shape for a boat, these boats having evolved from Viking times. Clearly, Edwardson, the Shetland boat builder, had got his ‘lines’ right. Some of my boats have been working the Pentland Firth for over 35 years, winter and summer without mishap. People rely on them for making a living in safety.”
“Unfortunately the British government is doing their best to destroy the industry with their bureaucracy and ‘Safety’ regulations and ‘Stability’ tests etc. The old boatbuilders knew all about safety and stability and navigation in the fog, etc. Even though some of them couldn’t write.”
Peter has all the photos of The Aegre being built and has promised to keep me updated on progress. See above for updates.
Peter’s is building the new boat at Clydeside Traditional Boatbuilders, Rothesay Dock Clydebank by Glasgow G81 1LX . He welcomes visitors.
Learn more about Peter Matheson and Clydeside Traditional Boatbuilders
