Completion of a 14′ clinker-built racing dinghy
Background
Redwing R248 ‘Robin D’ was originally built as a one-off commission by a boatbuilder in Suffolk in 2001. She was not completed by her builder or owner and was given to our son in 2013. She came as a bare hull with a few missing fastenings, bilge keels but primed with varnish, new sails and spars but no other rigging or fittings. She’s planked in khaya which although a deep rich red colour is surprisingly light for a tropical hardwood. Her centreline is all the same timber and her frames are ash.
As supplied to us she has a brand new Superspars mast and boom to the latest specification and a suit of McNamara sails which were the then current standard for the Redwing class.
Over a period of a few years I have worked on ‘Robin D’ part time as other projects have come and gone. It was found that her centreboard case had been built with a pronounced ‘bow’ in the midships section and given that Redwing cases are nearly two-thirds the length of the boat there was no way the centreboard would fit. She sat on the ‘too difficult to contemplate’ pile for a while but eventually I made a start on her.
Previous work had consisted of completing the deck washboards, making and fitting the strengthening ‘ring’ frames that Redwings may have in way of the chainplates before a period of storage. Now she’s been in my Pembroke workshop since 2023 and I’ve been catching up with some work on her with a view to finally finishing her as the Redwing class has become popular again in Tenby.
Clinker Boats 