CONSTANCE is a newly built reimagining of the legendary Falmouth quay punt CURLEW. Built in 1912, CURLEW was made famous under the ownership of Tim and Pauline Carr, who voyaged thousands of miles in her from the Arctic to Antarctica. Using CURLEW’s lines as a starting point, the naval architect Jack Gifford developed a hull that is 6’ longer than CURLEW’s, has 50 percent more volume, but retains CURLEW’s aesthetics and handling qualities.
In this, the second installment of the WoodenBoat Legends series, beautifully filmed and edited by Emily Harris, CONSTANCE’s builder, Ben Harris, describes the conception, construction, and sailing of the new boat.
Constance is a very traditional bilge.
She's a carvel hull, which is planked predominantly in larch,
which is native to Scotland.
And the planking is on a center line,
a backbone of oak from Cornwall, Cornish oak,
for the stem, the stern post, and the keel,
and also for the frames, which are sawn frames,
single-footed sawn frames.
The shape of the frames follows the grain
of the curved oak plank.
But then spaced between the sawn frames,
there are three steamed oak frames,
which are bent into the planking after the boat is planked
and then copper riveted through.
The deck structure is also all oak, Cornish oak.
But the deck itself is yellow cedar, imported from Canada.
Very durable, lightweight wood, which
I lay fore and aft with a tongue and groove underside.
And then I have a diagonal layer.
And this forms a composite deck, because wooden boats,
traditional wooden boats, they tend to be,
if they are going to take any damage,
it's normally from fresh water through the deck.
So I create a very strong, very durable composite deck,
sheathed with fiberglass, and then overlaid with teak.
So you have all the beauty and usefulness of a teak deck
and durability of a teak deck, which
is completely waterproof and extremely strong.
So that's really the only concession
to modernity I have in the boat.
The rest of it is entirely traditional.
The mast and spars are all made from Douglas fir.
The cabin sides are oak.
I've managed to source some reclaimed teak,
some fantastic long 5-inch by 2-inch boards that
were the decking of a 1920s luxury cruise liner that
had been broken up in India.
And then the timber had been imported to the UK
for use for joinery and different purposes.
So I was lucky enough to repurpose that timber that,
in places you could see where it had been worn through
by many years of people's footsteps
and the staining of the iron bolts was still in it.
So a little bit of character and color to the wood.
But when it goes gray on the deck and weathers in,
it's absolutely beautiful like new teak would be
and still has all the oils and the quality
that new teak would.
It's extraordinary timber to have had a life already
and yet still have that oiliness and stability that
is what you require from the decking.
