Boat builder wanted

David Blackley is looking for a boat builder to assist with a project he hopes will also build new lives for those taking part in the construction.
He wants to build an 8m trailer sailor he says is good enough to sail offshore, and that can double as a caravan or back yard accommodation.

He wants to build it with paulownia, a light weight, fast growing timber that was all the rage of the farm forestry set in the 1990s.
He built the cabin top of his current boat out of it, and has since harvested enough to build a complete hull.
It’s similar to a boat he’s sailing at present.
“That boat is 24 years old,” says David. “I would sail around the world in that boat, I would be comfortable with it.”
In Auckland paulownia has been used by designer Robert Shaw to build a strip plank 7m racing shell, called Custard Truck that is the fastest in its class. Rob’s day job is head of marine at Unitech.
He says Paulownia is a good material to work with and he would treat it the same as cedar. He had a problem getting reasonably long lengths.
“As far as gluing the laminations, the paulownia probably laminated and glued far better than cedar,” says Rob.
“I don’t know if he’s going to get the boat engineered or make it up as he goes along. High Modulus had a look at engineering specs for construction with glass and paulownia but they didn’t take it very far.”
Rob doesn’t know if they actually saw something that scared them or if as he suspects, they didn’t want to promote the use of a material that might compete with the high density foam High Modulus sells for core material.
New Zealand paulownia is fast growing, able to be harvested in seven years, but it pays for the fast growth with growth rings too far apart to be attractive in the wood’s traditional Asian markets.
Paulownia is lightweight at 250 kg per cubic metre, light in colour, stable, easily machined and glued, attractive and stains well. It is described as being halfway between balsa and poplar in density.
The boatbuilder David is looking will also be running a training class at the Blackley Summerhill academy.
Summerhill is a private charity where youth are able to build work and life skills and gain a bit of life experience as a basis for character references for future employers.
“It’s for youth in their last year of school and after they have left school,” says David.
“The idea is that they have the opportunity to get an introduction into various employment opportunities.”
David, who’s built the odd boat himself, added boat building to Summerhill’s prospectus because the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic cut its pre-trade boat building course, and because of the numbers of skilled tradesmen that are going offshore.