THE CRAFT
At Britannia Pond Yachts we make virtually everything ourselves by hand, this means starting with a solid piece of timber for our smaller yachts and planks of timber for our larger Yachts.
Most of our yachts are hand-carved from a solid piece of selected timber. We first mark out the wood using a full size template in pencil. Then we then cut away the excess wood using a saw and start rough shaping with a chisel and a spokeshave, constantly using profile templates to check the hull at known reference points this ensures that each yacht is made as near as possible to the previous one. We use spokeshaves and planes to fine-tune the final shape, the hull is then sanded down to a smooth finish.
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Shaping the hull of Britannia Pixie pond yachts, using a
spokeshave and various planes.
The Britannia Pixie and others in our range are also hand-carved from a solid piece of selected timber, however, we hollow out the inside of the hull and fit a deck plank once we are happy with the hull profile. Again we mark out the block of wood using a scale drawing as a reference. We like to shape the outside of the hull first using hand planes, spokeshaves and sandpaper before we rough out the inside of the hull then proceed to shape the interior using a carving gouge. We fine-tune the final shape of the hull before sanding down to a smooth finish. The hull is sealed using before painting or receiving the final coats of varnish.
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Keel fin and deck fitted to the beautifully shaped Britannia Pixie, Sprite, Goblin and Ghost Yachts​.
The Britannia Belle Star, and the larger yachts in our range are also all hand-carved, but to create their hulls we use the traditional 'Bread and Butter' technique. This method uses lifts sawn from planks of timber which are glued and clamped together before shaping the hull. The thickness of the hull is checked using calipers to provide a uniform wall thickness. The inside of the hull is then sealed liberally using yacht varnish before fitting the deck. The exterior of the hull is also sealed with varnish and is rubbed down with 400 grit between coats of paint or varnish.
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Carving the hull of the Pilot Cutter Britannia Belle Star​.
We make all our sails by hand from Cambric Cotton or Dacron,they are first marked out using a template then sewn using a vintage 1930's black and gold Singer 1590 swing machine. Cotton sails are given double hems and sewn all round, whilst Dacron sails have a single hem sewn on the Luff only. Our own yacht sails are fitted with brass plated 3mm eyelets, however if we are making replacement sails for our restored antique and vintage yachts we will punch and tie, or stitch the sheeting in place as the originals would have been.
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Cutting out new sails for Britannia North Star​.
The Britannia Super Stars, Gosling, Cygnet, North Star and Pixie pond yachts are usually available ex stock however our larger yachts​ are made to order, please enquire for availability.
