Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
Cygnus Vedrae, 1951 motor yacht
We're new here, so thought it might be good to introduce ourselves. We're Stu and Kath from the UK.
This is our boat. She was built by Geo Wilson in London and launched onto the river Thames in 1951. We bought her in 2001 and have lived aboard her full time since then. She's approx 30 foot long with a 9 foot 6 inch beam and draws 3 foot 3 inches. As a motor sailer she carries a 2 ton keel which really aids stability, at all times. The keel makes a massive difference. Instead of bouncing every time you move your feet, as in glass fibre boats, she is much more ladylike.
The hull is mahogany mounted on oak ribs. The decks are larch. The age of the wood causes problems that have sometimes required fairly radical solutions, some of which I'll maybe address in later posts.
This is our boat. She was built by Geo Wilson in London and launched onto the river Thames in 1951. We bought her in 2001 and have lived aboard her full time since then. She's approx 30 foot long with a 9 foot 6 inch beam and draws 3 foot 3 inches. As a motor sailer she carries a 2 ton keel which really aids stability, at all times. The keel makes a massive difference. Instead of bouncing every time you move your feet, as in glass fibre boats, she is much more ladylike.
The hull is mahogany mounted on oak ribs. The decks are larch. The age of the wood causes problems that have sometimes required fairly radical solutions, some of which I'll maybe address in later posts.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Greg Hatten on
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Welcome to the site... hope you enjoy all the wooden "boat chatter". Mostly it's about river dories and drift boats... thanks for spicing things up with a different style of boat... looks very cool. Would love to see more pics when you have a chance.
GH
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Permalink Reply by stewart haynes on
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Hi Greg
I must admit that I was drawn to this forum because Kath and I are, we found, 'wooden boat people' at heart. When we first got Cygnus we had never before owned a wooden boat. I must admit though, over time and not meaning to sound silly, Cygnus is a very happy boat and has a 'soul' of her own.
She has her problems of course, particularly in regard to the superstructure mahogany which does have a high level of humidity. Getting a sealant to properly bond with the wood that is capable of dealing with the expansion and contraction has been a problem from day one. Much less of a problem with dried timbers. If anyone reading this has found a 'cure' for this problem I'd love to hear from them.
To answer Randy's observation about internal space. Yes, for the length she has loads of space. The age of the boat is such that she has a traditional layout internally. When she was built she was designed as a 'gentlemans motor yacht', rather than the live aboard she was to become 50 years later.
I hope no-one minds but for anyone thinking of living life afloat I've attached an article I wrote that covers some of the basics.
Living on a boat
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Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on
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Beautiful boat. I lived aboard for four years and loved every minute. Your boat looks like it has a lot of room below deck for the 30ft size. I'm looking forward to more photos.
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