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Meet Traditional Boat Builder, Ben Harris..

A We visit Ben Harris at his riverside workshop to talk about the heritage and craft of wooden boatbuilding in Cornwall.

In a traditional boatyard just outside of Falmouth, Ben Harris and his skilled team build traditional wooden boats by hand. Their craft is anchored in decades of heritage and stories – even the wooden planks of upcycled timber have their own tales to tell.

While shooting our new menswear collection on location at the boatyard, we caught up with Ben to talk about the art of boatbuilding and what it means to him.

What led you to start building traditional wooden boats?

I have long had a fascination for boats and I have been working with wood since school. When I was a carpenter in Scotland, I spent holidays sailing an old wooden dinghy on the west coast and spent a fair bit of time looking after it. I thought I would love to learn how to build such a boat, as it struck me as the most lovely and challenging thing that could be built in wood.

A broken wrist forced me to take time off and travel south to see for myself the people in the land which still holds the beating heart of boatbuilding… Cornwall. Once here, there was no looking back.

Where to start?

Where did you learn your craft?

When I came to Cornwall, there was a full-time traditional boatbuilding course at Falmouth Marine School. This is where I learnt the most mysterious and unique aspects of boatbuilding, giving me the key to use the various skills I already had and start a new boat build of my own, a 30ft Gaff Cutter based on the Falmouth Quay Punts.

I also worked with boatbuilder Luke Powell for a while, helping with the build of a Scilly Island Pilot Cutter. His great enthusiasm, historical knowledge and energetic approach to traditional boatbuilding was an inspiration.

How do you choose your timber for a project?

I am a beaver at heart, I love the different smells and subtleties of wood. The timber that goes into a wooden boat must have the right qualities for each specific part and function of the boat.

English Oak is strong and durable for the keel and frames, the skeleton of the boat. I have milled my own from the tough, gnarly trees that grow in the woods on the banks of the River Fal at Tregothnan, or brought it south from a family sawmill in Grimsby that has been putting logs aside for boatbuilders for generations.

Rich in colour and scent, Teak for the deck and external joinery such as skylights and hatches comes from reclaimed planks salvaged from the decks of a 1920s cruise ship, or the beams of an Indian cotton mill, or perhaps some excess planks a joiner had left over from a decades-old project.

I source hardwearing and tough Green Heart from a stockpile of dock pilings that once formed the Falmouth Docks. Uprooted after a fire, these timbers were first driven into the seabed 150 years ago and saw service docking ships and their goods from across the globe. Now they make the best timber for the sole of the boats beneath the keel, the hard deadwood that is the first part of the boat to take the ground, the boat’s boot.

Working in Cornwall, do you feel connected to a sense of nautical history and heritage?

Living in Cornwall, we are surrounded by the sea and a living maritime heritage. I work in Gweek Quay Boatyard, where countless wooden boats have been built. I sail the Cornish Coast in a wooden boat based on the lines of the Falmouth Quay Punts that served the tall ships in the pinnacle of the days of sail.

I count fishermen, sailors, shipwrights and marine engineers among my friends – the maritime heritage of Cornwall is alive and proud of its past.

Do you have a favourite place to sail in Cornwall?

My favourite place to sail is the Isles of Scilly, for their sheer beauty and everchanging light and moods. The challenge of sailing there is navigating the rocks, shallows and strong tides with turquoise waters and beaches sometimes full of seals. Sailing the Scillies is an enlivening experience of dangers and delights.

 

You can keep up with Ben’s boatbuilding projects on Instagram at @Harris_Wooden_Boats and on YouTube at Ben Harris & Co Wooden Boats.

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