Hello,

  A couple of questions if anybody can help;

  I've stripped up the last of the deck-planking from my 40' ST, just what little was left directly over the transom.  I then took up the ply used under the deck planking to reveal the cambered deck support beam that spans the transom and have revealed a couple of features I didn't know were there;

  Firstly, I've found two pairs of holes drilled down through the beam, which I presume are mounting points for two stern cleats.  What I don't understand, though, are three shallow indentations cut into the top of beam, one in the centre and the two equidistant from the centre and the gunwale.  They're about 4" long, 1" wide and about 1/4" deep; they don't have anything in them or any holes/fixing points associated with them.

  What on earth could they be for?  I thought at first that it was just the way the wood had been cut during construction, but I've decided now that they've been purposefully carved out; if anybody knows, I'd be interested to hear from you...

  Secondly, a confusing feature (or lack of feature) of my boat is the lack of the wide belting strake midway between the gunwale and the chine, typical of most other early ST's.  A chap pointed out to me, the other day, four faintly scribed lines in the planking.  They are in pairs, about 2" apart and then these two pairs are seperated by about 6", apparently marking the upper and lower sides of a belting strake were one fitted.  There are no screw/bolt holes in the hull, however, so could these lines indicate my boat did, once, have this missing belting or are they for something else?  I can't think what...

  I appreciate, all of this is probably quite difficult to visualise, so I'll add some pictures when I get the chance...

  Many thanks and best regards,

Paul

Hi Paul,

I will cehck the construction drafwings and get back to you on this one.

Regards,Donald

Here are a couple of pictures;

This is a composite of the transom; hopefully, you can see the three recesses in the transom deck beam...

Here are the strange lines on the hull; I've tried to highlight them...

Hi Don,

Each of the recesses is the same size- the dodgy photo doesn't show it too well...

The photo of ST357 is interesting - if you look just to the outside of the outer two recesses on my boat, though, you can just make out two sets of holes which are about where the fairleads on ST357 are, so it's not cleats I should be fitting, then...

The rubbing strakes on ST440 are very reminiscent of my boat - I would still have thought there would have been evidence of screws/bolts, but perhaps they were just glued on?  I don't thinkmy lines go all the way forward, so it may be very much like you see on ST440...

The four holes either side of the transom were for the biggest cleats you've ever seen!  Somebody had bolted them half way down the transom in the boats house-boat years...the stupid thing was, to tie anything onto them, you had to be in the water, as you couldn't actually reach them from the roof of the aft cabin...

Thanks for the pictures,

Paul

Paul,

The centre recess was where the ensign staff socket was mounted and the outer ones were the positions of the quarter fairleads.  AS for the lines down her sides they appear as cut lines for painting, but certainly not from her RAF days.  Do you have her service number.

Just to elaborate, the recesses were to take tapped plates for the holding down bolts for the fairleads and ensign staff socket. This method was used as access was difficult for through bolting.

I see...

After doing a little more work on her, I decided that the wood on the inboard side of the transom beam wasn't original, so I removed it and the three recesses are now on the inboard edge of the transom...I wondered if they were for deck support planking, as I'm pretty sure the fairlead mounting holes are aft of the recesses...

Thanks for all your thoughts, though.

I agree that the lines on the sides are probably painting lines - I have no idea of her history prior to about 1965, when she was bought from the estate of Richard Dimbleby and worked as a shark-fishing boat out of Falmouth for ten years or so before being stripped of everything removable and turned into a house-boat...poor old thing.  None of the previous owners ever remember seeing a number on her and I've not found one despite hours and hours of searching...what airline might have used her?  Does anybody know of a livery that would fit these two stripes?

Thanks for your time, all :)

Paul

I take your point :)

I wouldn't have thought that anybody repainting her would go to the trouble of scribing new paint-marking lines into the hull, though...that's far more the sort of thing a professional outfit like the military (or an airline) would do, I would have thought...

Very little sign of the deck, to be honest :(

Have alook at my website: http://www.seaplane-tender.co.uk - www.seaplane-tender.co.uk

I've had to strip up all of the deck, right back to the deck-beams as it was all rotten through...even some of the deck-beams didn't survive...this is allegedly how she looked before house-boat-isation occurred, though;

This was built by the owner when she was out shark-fishing...does it show anything interesting?

Well lads, shes not a BPC  S/T but strongly resembles a 38ft Walton type, they built lots of civilian craft similar to the military versions. I have seen this model before and although it does not have the exterior strake the resemblence to the Walton is quite canny even to the rake of her stem, and the position of the wheelhouse. To the best of my knowledge the Waltons were not used by civilian airlines.

Sorry, I'm having trouble keeping up with some of the names and terms here - you chaps know far more than me about all this :)

Who were Staniland?  Was there a yard building ST's in Glenislay?

What's a Destroyer Drop and a GSP?

When I showed this picture to the chaps at the BMPT when I came to visit, they thought it might be a Walton - the length is a bit odd at 40'6" LOA, though (9'6" beam)...

Thanks for your patience :)

This is tramontana's photo of Glenislay, an ST (466) built by Staniland;

A destroyer drop is what you have if your aft decks are lower than your forecastle;

 And a GSP is a General Service Pinnace;

Glenislay with her original wheelhouse.

Just a comment regarding Glenislay  (thanks Christian)the photo shows her now, not as she was built which was in S.T. Style, Staniland were building boats at Thorne in Yorkshire but like other's have now gone down the pan.

Webfoot would be the best person to know regarding rubbing strakes on R.A.F. Launches as he served, but from my own experience on other boats they are bolted on and not glued, the photo of Glenislay was put on to show another S.T. which was not built by British Power Boat and is in a similiar style to yours before mods, the rubbing strakes could have been retro- fitted at some point depending what the launch was required to do, but why four lines on yours all you would need is two the width of the rubbing strake to line it up before drilling and yours has no sign of drilling on what appears to be the original hull. The reference books are being sought out.

Hi again,

From the official construction drawing issued by the Ministry of Aircraft Production, the inner transom cross member should measure 2" sided by 2.5" moulded, of African mahogany.  The transom planking was made up of an inner skin of 5/16" mahogany, laid vertically, and an outer 7/16" mahogany skin laid horizontally.  The gunwale rubbing strips (or fendoffs) were of laminated Canadian Rock Elm, screwed in place.  This method allowed for easy replacement after damage. I would also expect there to be evidence of slinging plates between the third and fourth frames from the transom and also the fourteenth and fifteenth frames (abreast the aft wheelhouse bulkhead). The external 6" belting was fitted to ALL the 40 footers and was screwed to the frames and clenched through the planking. In addition to providing protection to the hull, it also gave the hull torsional strength and prevented it twisting in a seaway.

Hi Donald,

  that's all interesting stuff...my boat matches some of these details, but not all of them;

  My transom inner appears to be of mahogany and my transom planking is laid as you say.  My gunwale rubbing strips are single piece, moulded mahogany I woud say, or possibly teak, but certainly not laminated.  There is also no evidence that my boat ever had slinging plates...

 I take it this number I've found (440-124) stamped into one of my exhaust ports is no help in identifying my boat?

  All the best,

Paul

An example of a private motor cruiser based on a Seaplane Tender design, this is the British Powerboat Co 37.5ft Sea Monarch type "Tom Tit". 

Interesting photo - thanks for that.

I like the whole boat-on-the-roof thing going on there...in a non-aesthetic sort of way, that's quite clever...  I take it the cabin extends over the engines - that must have been cramped and awkward inside.  Is that some sort of dog-house affair towards the aft of the cabin structure?

Paul

Paul,

From what you say, she may possibly not be a military boat, although her hull certainly bears the hallmark of the 40 footer.  The only two other RAF craft that match her length and breadth were No. 400 and 401, two seaplane tenders built by Vospers - but their topsides were single skinned diagonal seam and batten planking. Also all the BPC craft were of similar topside construction.

Hi Donald,

  I had wondered whether she was non-military before...and yet there's apparently a roundel on her starboard bow - would that have been scribed in if she'd been requisitioned?

  Somebody suggested she was an Army motor launch in the past...is that possible?

Paul

Hi Donald,

  I'll have a look on the weekend - I've yet to find this roundel, but a previous owner swears blind it's there...

  I've looked for numbers cut into the deckbeams though, and there's nothing there...

Paul