KISMET   48FT  william FIFE CUTTER  1898  total REBUILd

 
 

This 48ft gaff cutter which started her life at Fairlie in 1898, was dug and lifted from her mudberth at West Mersea, Essex, in 2004, where she had reposed as a houseboat since 1949.  I joined Adrian Wombwell about a year after he had started the project in the workshop premises we now share in Tollesbury. The hull was totally reframed and replanked on the original keel. David Cooper of Holman and Pye took her lines and designed the new lead ballast keel, engine installation, interior, etc., and guided us on numerous questions of scantlings where  nothing was left of the original. 


Although this project was not carried out according to my own restoration ethos, there are many aspects to be proud of, including the design of the deck, rails, counter, and coamings, as well as the resolution of many elements of the interior detailing.

relaunched august 2009