For our September Toolbox we have were invited by John Shah for a tour of his steel dive boat project that started in the 1980s. The location is the rear of 22 Hurrell Way, Rockingham. The vessel was originally 17m long but has been extended by John to 20 m. Arthur Hindle was a welder and welding inspector and started building the boat for himself at the back of his premises. It has a bilge keel as it is intended to spend time in the Kimberly region.

The vessel is unusual in that there is a chamber in the front of the hull where 2 people can lie down and look at the marine life and ocean floor under the boat. The interior of the boat features a lot of teak and very impressive wooden parquetry.

Im not sure what happened but I think the unfinished project sat around for years until it was bought by John Shah. John has a background in diving and wants to finish the project and use the boat as a commercial dive boat based around the Abrolhos. This means the boat must be built to survey which presents its own challenges. John has done a lot of the work himself and feels he is in the home straight. As well as a Rolls Royce diesel engine, the boat will also have sails.

Saturday 11 March 2023 - Our tour was kindly been offered on the "Tortuga" Doug Watson's ketch is located at the Fremantle Cruising Yacht Club. Tortuga was launched in 1952 as a sailing crayfishing boat at the Back Brothers Yard in North Fremantle. Rumour has it that her keel was laid in 1929 then the Great Depression and the Second World War delayed the build. Luigi Santaromita had her built and in the late 1960's. Her mast was struck for a large deck-house forward and she sailed no more. In 2018 she was bought by the Watson family and bought back to a sailing vessel, which is now one of the most used vessel at Fremantle Cruising Yacht Club.

Tortuga was eased down the Ways in 1952 from the Back Brothers Shipwright Yard in North Fremantle, she was christened "A Buongiorno" after the main financial backer. She had a water line length of more than 40 ft (12m) and displaced just under 20 tons. She was the pride of Fremantle's crayfishing fleet and honourably used regularly for the blessing of the fleet to carry the Magdalen statue with many dignitaries treading her decks for that special events. Otherwise it was just Luigi Santaromita and his crew who sailed her combing the reefs and filling her hold with tons of West Coast Crays.

She was rigged as a gaff cutter with clean lines on deck, no deck house just that lovely sweeping sheer. A Buongiorno sailed the Fremantle crayfishing grounds until the 1960s when her mast was cut down and a large doghouse was indignantly plonked forward masking the elegant looks of a forgotten era. She then became "Maree Lou" and steamed out to her fishing grounds with her bow high followed by a cloud of smoke and noise. As she is today. Renamed "Tortuga" and looking splendid after much work by Doug.

Ed is getting close to launching her as there cant be much left to do. He seems to have installed everything including the kitchen sink in the galley and even a handelier in the saloon. The Captains cabin with wall-to-wall reading material

The chandelier was fond on the side of the road, as in (arrangiarsi) Italian making do with what you got - utilised it in the yachts saloon These photos show that Ed is has only a bit more with the detailed work going on below deck

Since the mid 1800's in the west of Ireland the O'Connor family have been boatbuilders crafting traditional Shannon River punts at Castle Connell on the river Shannon

Tony O'Connor whilst working in London in 1988 attend night school in boatbuilding and retrained at the International Boatbuilding Training Centre in Lowestoft. From 1991 worked as a wooden boatbuilder and custom cabinetmaker in England, Ireland and now in Perth West Australia. "April 2021 marked my 30th year as a boatbuilder.

Available to cut CNC parts to order for customers and is happy to discuss any aspect of wooden boat construction mast and spar construction and repair, as well as outfitting boats of all construction types.

Docked at 1637 hours where upon cocktails and canapes were served for a few hours