Depending on your chosen rat race through the streets of Brookvale – everyone has their own preference for navigating the Beaches’ industrial heart – you may or may not have seen Ian Taylor and Duncan Ritchie’s latest foray into the dying art of timber boat building. But do yourself a favour, and next time you’re dodging trailers and beeping past double-parked trucks, peek up the 15 Sydenham Road driveway to see what Ian and Duncan are bringing to life, and ask yourself the same question everyone else does, “How the hell they gonna get that boat outta there?”
This is no ordinary boat, a labour of love that will take some explaining. For Ian, timber boat building has been an integral part of his life since an early age. “My father worked for Stannard Marine Group. On Saturdays I’d go with him, out on the boats, and I knew I was going to continue on with boats,” says Ian. “I started my apprenticeship in Lavender Bay, carried on from there. Moving to Pittwater, my saving grace was the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, who were a great support. I built probably a dozen big 40foot boats for them over the years.”
For Duncan, Rocksalt Sound’s Audio Engineer and Acoustic Consultant, his genesis story is somewhat different. “I used to harass Ian after school,” explains Duncan. “How am I going to build my speaker boxes?!” It was the 70s and Duncan wanted to make some noise, something he’s been very successfully doing ever since, but the infection for the timber boat building craft also took hold. “His father asked me to employ him when he was 14,” recalls Ian. “And he’d also pay his wages for the first year too!” The master and apprentice bond was formed.
For a litany of reasons, timber boat building is in a state of dangerous decline. The corporatisation of the timber trade has made it close to impossible to source any quality timber over 6meters in length. Great boats need great lengths of timber. In a bygone era, small timber yards would venture into the bush, find the perfect South Coast Spotted Gum for you. No more. Ian is calling upon timber stocks he’s built up over the past four decades to complete this job.
No timber is compounded by a lack of understanding of timber’s superiority to fibreglass for boat construction, maintenance, and feel. “It’s like a Ferrari versus a Holden,” says Ian. “Timber is most elastic material we have, and if you get a problem, just pull the piece out that’s causing the issue. If anything goes wrong with fibreglass, it’s all connected, the whole vessel is in trouble.”
As for strength and durability, Duncan’s received plenty of “expert” advice from fibreglass heroes. “Oh geez mate, your planks aren’t thick enough,” say the experts. To which Duncan will reply, “OK, I’ve got a sledgehammer here”, one of Dunc’s favourite tools of construction, “how’s about you can use this to hit my boat as many times as you like, as hard as you like, and I only want one shot at yours.” The fibreglass experts will stoically decline. “If timber is hit hard, it will bruise, sure,” says Ian. “But the same hit to fibreglass will shatter the whole thing.”
As for longevity, Duncan’s own timber boat is over 100 years old. And saleability? Ian famously built a superb timber boat in Bathurst, residents calling him Noah for his troubles, and once constructed, very willing and deep-pocketed purchasers appeared,
as they always do.
Which brings us to the all-important question for when buyers start arriving for this latest creation, how the hell they gonna get that boat outta there? “I’ll knock the wall down”, says Ian matter-of-factly. Simple as that. Who gives a ship?