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[heritorasphodel]

R.N.L.B. B.A.S.P. is the fourth of the Watson 45ft Motor/Sailing (Cabin) class, and the first motor Lifeboat to serve at Yarmouth (I.o.W.). She was one of the first lifeboats to have been built with a cabin and a shelter for crew protection, along with being flush-decked.



Built in 1924, B.A.S.P. was named after the four donors whose legacies were combined to pay for her, Blackburn, Armstrong, Smart and Price. Basp was station lifeboat at Yarmouth, Falmouth and Valentia, and also spent long periods in the relief fleet. In 1955, she was sold out of service and was converted into a houseboat, and remained like this until she sank at her moorings on the Thames. She was recovered and shipped to the National Lifeboat Museum at Bristol where her looks were restored (Minus her wooden canopy). In 1994 she, along with the rest of the museum, was relocated to Chatham.



Sometime in the '90s, enquiries within the Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society located the owner of the 45ft J.R.Webb/Hearts of Oak, the first cabin lifeboat. After negotiations it was agreed that the canopy of Hearts of Oak would be given to Basp, and she was modified slightly to fit the canopy.



Seeing as Basp has been in her current location in the collection for nigh on 20 years, she is part way though another restoration, including replanking the shelter, the restoration of most of her fittings and repainting the hull. I'm proud to say I'm one of her current crew.

To celebrate her 20 years at the collection, I'm starting to build a 1:12 model of her as she was when she was built. Hopefully it'll be finished by mid 2014, on the collection's 20th anniversary and Basp's 80th birthday.

Andrew

[heritorasphodel]

I couldn't locate any lines for the class, so I used the general arrangement and the sections for the H.F.Bailey (ON 694) and the skills my Dad taught me in technical drawing and drew up my own set of lines at 1:24. I then blew the hull sections back up to 1:12 and copied them onto bits of ply. I have a set of Basp's plans on tracing paper, so the keel was traced from this.





Andrew

[davidjt]

hi ,

you are lucky to live near chatam so you can do the restoration work, i would love to be able to do restoration work on boats like B.A.S.P.
so keep up the good work , and building your model, hope to see some pictuers of both when complete

[Neil]

very similar to the 43' boat I'm building Andrew........same beam, just two feet longer, and the original 1912 boats were basically an adaptation of the ealier Watsons of varying lengths from 38 - 43' boats with just the "dog kennel" engine cover.

would you be able to supply me with a heap of photos via email of her, especially the interior and fittings, and then when I have made and cast them, I would be happy to send you some of what ever you need foc either in white metal or polyurethane  resin.

cheers, neil.

[Rottweiler]

Neil
I have e mailed you some photos I took of BASP, and a couple of others in my collection.
Mick F

[trawlerman]

'm at rods at moment..will look when i get home.....cheers matey.
neil

[heritorasphodel]

I'm uploading most of the photographs of Basp I've got onto my photobucket page - there's far too many to send by email. but generally if I need to know what a particular fitting looks like I'll go and have a look at it.

I've had a think, and I'm not sure if any of the parts from the two classes, (43s and 45s) were too similar. If you could have a look at the photos then let me know if you think any of the parts are the same.

Here's the first batch - it takes time as they are/were fairly large photos. I've commented on them to say if bits are original or not.

http://s1062.photobucket.com/albums/t492/heritorasphodel/45ft%20Watson%20Class/

Andrew

[heritorasphodel]

I've finished putting up the photos of B.A.S.P., and have got the first photos of the model. (On the left)





I've since put another frame in, and have had to stop working on it for the moment due to the horrible weather not letting me outside.

Andrew

[heritorasphodel]

I've had a think about how I'm going to do the planking, which should be double diagonal, but seeing as a) this is my first proper scratch build and b) the frames may not be perfect, I'm not going to do it properly. The way a mate of mine did his 41 was the first layer was fore/aft planking in balsa, with copious amounts of filler to get the shape right, and the second layer was diagonal in ply. This way you get the right look on the outside, and the first layer of planking doesn't take as long.

It'll annoy me that it's not right, but it'll prevent a lot of grief later.

Andrew

[heritorasphodel]

The research has been interesting... Bought a book on the Valentia lifeboats (Basp was station boat there for five years) assuming there'd be some decent photographs of her during her service.

Bit disappointed... There were two photographs of her, one on builders trials, which I have already, and the other was her at Chatham, with my father and grandfather aboard. Oh well. Can't always hit the mother lode. 

Andrew

[Rottweiler]

Next time I go into Falmouth, I will see if they have any of basp at the station.I think not, but there is one at the History centre.No promises!
Mick F

[heritorasphodel]

Cheers for the offer, I've got only got one photo of her when she was stationed at Falmouth, at the naming of the Coverack boat Three Sisters (On the right), a single screw Liverpool, with the Duke of York (Back left) from Lizard also in attendance.



She hadn't been on station very long at this point, only a couple of months. However she was modified from how she looked at Yarmouth (the canopy was extended and the belting was changed)

Andrew

[Rottweiler]

Andrew, PM sent
Mick F

[heritorasphodel]

The keel has had some work done on it before the frames can go on permanently. Once the hull planking is complete, the keel will have some fake planks fitted.


First of all, the stem has been sharpened, I'll add the brass strip on the stem later.



Also the keel doubler plates and the iron keel has been added.





finally I've made the propeller shroud from plastic and epoxied it into the hole in the keel, and the whole lot was faired in with filler.





Next step is adding detail to the prop tube, to try and make it look like this:





That's all for now


Andrew

[heritorasphodel]

I've finished putting the detail onto the prop tube (save for a pair of bolt heads), I may be able to do some planking soon!








To save what will no doubt cause a lot of trouble, I'm going to block the tunnel in with balsa, then fit some fake planks on once the hull's planked.


Andrew