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[regiment]

i have been given a 2 ft wooden boat bread and butter hull 2 ft  long 5 inch wide  paint was peeling off so must be very old  house that it was found in is over 100 yrs old  now the bow is  round  and the stearn is squr  what can i make of it took the deck off it was rotten  fixed on with nails

[derekwarner]

A Thames Sailing Barge Gordon?.......all you need is a 2 x lee boards, a mast & a red sail.........the rust stains would be an original bonus


Derek

[regiment]

sorry dereck nothing like the picture  but thanks  for replying   

[dodes]

The very early sailing barges were a round bows and a square stern a cross between the early dumb lighters to sailing barges, the lee boards were more rounded and when a topmast was fitted it was short. Some carried a square sail when going with a fair wind. You have if you do it right a very interesting model. Also they had tillers, nicknamed rib breakers, because if you hit a sand bank unexpectedly they suddenly straighten and sometimes shot the helmsman overboard.

[dodes]

I forgot to say the colour of the sails depended where the barge came from, because there were various ideas on the mixture of red and yellow ochre, also the barges in the cement trade usually ended up with virtually black sails, Kentish barges were a darker red than the Essex crowd. But the square budget stern eventually developed over time to what we now know, but the first step was a round bow.