It's out with the brass band and in with the boaties at the old Royal New Zealand Air Force base at the Hobsonville airfield in Auckland.

The Air Force band room is now filled with the sounds of construction, laughter and the occasional swear word.
Here at the Auckland Traditional Boat Building School (ATBS), the methods and designs of old are kept alive in the best way possible, by doing them.
The door to the workshop opens to the warm colour of kauri and the smell of just-cut timber. Hand tools line the walls and other than a handful of power tools tucked away at the back, you could be in a workshop early last century.
Boats at different stages of construction crowd for space in the workshop. There are four small boats underway: two Frostbites in their early stages, an X Class and an almost completed M class. A couple of the boats are up-turned and almost completed. The Frostbites are barely more than framing and a couple of planks.

The education in all things sailing and boat building began early in the Brooke family. Dad had us sailing at five. I built my first clinker dingy at the age of thirteen, says Brooke. Dad was building Frostbites under the house and had us kids holding the gripes while he riveted the planks.
Brooke and the other school founders Ron Jameson, Harold Kidd and Bruce Tantrum, founded the school to preserve the building methods and boats of a bygone era.

The idea was to set up a trust to look after old boats.says Brooke. We had the concept in early 2006. We got the premises in October last year and the school started in February. The Classic Yacht Association (CYA) really kicked it off. They wanted people around to keep traditional boat building going.

The founders financed it themselves in the early days, with help from the
late Frank Stark of Stark Brothers Boat Building in Lyttleton, who donated finance and much of the kauri for the schools projects. Since then the schools trust has welcomed John Street of Harken New Zealand as patron and David Glen, an owner of the classic yacht Rainbow, and Ian McRobie as trustees.

Noel Smith, on floor, and John Churton hammer and nail through the timber.	Ron slides the rivet on the nail to be roved and clenched.

Recent NZQA registration as a private training establishment means short-term courses will be accredited from 2008. The registration will also lead to some year long accredited courses. Next year will see an increase in the schools activities, but courses will remain as flexible as possible, Brooke says. He wants students to be able to learn anything from basic maintenance of an existing boat to a complete build from the ground-up. If theres someone who has something that needs doing, then we?ll try and put a course on for it. I want people to come out with the knowledge to go out and do a boat on their own, he says.

Ron Churton checks the planking.	Ron awaits Robert Brooke approval of the planking.	A snapshot of boatbuilding of years gone by. with the Frostbite planks held by wooden gripes.

When we start a course we get people together and ask: What do you want to do? and we plan the course around that. Brothers and hobby class students John and Ron Churton are working on one of the ground up projects, a clinker-built Frostbite. The Churtons are using Jack Brookes original 1937-38 plank templates and frames to build their Frostbite. John was attracted to the course by the history of the Frosbite and the chance to build a kauri clinker dinghy. Theres a log of heart in those boats and its about being involved in the heritage. We hope the boat will be handed down through the family, John says. Ron adds: We had recently purchased a Bailey dinghy and we thought, Theres more to it than just keeping it in nice trim. So we went along to have a look for a couple of nights and we were hooked.

John Churton is lining up the planks with the help of brother Ron	Hand tools of another era are ready and waiting on the walls.	Jim Jarrod and Ron Churton checking for accuracy

Neither brother had any experience with boat building, before they began the hobby course. As John describes his expertise: Zero. Im not a chippy: Ive never been involved with timber. Lets just say Im not much of a home handyman. Ron had a bit of of handyman experience, gained mostly from renovating houses, but nothing like turning a piece of rough-sawn kauri timber into a plank.

The brothers have followed a process which is a snapshot into wooden boat building. They are planking their Frostbite, slowly building up the hull plank by strake around Jack Brookes frames. Using Jack Brookes templates, they have cut out the kauri planks , each template varying slightly to create the hull shape. They hand plane the planks along the top and bottom edge to make a scarf joint where the two edges overlap, called the land. John carefully shapes the bevels where the planks will meet.

The bow end planks are then soaked with boiling water to shape them. Once shaped, the strake is slotted into place and clamped in place with the wooden gripes, like clothes pegs. The stem-end of the plank is then marked and planed to give a perfect fit in the small groove at the stem called the rabbet. The builders drive six copper nails into every plank at the stem. These nails are hand barbed with a sharp chisel. The planks in the two adjoining strakes are drilled, and a copper nail hammered through the land from the outside. Ron braces the strake with the dolly as Noel Smith hammers each nail through. Ron then slides a rivet, a small coper washer over the protruding nail. The nail is cut just proud of the rove and clenched, the original of the word clinker, by flattening it with a ball-pein hammer.

As the planks approach the stern end the land of the lower edge is tapered to a feather edge so their overlapping surfaces become flush where they meet the stern. Once all the planks are slotted into place and riveted, the timbers, commonly referred to as ribs, will be put in. The timbers slot into holes in the centre case then another row of copper nails will be riveted through the strake lands to strengthen the hull and the scarf joints between the planks.

The Churton brothers say they have come a long way since starting the course and appreciate the learning environment Robert Brooke has created. Weve got four timber boats. Now any maintenance work that needs doing, we can do it ourselves, says John. We cant wait to get along there each week and thats got a lot do with Rob how he creates a relaxed atmosphere. The Churton?s will name their Frostbite in memory of their late mother, Yvonne, and will launch it on her birthday. Ron says the hobby classes are as much about the comradeship as the skills learnt and the project completed. Just working with that wood, you can see why theyre called craftsmen. he says. Some of the history those guys know is just amazing. Just listening to these guys talk, you learn so much.

The school runs a night hobby course, day classes and two-week block courses for apprentices, a Gateway course for those wanting a start in the boat building trade and Day Skipper courses.
Classes run from February to late November.
The hobby course is $220 per term for four, 13 week terms and runs on Tuesday nights from 7 to 9pm.
Materials are provided by the school. If a student wants to purchase their project, the cost will be negotiated at the end of the course.
In 2008 the school plans to run a day hobby course from 9am to 12pm

OBITUARY FRANK STARK - 27/1/1938 - 21/5/2008

After a relatively brief illness Frank Stark passed away peacefully at home on the morning of 21/5/2008.

As many of you will know Frank received an advanced Gall Bladder Cancer diagnosis on the 14th February 2008.
Frank and his family have a strong Christian faith, and know now that Frank is at home in Heaven, free from illness.

Frank started Stark Bros in 1958, and with the involvement of his Brothers and 3 Sons, Work and Family became almost inextricably linked and intertwined, often time at work being with family or enabling other family to be at home.

He was proud of his staff, he enjoyed seeing staff achieve and better themselves, with many apprentices and young people working for Stark Bros over the years.

While Frank was a man of relatively few words, and often preferred to reflect on others achievements rather than his own, we are all very proud of him.
His constant presence and wisdom at work will be greatly missed by all here at Stark Bros Ltd.

This is obviously an emotional time for us as a family company, especially in our “50 Jubilee” year, but we will continue, and thank you for your support at this time.

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