Tempe Basin Motor Boat Association

29/11/2020

Replacing copper sheeting can be a very prickly business. Each copper nail hole has to be filled and sealed away.

29/11/2020

Found this one in the trophy cabinet. Anyone know the story behind this little beauty?

29/11/2020

Yard clean-up underway. Special thanks to the crew at Aussie Skips. The clean-up will clear the space for improvements in boat storage and repair facilities. Watch this space!

14/06/2015

An evening with the boats of Tempe Basin. Shot with my Phantom 3 pro, 1080p, 50 fps.

23/06/2014

Fancy yourself much of a boat builder?http://woodenboatblog.com/node/606

Been hard at work getting the interior painted. Not going to say much other than I am one step closer and glad it is done. Cutting all of the edges and corners on the battens, frames, sheers, chines, stem,butt joints, cabinetry inside and outside took longer than the actual painting.

15/06/2014

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/brainstuff/diy-build-your-own-boat-of-almost-any-shape-and-size-using-free-plans/

If you live anywhere near water (ocean, bay, lake, river) you have probably thought about having a boat. But have you ever thought about building your own boat? I had never really considered it until I came across this site:

24/03/2014

This is the Goorawin

After a four-year restoration by local shipwright Andrew Thomson at the boatyard at Tempe Basin. The Goorawin was built at Goat Island on the Harbour in 1949. In 1954 she collided with a Sydney ferry near Shark Island and sank. She was salvaged and made it under her own steam to Yamba on the north coast where she was the MSB workboat that looked after the prawn trawling fleet. Because of her shallow draft she helped rescue families caught in the floods on the Clarence River. The north coast MSB guys must have had some time on their hands because many people fondly remember the Goorawin from their childhood days. There was even an illustrated childrens book written by a local author.

The Goorawin was one of a fleet of ‘G Boats’ which worked on the harbor. Amongst their tasks they took the shipbuilders across to Cockatoo. All of the series had aboriginal names starting with ‘G’. For example, Gargarle, Girrakool and Girra Girra. Goorawin means ‘flower’.

The ‘G Boats’ were also known by the workers as ‘Sputniks’ because they did orbits all day around Cockatoo Island. There may be a dozen of these boats still around, Sydney based, mainly.

24/03/2014

Blast from the past!

Steaming and the driving frames (ribs) inside the gunwales and down to the keel. After each rib has been steamed for half an hour there is only half a minute to bend it into place and copper nail it before it becomes rigid again.

Andrew, in this picture on the left, is a third generation shipwright whose grandfather worked in the Port of Edinburgh before migrating to Marrickville.

03/03/2014

A big lift!

11/02/2014