My cousin owns a yawl rigged Nantucket clipper

It was in such a state that he’d given up hope of ever getting it into the water again.

I took a month off and traveled to the Netherlands to give him a hand getting this beautiful vessel back into the water.

The pictures tell the story of replacing and restoring the bowsprit, deck timbers , doors and solar panel , clean up and antifouling and finally the return of the old dame to her element!

click on the pictures to see larger versions of them

the bowsprit repaired

A good result!

The Netherlands 6th May –> 6th June

During my visit to Holland I had the pleasure and honour to meet Edwin Tijsterman and his dad Willem in the yacht harbour of Plaszicht on the Noordeinder Lake in the town of Nieuwkoop.

http://www.tijstermanboten.nl/home

The Tijstermans run a business  hiring out boats, also  repairing and restoring of 16m2 “BM”s (based on the  original 12m2 BMs). They also build beautiful new boats.

After initially viewing Edwin’s boats moared in their pens I was approached by one of the boat builders there as to my interest in the boats. From there on I was introduced to Edwin who took an interest in my story and especially this web site. His dad and him viewed my efforts and to my relief were impressed by my efforts. After an afternoon over good coffee and viewing the beautiful 16m2s housed  there and a guided tour of the boat building facilities I gained valuable insight and information from Edwin  .

During my conversation with Edwin I mentioned to him that I was looking for a mastcap at which he took me to his storage area (an Aladdin’s cave of boat treasures!) where he not only got me the mast cap but other original 16m2 parts which “I would probably need”!

A little embarrassing for me when he refused payment for the items! His contribution towards my project!  I will remain in his debt though and I hope this acknowledgement page will ensure that he knows of my appreciation of his gesture!

When you are in the area pay the Plaszicht Jachthaven a visit and have a chat to the guys there. I am sure that mentioning this story will bring a smile to their faces.

For good food and drink and friendly service give the restaurant a try as well. Thoroughly recommended!

http://www.restaurant-tijsterman.nl/restaurant