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The yacht BRITANNIA
The BRITANNIA was built 1893 for the Prince of Wales. She was one the
most famous and most elegant yachts then, and one the most successful in
regattas. Until 1935 she won 231 first prices in 635 races. According to
the last will of King George V she was taken out to sea and scuttled
after his death in 1936. She was sunk off the Isle of Wight.
This model is not for sale.
Many parts of the work I could do on our terrace. The frames of the
Mamoli kit were cut accurately, which the pre-cut parts fitting exactly.
Since I wanted to use no paint except clear lacquer, I marked the
waterline by a 2 mm strip of padouk wood.
The Mamoli kit had only few points that appeared to me careless or
wrong. The worst was that in the secondary planking no stem was
intended. After long considering I, unfortunately, followed the plans
and joined the planks one on one. Nevertheless, in the parts below the
waterline I included a stem. For the deck, the fittings, the rigging and
other equipment the numerous photos of the Beken of Cowes proved very
helpful and a good assistance.
A small side effect of the building was the introduction to the
Italian language. The description was given in Italian, German, English
and French. The German text was mostly correct or I could guess the
meaning. With some work procedures however, when the same sentences in
English and French were poorly translated, too, I had to use some
Italian dictionary.
The below-surface planking is walnut, the waterline and the boom of the large staysails are padouk, the above-surface hull is pear, the deck maple, the side panels of the deck houses mahogany, the roofs and hatches again walnut, likewise mast and spars. The bulwark is boxwood. I used ten different yarns for stays, halliards, and sheets. The sails I did myself on the sewing machine of my mother-in-law (Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti were very helpful). The mainsail alone has 55 panels of sail cloth.
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