The saving of a Bembridge Scow

Few things can be more satisfying than saving an old wooden boat from the chainsaw and bringing her back to life. But this can be a very expensive exercise as I found out when I rescued my 1959 classic, Essex Melody (featured in PBO June 2016 – see bit.ly/essexmelody). Though costly, it proved to be a very worthwhile restoration as I still regularly sail her and researching her heritage was incredibly rewarding.

It was therefore with some trepidation that I agreed to restore the Bembridge Scow Tinkerbell, which was given to me by a family member.

Scow class dinghies were found around the Solent before World War I. They were originally built at Lymington and designed as sailing tenders for gentlemen’s yachts, the shape of their bow entry making them particularly easy to tow, but they sailed very well even in quite challenging conditions. This sailing and handling ability made them firm favourites among cadets learning to sail and after World War II many clubs adopted Scows for dinghy racing.

All Scows were built to the same basic design – around 11ft 3in length and 4ft 8in beam but each builder made them a little different. Tinkerbell was built by AA Coombes of Bembridge, Isle of Wight, around 1955. The topsides are larch clinker planking, with more durable mahogany planking below the waterline as they were designed to remain afloat on moorings.

It should also be mentioned that Scows were also built along the East Coast particularly at Burnham on Crouch.

The demise of the wooden Scow came in the 1960s when improvements