Liz Tallentire and Chris Thompson undertook a major project to restore a Danish fishing trawler, the Jayne Pearl, and convert it into a boat for their new business offering sea diving charters on the West Coast of Scotland.
The oak used to rebuild the stern of the ship came from Whitney Sawmills. Liz, a clinical psychologist in the NHS, and Chris, a mechanical engineer, talked to Robert Penn, author and director of Woodland Heritage Timber, about the project.
Chris: ‘We bought the boat in 2017, off a bit of a Del Boy character. The plan was to spend a year doing it up—give it a coat of paint, throw an air compressor in the engine room and go diving. Job’s a good ‘un. Dead easy.’
Liz: ‘And here we are, nine years later, so nearly finished. You know the phrase—a project grows arms and legs? This project grew arms, legs and a head and then did seventeen laps around us.’
Chris: ‘We never even meant to buy a trawler. The plan was to buy a 7m RIB. We have both been interested in diving for a long time. In fact, we first met in a pub on a diving trip in Scapa Flow, in the Orkneys. Then we fell in love, moved to the West Coast of Scotland and decided to buy a boat, to explore dive sites in our local area.’
Liz: ‘We soon realised we wanted to share our diving adventures. We like being with people who are passionate about it, so we decided to start a small business running dive trips. That meant a bigger boat with a kettle, a toilet and accommodation. Then we found this de-registered Danish trawler, Jayne Pearl built in 1966, and the project started to grow.’
Chris: ‘We are both practical—Liz is the joiner, I do the ‘steel and diesel’—but we had never done anything like this before. We have certainly learnt a lot. First, we completely rewired the boat and rebuilt the deck. Last year, we took five months off work to rebuild the stern. We removed the aluminium structure and only then realised the extent of the problems with the planking and the ship’s frame. We also
had a defined time period to complete the rebuild, while the boat was out of the water. With our very specific timber needs—tight-grained, good quality oak in very long planks—we rang pretty much every sawmill in the country.’
Liz: ‘The personal service from the staff at Woodland Heritage Timber was apparent from the start. We just knew they would go the extra mile to help. The longest oak plank we replaced was 7m. In the end, we had six people to help put the steam-bent plank in place on the stern. The good news is… it doesn’t leak.’
Chris: ‘The major restoration work is finally complete. The boat is back in the water where she belongs and we are adding the finishing touches—building davits, installing bunks and wiring appliances into the galley. Our first diving charters are in June. We have trips planned out of Tobermory on Mull where we are based, to Col, Skye and the Outer Hebrides this summer. If we get the weather, never guaranteed on the West Coast, we might run a trip out to St Kilda. All to look forward to.’
Liz: ‘It has been quite an adventure, just getting to here, but we really do appreciate the care and speed the sawmill team put into getting our order out of the mill, up to Scotland and into the boatyard.’
YOU ARE WELCOME! FAIR WINDS AND FOLLOWING SEAS.
Learn more about the Jayne Pearl and book a charter here: https://www.emt2.co.uk/
