A Plan to build and operate a commercial wooden sailing vessel in Tasmania

This project is a response to a nest of inter- twined modern problems of the developed world: Global warming, the oil crisis, unsustainable rural communities, loss of young people from regional Australia to the cities, clogged high ways, an ever rising “road toll”, seen increasingly as an inevitable cost to society of private, fuel intensive, transport. Building one small successful commercial sailing vessel will not save the world, but it may raise questions and suggest surprisingly simple answers to some of its more pressing problems.

Freight costs between Tasmania and the Mainland now include a substantial fuel surcharge. This will increase, and customers will seek ways to avoid it. Using renewable energy instead of oil is seen as very high tech and therefore expensive, requiring heavy investment in new technology. Sailing vessels, on the other hand, depend on very old and relatively simple technology, which reached a very high state of development a century ago, and was only abandoned after a long struggle because of the extraordinary cheapness of fossil fuels for an extremely brief period of human history. That period is now over. Our good fortune is that a huge investment in research and development of sailing cargo and passenger vessels in the nineteenth century has already been made, and retains its validity.

This validity applies especially to Tasmania, where commercial sail survived until almost half way through the 20th Century, and where modern opportunities exist for the transport of special high value cargoes between Tasmania and the Mainland, and where a vessel can be designed to combine the transport of cargo in one direction with the carriage of passengers in another, thus providing the opportunity to make profit on all sections of a round voyage. Modern technology, such as solar-powered refrigeration, (and modest Auxiliary propulsion) can be used to provide fresh food on board and in some cases, to refrigerate cargo, while a small vessel, ketch – rigged, and thus with small individual sail areas, can be managed by a crew of three, (Skipper, Mate and Cook), and can carry up to nine passengers, for whom the hold can be converted into a dormitory, using slung hammocks.

The purpose of the document which will follow this one is to show how a small sailing vessel can create a sustainable business while making minimal environmental impact, be financed by a small and committed local community, and confer additional local benefits during the construction process.

The role of the Living Boat Trust would be that of a facilitator, and beneficiary not a Principal. Project Understorey should not be undertaken unless it can be convincingly shown to be an independently profitable exercise. Therefore unlike proposals for sail Training vessels etc, it will not seek ongoing government support. Investment of an estimated $2-3 million should be sought from local shareholders, and a local company formed so that profits flow to the local region. Local wharfage should be negotiated to save local transport costs and to identify the vessel with the produce and productivity of the region and to attract visitor interest. The hope is that building can take place in return for rent of the land leased from the Crown by the Living Boat Trust, and that a similar arrangement can be made for the use of the big bandsaw during construction. It is likely that, as with the construction of the One And All in South Australia, 1982-86, visitor contributions to the building site will make a significant contribution to the cost of building. It is likely that they will then take advantage of the proximity of the Living Boat Trust for further refreshment, boat hire, and gaining local knowledge. It is therefore important that other site development should not be of a scale that would inhibit this possibility, As a re-creation of a well- documented aspect of Franklin’s history it would make a good fit with the aims of the LBT. It would also provide interesting employment for a team of professional boatbuilders and then seafarers, thus increasing local employment in a time of recession, and providing a market for local timber suppliers.

Traditional wood construction retains its ancient advantages of accessible materials, well tested technology, simplicity of basic technological requirements, and in the Huon Valley of the 21st century, it provides work for a skilful local workforce. It also becomes a powerful focus of regional identity and pride, which makes a period of depression and looming unemployment a good time to be planning to do it.

John Young 6th April 2009