Tilly XV

Tilly XV (1912) is a wonderful and interesting craft.  Built for the Prince Heinrich von Preussen, one time commander of the Russan Baltic Fleet, brother of Kaiser Wilheim the 2nd and grandson of Queen Victoria she is illustrious as she is unique.

Built in Germany to the one design Sónderklasse or “Special Class”, she is 12m Length overall (LOA) but only 5.8m length on the waterline (LWL)! At the time of her build in 1912, she would have been one of the most extreme designs of her day.

Unfortunately, during the Antigua Classics, whilst surfing at 14kts on an Atlantic swell, a shackle failed on the cap shroud causing the mast and 50sq m of sail to fall to the deck.  Vey fortunately, no one was hurt.

As this was the first day of racing, Tilly XV was in dire straits.  Luckily Tilly XV was pointed in our direction and we fixed the mast within 24hrs (and a gallon of coffee) and she managed to see out the rest of the regatta without harm. As far as we know, our repair is still holding strong and she has gone on to win prestigious regattas on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ocean Leaper

Ocean leaper was sadly befallen by an accidental electrical fire in St Lucia. The fire was of such ferocity that not only was much of the interior burnt and smoke damaged to the point of being near unrepairable, but the heat had degraded and discolored the paint and varnish on the deck and ruined alot of electronics and hardware.

The owners of Ocean Leaper looked around the Caribbean for a yard not only capable of a refit of this kind, but also with the variety of skills and resources comprehensive enough to recreate Ocean Leaper as she was before her accident.

After an initial on-site consultation with the owners of the vessel in St Lucia, and an in depth study of the task in hand, Woodstock agreed to undertake the work. It was a few months of hard graft but we got her over the line and she is still sailing in the Caribbean today.

The vast scope of the work included but wasn’t limited too;

·        Replacing cabinets in the master cabin and saloon.

·        Cleaning and Veneering bulkheads and mast box to match newly replaced cabinetry.

·        Replacing the Companionway

·        Replacing the hatches

·        Replacing all the fiddles and handrails through the boat

·        Building and replacing cabin doors and jams

·        Repairing the fridge and freezer

·        Changing the PSS Shaft Seal

·        Painting the Mast in Awlgrip

·        Varnishing the Interior in Epifanes

·        Gel-Coat repairs

·        Removing and replacing the Air Conditioning System

The owners say that although the fire was unfortunate, it was a cloud with a silver lining. The boat is now better than when she was new!

Prevail

The Bill Tripp “Cafe Racer” came to us as a repeat customer as they knew we could achieve the high quality, high finish in Carbon that the owner required.

As a streamlined all carbon machine built and designed to be “photo friendly” on the water, the builder had not included any chafe protection for her gunwales from lines. This had led to chafe marks in her beautiful custom metallic paint job.

To counter this ommission. Woodstock designed and built removable custom chafe pads in carbon twill with a neoprene backing which fitted over the flush NOMEN cleats when in use.

Whilst she was with us we also fixed a hairline crack in her carbon wheel caused by an errant line, and made an quickly removable “sailing bimini” using seasmart carbon poles and fittings. She sailed away a happy customer with the skipper stating “I couldn’t be more happy with the attentive way that woodstock dealt with all our queries and requests and topped it off with an A1 job”.

The Grove Residences

In the summers when Antigua becomes sleepy with the heat, we like to take on projects we might not have time for in season. These are not only on the water but on land as well.

When the client approached us to do the metal and woodwork on their new luxury apartment complex, we lept at the chance to help them create their dream space.

Some of the more unique items we built were a bespoke glass and stainless set of stairs and banister, as well as some modern minimalist custom furniture.

The Grove Residences Project easily dove tailed into the work we do for yachts as the high end joinery, custom metal fabrication and “thinking outside the box” is what we do.

If you fancy a holiday in Antigua, or if you live here and want a weekend away, apartments are available for rent at the Grove Residence and they can be found here https://www.thegroveresidencesltd.com

Shamrock V (JK3)

Shamrock V is one of the great J-Class racing yachts and the only wooden planked J still afloat.

Shamrock V needed some hull resplining and her gold leaf replacing. Of course there was only one place to go for this work. In addition she also required us to make some chocks covered in Elk Hide leather to hold her spinnaker pole which we were happy to do.

Shamrock V is one of only 9 J-Class yachts afloat and she is one of the few originals. Woodstock Boatbuilders is proud to of worked on 8 out if the 9 of these fine machines.

Anna

Anna has been coming to us for modifciations and improvements since she was built at Feadship in 2018.

At 110m LOA, the sheer size of her would be daunting to most, but a job is a job regardless if she weighs 10+ times what the local supply ship does!.

A yacht of this size and complexity requires myriad of skilled craftsmen and women, from engineers for jetskis to shipwrights for deck planks. Metal fabricators for railings and deck fittings, high end painters for paint/varnish work and carbon specialists for goal post repair, thats right, goal post repair!

Anna sailed away happily and returns year on year.

Hetairos

The meticulously maintained 218ft carbon “Hetairos”, knowing that Woodstock is always up for adversity, asked us if we could look at its keel.

Likely due to the great speeds she achieves (she has the highest possible IRC rating of 2.00 and is the current record holder of the Round Antigua Race with a time of 03 hrs 46 mins 08 seconds!) had at some point lost the fairing to her bulb keel.

As there is nowhere in Antigua (or the entire antilles) able to dry dock a vessel as large and deep, the job had to be conducted in the water. Relishing a challenge, we got to work.

Creating the template took some initiative, skill and dive equipment, but once this was created accurately, it was easy enough to make a new fairing in the workshop and go back down to fit.

Whilst Hetairo’s was alongside, we also made some titanium anti chafe plates for her caprails which were nice thing to make with a neoprene backing to protect her beautiful varnish.

Elysian

Elysian have visited us for a few years straight for various routine maintenance jobs but in this instance came to us with an unusual request.

The crew and Owner wanted a non permanant structure to carry their 38ft Wajer tender on Elysian safely when she is offshore on delivery. This would eliminate the external shipping methods they had been using to transport the tender in the past, and would give Elysian a bit more automony to pull into any port big enough for her as she no longer needed to meet the tender or vice versa. The cradle also needed to be able to be assembled or dissassembeled in a matter of hours by the crew and stored on board thus furthering the crews independance from external contractors. A further requirement was that when the cradle is removed, no evidence of the cradle could remain.

Woodstock Boatbuilders, to fill this need, using drawings created by the experienced captain and Naval Architect, built a cradle from recycled I beams which sits in and over the yachts aft swimming pool and around the structures within it.

The cradle has now done 10’s of thousands of ocean miles with the tender still safely in place and the crew happy!

Exodus

42’ West Indies sloop, Exodus. Restoration including complete interior fit out and re rigging. And new colour scheme. Following extensive brief from her new owners. Exodus was converted from a bare hull to a comfortable live-aboard. The shortened boom allowed for short handed sailing. Following this restoration Andrew delivered Exodus with the owners to her new home in Bequia.

Bystander

We have been fortunate to help Bystander, the trend setting 138ft escort vessel to the J-Class “Velsheda” JK7 on many tasks and improvements to her and her tenders and toys over the years.

Aside from the regular maintenance jobs such as replacing deck planks, we have aided in a number of improvements, we have made new dorade boxes, fixed bar stools, modified interior cabinetary to accept new hardware, made “whip” holders in Stainless for the tenders, created custom fastenings to keep deck furniture secure underway, rebuilt an air handler and built a teak plinth for the cannon.