LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Jack Holt: Boats
built 618 days ago
One, the Solo, recently celebrated 50 years since Jack Holt produced the snub-nosed single hander that continues to confound the modern throwaway school of boat design. With several 'modern' dinghy designs looking decidedly shoddy round the edges and crumbling away in dinghy parks across the country, the Solo goes from strength to strength.
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Jack Holt (1912-1995) was born into humble stock. The son of a panel beater, his love of boats and sailing was encouraged by the author AP Herbert and Jack eventually joined the local Sea Scouts, where unfortunately, his love of speed led to him being banned. Throughout the 1920s and 30s Jack continued to develop his ideas and enjoyed a number of sailing successes; ... his talent as a boat designer was still largely overlooked because the sailing society was still rife with elitism.
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Building a Streaker using the Epoxy system updates Jack Holt's design to suit the better materials now available, ultimately making a stronger, lighter and longer-lasting boat. The main difference in the build process is the lack of screws, nails and much of the copper wire stitching, made unnecessary due to the greater strength of the epoxy resins and additives used.Consequently, the Kit produced by Ron Beasley has been developed to make building even easier than conventional stitch and glue. Studying some well-used examples of the original construction revealed poorly made joints in the panels and spine assembly causing leaks and cracks as the old glue failed. To prevent these problems, all panels come pre jointed (scarfed) making them much more durable. Additionally the floor joint is moved, away from the helm's feet, which has previously been a well known weak spot.
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Initially, they just used these new fittings on Holt's own boats. However, word of this lighter, more efficient hardware spread fast, and soon their products were in great demand. The hardware side of the business was so successful that it quickly overshadowed the boat building division.
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