IBTC Portsmouth

We regret to announce that IBTC Portsmouth will close in March 2023.

Since we opened our doors in 2015 we have trained over 100 students. Many have gone on to forge careers in boatbuilding, boat restoration, and allied industries; preserving traditional skills for future generations. We are immensely proud of their success and our small part in it.

The decision to close has been a very difficult one to make and has not been taken lightly. Rising costs and falling student numbers have made it impossible to continue. Our current students will graduate as planned, but no more students will be enrolled and the College will close completely in March 2023. We understand that this will be upsetting news for many who hoped to study with us in future years. We hope that you take comfort from knowing that there are still two excellent boatbuilding colleges in England: IBTC Lowestoft and the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis.

We are immensely grateful to Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, who rescued the College when it fell into financial difficulties in 2017. They have raised funds, invested in our team and provided practical support throughout the last five years. We wish to thank them and our amazing staff for all the hard work and dedication to traditional wooden boatbuilding that they have demonstrated.

Boathouse 4, the beautiful inter-war building where we are based, will remain open and continue to be an important hub for boat restoration and maintenance skills. Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust’s team of brilliant volunteers and staff will maintain the Trust’s world-class collection of historic boats in the building for years to come.

Last Friday was a much-delayed graduation day for many of our recent students. We were delighted that 27 out of 32 were able to attend the celebration in person. Our current students joined them for this joyful mass photograph in . 😊

Getting ready to make another laminated knee - a good result is all in the preparation of the laminates & the mould used to shape them. Students Paul and Tom will work fast to clamp them correctly in the mould so the glue can set over the weekend.

How well do you know your timber? Can you identify these common boatbuilding materials?
With Instructor Betzy as the quizmaster, student Greg, on the left, was the only student to get 100% of these Robins Timber samples spot on.

Because it's a natural product you get great variations between pieces of timber even from the same species. Student Joe's sapele is an unusually pale colour which makes the rings stand out beautifully and his toolcase should look spectacular on completion. You can see the more typical colour of sapele on the top plank of this dinghy.

Oh happy day! Fresh supplies of high-quality larch from Sykes Timber This will keep our boatbuilding students busy for the foreseeable!

This is one of the student-built laminated knees being fixed into the upturned hull of the replica CMB under construction in Boathouse 4 This great boat project - almost exclusively constructed by volunteers - is building a fully-functioning WW1 motor torpedo boat.

Come make something as amazing as this dovetail-jointed tool box on a short course with us at our base in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard! 😀
Different courses available every week, summer brochure coming soon.
tinyurl.com/GreatShortCourses

Thursday's glue had dried by Friday and it was time to start refining the shape of this laminated knee.
Thicknessers like this are ideal for removing excess material along one dimension. Feeding a curved piece like this through one takes a bit of planning and expertise however. Instructor Matt made sure the machine was isolated and checked by hand the path the timber would make before doing it for real. The process was a success and the remaining excess mm or two will be carefully be removed using hand tools.

Want to learn a host of woodworking skills in just two days & have a beautiful object at the end? 🙂
Our Ship's Chest course runs twice in May - on 3rd/4th & 16th/17th.
All tools and materials provided.

'Great Instructor – super enthusiastic and encouraging'
'It was fast paced with excellent tuition'
'I can’t wait to come back for another course!'

See our website for more details. https://buff.ly/3EDJGOy

It's that time in the 12-week joinery course when students start taking a saw to their beautifully constructed hardwood boxes. First up was Nick who made a good job of separating what-will-soon-be a lid from the rest of his toolbox. Next stage is refining the edge and making sure it's square, flat and pleasingly smooth to boot.