Sampson Boat Co

The first sail of the season! (high-res downloadable image)

We've had a few days of glorious sunshine and yesterday we also had a perfect light breeze, so Marit and I hoisted sail for the first since January. Pictured here on a downwind run off the coast of...

Back on board! (4K downloadable image)

After a very nice but quite lengthy trip to the UK and Finland, we are finally back in British Columbia and back on board Tally Ho! It feels so good to be back on the boat, and it seems like summer...

Cabo Verde

I've been really pleased to see how much people have seemed to enjoy the latest video of my presentation in Helsinki. I'm not totally comfortable doing public speaking but I think I'm improving! 2025-04-21 18:42:22 +0000 UTC View Post

EP216. Tally Ho & the Stories That Built Her — A Live Talk in Helsinki

In this episode I am invited to give a talk at the Classic Yacht Symposium in Helsinki, Finland.

First I talk about the Tally Ho story - how I started the project and how we rebuilt the boat...

Classic Boat Awards 2025

I feel exceedingly honoured that Tally Ho won Restored Sailing Vessel over 40ft at the Classic Boat Awards 2025!

This award is for all of us - everyone who had a hand, or a click, in the reb...

Back in the UK!

It's been a year since my last visit, and perhaps in another couple of years we will see Tally Ho in a scene like this (although perhaps not quite so far up the Thames - too many bridges!)

EP215. Dealing with corrosion / RE-LAUNCHING at last!

In this episode I attempt to explain Galvanic Corrosion, as I need to add another Zinc Anode to fully protect the bronze propeller.

After more antifouling paint we enjoy some extremely satis...

Leo in a suit!?

I just spent an amazing weekend in Helsinki at the Classic Yacht Symposium, where I was invited to talk about the Tally Ho rebuild. We were looked after incredibly well and it was amazing to meet s...

Pulling tape.

Ahhhh.. one of the most satisfying jobs!

EP214. Fixing the binding rudder (with help from Bob!)

In this episode we identify and fix the problem that led to a binding rudder, although we are left with some unanswered questions about corrosion. We also scrape, sand, and paint the bottom of the ...

Safety-crocs!

We've been grappling with bad weather and dodging frequent rain-showers, but I'm happy to report that solving the stiff rudder issue has been going well! Here I'm giving one of the pins a bit of li...

EP213. It took 7 years... but what is left of the original boat?

In this bonus episode I address some questions which have been asked a lot recently;

What exactly is left of the original Tally Ho?

Why didn’t I just build a new boat - and wouldnâ€...

An awkward manoeuvre.

I wonder if there would be much interest in a video about manoeuvring and parking a heavy boat like Tally Ho... I have some good tips for easily getting into awkward berths like this one, whether s...

Seam compound!

Scraping seams in the sun - just one of the many joys of wooden boat ownership!

I'm not kidding, I love this sort of work - easy and satisfying.

EP212. Sailing is over - we have to fix the rudder.

In this episode we haul Tally Ho out of the water to try and fix the rudder.

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Music;

Cross the Road - Silent Partner

Lazy River Rag - Dan Lebowitz

Jazz Apricot - Jo...

Back to the boat and back to work!

We're out of the water to diagnose and (hopefully) fix the cause of a frustrating problem - any guesses?

Of course we will take the opportunity to make a proper inspection, scrub and paint, ...

EP211. Wooden Boats and Wombats - The TALLY HO crew go "down under"!

In this episode Leo, Marit, Bob and Patrick all travel to Tasmania to visit the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. We meet lots of interesting characters, sail on some beautiful vessels, visit an ins...

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival.

We saw incredible vessels of all shapes and sizes at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Here are two impressive tall ships - the James Craig, a 19th century barque, and the Australian-built repli...

Building A Boat By The River

One of the highlights of our trip to Tasmania was visiting Matt and Iefka and hearing about the 41' cold-moulded wooden boat that they have been building from scratch - Tarkine. I hope to publish a...

EP210. sailing Tally Ho ALONE for the first time!

In this episode I attempt to sail Tally Ho singlehanded. Hoisting the mainsail is the first big challenge - that thing is heavy! I navigate through the Gulf Islands, dodging ferries and buoys, and ...

Sailing singlehanded?

The last week has been nonstop crazy - the Australian Wooden Boat Festival was amazing, and I'll be posting more about that soon. We met lots of really amazing people and had some good adventures,...

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival is in full swing!

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival is in full swing! Pictured is Bob and Paddy having fun dinghy-sailing yesterday.

Due to a combination of jet-lag, a bug I picked up on the plane, preparati...

Thank you!

Thank you very much for so many great ideas after my last post! Lots of very valuable opinions in the comments - later today I'll be boarding a flight to Tasmania, so I'll read through the rest of ...

Changes ahead - your opinions requested!

Hi all,

I just wanted to write a quick update about the boat, the project, and the future of the channel.

Firstly, I’m so very grateful that many of you are continuing to watch and su...

Classic Boat Awards 2025

I'm honoured that Tally Ho has been nominated for the Classic Boat Awards 2025! There are a lot of really wonderful boats in the line-up, and the winners will be decided by public vote - if you'd l...

START TO FINISH - Rebuilding Tally Ho

This video took a lot of work to edit, I really hope you like it!

I'm looking forward to making a much longer and more detailed video about the project as a whole, but for now I really ...

Last spring

I'm remembering last spring, when we were doing sail-trials in the Port Townsend sun. Warm weather will be here again soon!

Photo credit; Heather J

SUPERCUT coming soon

I'm working on a really special video - a compilation of the whole Tally Ho rebuild project in 20 minutes or so. However, it's proving to be a lot of work - I don't think it's going to be published...

Australian Wooden Boat Festival 2025

I'm very excited to announce that I'll be giving a talk at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival next month. If you can't make it, don't worry - I do hope to film the talk to release on YouTube (as l...

Have you ever been buzzed by a WWII flying boat?!

*SOUND ON*

This happened just a couple of days ago as I was merrily motoring around the Gulf Islands. I later learned that this is one of only 7 Martin JRM Mars flying boats that wer...