Custom

Gumnut Sale 2025
Video on Instagram @theleatherwoodcraftsman

Gumnut is a beautiful old wooden Gaff Cutter (rigged) sail boat. She was built in 1887 by a couple of German Brothers on the shores of Sydney and has been in many different locations around Australia including Macquarie Harbor in Tasmania, Paynesville and Hobsons bay.
This boat is a piece of Australian Maritime heritage with not many other boats older than her that are still afloat. Her planks are made out of New Zealand Kauri, stringers out of spotted gum, marine ply deck house, Oregon Spars, spotted gum bowsprit, teak decking and brass fittings and winches. She has a full-length lead keel and a copper plated timber stem. She is a dream to sail and super forgiving. The perfect day boat for Port Philip although I have sailed her on over night trips to Port Arlington and Geelong. She has performed well in all types of weather out in Port Philip Bay. She is currently registered with Royal Yacht Club of Victoria and has a safety category 5 rating.
Over the years she has had many refits and overhauls with lots of photos from the more recent ones (past 20 years). The amount of work that has gone into maintaining, overhauling and keeping her sailing is only but a testament for what a precious little boat she is. I had only crew sailing experience when I took on the ownership of this boat and she has taught me how to sail, maintain and run a boat by myself! A Gaff cutter is a pretty little rig! Being on the smaller side of things maintenance is a breeze where I allocate 2 - 3 days of work per year to keep her in tip top condition.
During my tenure some of the tasks I have undertaken have been to sand back and re varnish all timber spars with 6 coats of varnish, sand back completely and re varnish the timber decks and bright work. Re paint the deckhouse. Sand back and re paint the interior. Remove, strengthen with internal timber blocking, stainless bolts and reinstall the bowsprit. Replace all halyards with double braid line. Install a clew outhaul for the Gaff main and downhauls for the 2 head sails. She is easy to reef and down head sails even though she has a long bowsprit. She comes with an up to date maintenance record book which also has sailing tips that I have been adding over the years.
With training it is possible to sail by yourself but to comfortably sail you would be looking for a crew of 2 or 3. You can comfortably sail with 5 people on board.
She has an inboard 15 horse power Yanmar engine which was rebuilt approx. 15 years ago and with only 250 hours on the clock she has plenty of life left. There is a 7 liter tank under one of the cockpit seats which will last you for approx. 7 hours of motoring at 4-5 knots.