Paul Robinson
Paul belongs to: The Coble and Keelboat Society
Paul was born in Cullercoats. His family were in fishing and merchant navy. Paul got his first boat when he was 13. He has made a living from fishing and sign painting.
Paul was interviewed by Kylea Little on 1 December 2005. The interview took place at the Interviewee's workshop and lasted 38 minutes and 30 seconds.
Sign painting techniques and methods
"Normally I go in when the boats have actually been painted"
Normally I go in when the boats have actually been painted. All the gloss- you know, it’s all been primed, undercoated, glossed, it’s all ready- that’s when I get onto it, like, so. And its just sort of practice, where the letters go, where it’s practical for them to go where they’re not going to get bumped. You know, with doors coming up or gears coming up the side and it’s sort of traditional where they go and the size is to suit the boat to keep it in proportion, or what should be. And just make sure everything’s dried and cleaned off and chalked out, put your name or the number, the port letters’ numbers on. There are certain regulations for them to be as big as, on certain size of boats they’ve got to be like one size, you know, like a minimum sizing. I take no notice of that and do it traditional!
I’m busy enough, like, it’s just because there’s so few fellows doing it which is a shame, because it’s, you know there’s nobody sort of interested. You could, modern methods are using plastic, absolutely no use on a wooden boat because they’re bumpy, you know, and the water pressure when the boat takes a dive is just going to blow everything, everything off and it’s just characterless, you know. They just don’t… illegal because boats’ name and numbers have actually got to be painted.
Paul has 16 memories in the memorynet:
Paul's memories with a Traditions theme:
Growing up in a fishing community- First boat
- Learning traditional fishing skills
- The crew in the cobles and decline of the fishing industry
- Superstitions
- Leaving the sea and sign painting
- Sign Painting
- Sign painting techniques and methods
- Making and mending equipment
Paul in his workshop- A hand painted sign
- Paul's coble
- Examples of Paul's sign painting
Paul's other memories:
This memory has these themes:
Skills | Traditions | Work
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