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A modern day boat builder is being challenged to recreate the oldest boat ever found in western Europe, dating to around 2000 BC. The prehistoric boat will be built to scale using ancient tools such as bronze axes at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, as part of a collaborative project devised by the University of Exeter.

The Time-lapse video of the first four week of building a Bronze Age-type sewn-plank boat is now on youtube. It will be updated each month. Time left: 5 months.

The second episode of the 'Building a Bronze Age sewn-plank boat' project in Cornwall is now posted on YouTube. First keel-plank has been shaped, ready for carving the more intricate cleats. We hope to have the project finished by the end of September, so there are four more installments to come.

Part 3 of the Bronze Age Boat build in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. It has been a busy month for the volunteers and boat builder Brian Cumby and the boat is now starting to take shape. For those of you interested, the battening process at the end, is being used to help us decide the shape of wood we will need to form the frames and planks that will hold it all together.

Part 4 of the time-lapse video of the Bronze Age sewn-plank boat project in Falmouth is now online.

Part 5 of the Bronze Age Boat build in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. It has been a busy month for the volunteers and boat builder Brian Cumby and the boat has now got its Port and Starboard Keel planks in position. Hopefully, by the time of the next episode some of the frames will have be installed and we shall see the boat taking up its shape.

Part 6 of the Bronze Age Boat build in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. The boat has now got its Port and Starboard Keel planks in position.The Frames have now been fitted and the keel planks have been withied together using yew. The next episode will show the hull planks being fitted - So check back in a month or so.

Part 7 of the Bronze Age Boat build in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. In this episode you can see the team manufacturing and fitting the hull planks which will make up the remainder of the hull. These will then be stitched into position using Yew withies.

Part 8 of the Bronze Age Boat build in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. Since the beginning of the year, Brian and the volunteers have really cracked on with the project and the boat is now all together and on its trailer. All that's left to do now is to put all the stitches in and move the boat to its launch site. It is estimated that the boat will be launched sometime early March.

Live Cam Times (UK Time):
Tuesday 5th March 2013 - 07:30h - 10:00h
Wednesday 6th March 2013 (Launch Day) 11:00h - 14:00h.