WoodenBoat 235 NovDec 2013

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235

FLOATING FARMSTAND • RIG OVERHAUL • WOODEN SPY SUB

THE MAGAZINE FOR WOODEN BOAT OWNERS, BUILDERS, AND DESIGNERS

Wood in the Rig
Canvas Seatback
Haida Canoes
Will Stirling
AMYCITA

Rob Eddy
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Blocks, Toggles, and Thimbles
Modelmaker Rob Eddy
Native Canoes of British Columbia

www.woodenboat.com

WB235-Dec13-C1A.indd 1

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013
Number 235
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68 A Canvas Backrest
Comfort in a small cabin

Harry Bryan

70 AMYCITA
A knock-down frame kit boat approaches
the century mark
Eric L. Baxter

Page 60

FEATURES
33 A Trumpy Fit for James Bond
A secret CIA semi-submersible
Dirk A.D. Smith
is now a museum piece
38 Wood in the Rigging
Making simple fittings for a
traditional boat
46 Ironwoods
Useful hardwoods for
boat fittings
51 Will Stirling
In Nelson’s wake

Page 92

76 The Jeweler as Modelmaker
The miniature yachts of
Maria Simpson
Rob Eddy

Tom Jackson

Ken Textor
Nic Compton

60 The Canoes of Haida Gwaii
A legacy renewed
Bruce Kemp

Page 51

84 In Search of a 100-Year Rig
The logic of galvanized wire for a gaff
cutter’s standing rigging Bruce Halabisky

Page 76

92 The Floating Farmer’s Market
A New Haven sharpie brings food
Randall Peffer
from field to islands

2 • WoodenBoat 235

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Number 235
November/December 2013

READER SERVICES
113 How to Reach Us
116 Vintage Boats and Services
118 Boatbrokers
121 Boatbuilders
128 Kits and Plans

Page 70

132 Raftings
134 Classified

DEPARTMENTS
5 Editor’s Page
A Stack of Locust, a Stack of Books
6 Letters
16 Currents
31 Fo’c’s’le
Party Boats
98 Wood Technology
Is That Wood Legal?
100 Designs
LOON: Shoal draft
23' canoe yawl

TEAR-OUT SUPPLEMENT
edited by Tom Jackson

Pages 16/17

Getting Started in Boats
A Sailing Blade

Jan Adkins

David Kasanof
Richard Jagels

Mike O’Brien

Cover: The rigging for

the 18' No Mans Land
boat FAR & AWAY,
built by Senior Editor
Tom Jackson, relies
heavily on shop-made
hardwood fittings.

Page 38

104 Launchings…

and Relaunchings

143 Index to Advertisers

Robin Jettinghoff

108 The WoodenBoat Review
• Prazi Beam Cutter
Greg Rössel
• Voyaging Under Power
Jay Picotte
• Deer Isle’s Undefeated
AMERICA’s Cup Crews
Roger Vaughan
• Books Received
144 Save a Classic
PEGASUS: A “Downeast 42” Power Cruiser
Maynard Bray

Photograph by
Benjamin Mendlowitz

WoodenBoat (ISSN 0095–067X) is published bimonthly in January, March, May, July, September,
and November in Brooklin, Maine, by WoodenBoat Publications, Inc., Jonathan A. Wilson,
Chairman. Subscription offices are at P.O. Box 16958, North Hollywood, CA 91615–6958;
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Periodical postage paid at Brooklin, ME 04616 and additional mailing offices. In Canada,
periodical postage paid at Toronto, Ontario (Canadian periodical Agreement No. 40612608,
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U.S. Postmaster: Please send Change of Address (form 3579) to P.O. Box 16958, North
Hollywood, CA 91615–6958
Canada Postmaster: Pitney Bowes, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON, N6C 6B2, Canada.

November/December 2013 • 3

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At The WoodenBoat Show
Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT, June 27-29, 2014
www.TheWoodenBoatShow.com for information and tickets.

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41 WoodenBoat Lane • P.O. Box 78
Brooklin, ME 04616–0078
tel. 207–359–4651 • fax 207–359–8920
email: [email protected]
website: www.woodenboat.com
PUBLISHER Carl Cramer
EditorIAL
Editor Matthew P. Murphy
Senior Editor Tom Jackson
Assistant Editor Robin Jettinghoff
Technical Editor Maynard Bray
Boat Design Editor Mike O’Brien
Contributing Editors Jenny Bennett,
Harry Bryan, Greg Rössel
Copy Editor Jane Crosen
Art & PRODUCTION
Art Director Olga Lange
Advertising Art Director Blythe Heepe
Associate Art Director Phil Schirmer
Circulation
Director Richard Wasowicz
Associates Lorna Grant, Pat Hutchinson
Advertising
Director Todd Richardson
Manager Laura Sherman
Sales Administrator Whitney Thurston
Classified Wendy E. Sewall
Sales Associates

E ast Coast & M idwest:
Ray Clark, 401–247–4922; [email protected]
New England: John K. Hanson, Jr.,


207–594–8622; [email protected]

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Ted Pike, 360–385–2309; [email protected]
International: 207–359–4651;


[email protected]

WoodenBoat M arketplace:

Tina Dunne, [email protected]
Research
Director Patricia J. Lown
Associate Rosemary Poole
Business
Office Manager Tina Stephens
Staff Accountant Jackie Fuller
Associate Roxanne Sherman
Reception Heidi Gommo
THE WOODENBOAT STORE
www.woodenboatstore.com
1–800–273–SHIP (7447); fax 207–359–2058
Catalog Manager Ann Neuhauser
Associates Jody Allen, Elaine Hutchinson,
Chet Staples
WOODENBOAT BOOKS
www.woodenboatbooks.com
Book Publisher Scot Bell
WoodenBoat School
Director Rich Hilsinger
Business Manager Kim Patten
website
Manager Greg Summers
Chairman & Editor-in-Chief  Jonathan A. Wilson
President and General Manager  James E. Miller
Copyright 2013 by WoodenBoat Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reprinted without written permission from the publisher.
Contributions: Address all editorial communica­
tions to Editor, WoodenBoat, P.O. Box 78, Brooklin,
ME 04616–0078. WoodenBoat is a largely reader-written
magazine. Care is taken with unsolicited contributions,
but we are not responsible for damage or loss.
Printed in U.S.A.

A Stack of Locust, a Stack of Books
There are currently four black-locust logs lying in my driveway
awaiting a trip to the sawmill. For years, I pruned the trees from
which they came, with no particular purpose in mind for them save
for a vague vision of a daysailer or fine rowboat. The trees grew
straight, their lower portions in the partial shade of a worn-out
garage. When it came time to remove the garage early this year,
the trees had to go first, which is why they’re currently prone in my
driveway.

The tops of those downed locusts went to firewood. I felt a
certain temptation in the rhythm of bucking and splitting to chop
up the saw logs, but a friend who heard the story of my tending them
and imagining their end use looked at me funny when I told him
that, and I knew the message in his expression was right. So, by the
time you read this, there’ll be a stack of long locust boards drying in
my loft. And I’ll be thinking of what to do with them.

I find this issue of WoodenBoat to be particularly inspiring as I
think of how to use those boards. Consider the story of the canoes of
Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the British Columbia coast. The native
people of this area have a legacy of fine boats carved from single cedar
logs, as Bruce Kemp describes beginning on page 60. There’s one
particularly haunting scene in Bruce’s article describing his encounter
with a moss-covered canoe, carved at least 130 years ago and never
hauled out of the woods. “It looked like any other log,” writes Bruce of
his impression of it before a bow, a stern, and a flattened top portion
resolved through the forest growth.

Consider, too, Senior Editor Tom Jackson’s cover story (page 38)
on how to make wooden fittings for a traditional rig. I have a hard time
parting with even the smallest offcuts of wood, and this article does
nothing to reduce the stockpile. Tom presents specific details on how
to make and employ toggles, thimbles, and blocks. The inspiration
provided by these things is furthered by Ken Textor’s descriptions of
the so-called “ironwoods” (page 46)—very hard wood that’s ideal for
making fittings that might otherwise be metal. There’s now a cleat in
every scrap of wood I might throw on the burn pile.

And for further inspiration, there’s Will Stirling, who in 2004
designed and then built an authentic 18th-century smuggling lugger,
ALERT, as described by Nic Compton beginning on page 50. Will’s
commitment to the trade is unusual, to say the least. ALERT was
something of a living dissertation for him, for he completed his
master’s thesis on the type while building the boat, and then went
on to design and built a 43' English gentleman’s yacht—drawn in the
style of the late 19th century, but an original design. There’s a photo
of Will drilling the shaftlog for ALERT on page 53, and the timbers in
that photo can inspire ambitions. But beware: The image is a tightly
cropped view of a scene from a gargantuan task.

Yes, there’s a stack of locust logs sitting in my driveway, awaiting
a use. And there’s a stack of boat books piling up on my desk as that
wood piques my imagination.

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Scale Models and Performance
Dear Editor:
While Harry Bryan made no
explicit claim about predicting boat
performance from scale models
(WB No. 234, “Flotation Models”),
it is implied in the subtitle, “Using
scaled-down boats to predict stability and performance.” Although
accurate scale models can be used
to predict certain aspects of vessel performance, the methods he
describes are erroneous and the
implications false. William Froude’s
brilliant insight was that ship resistance could be separated into two
major components, which he named
frictional and residuary (mainly wavemaking) resistances. Indeed, the
model speed (Vm) for equivalent
residuary resistance is the speed of
the full-sized vessel (Vs) divided by
the square root of the scale factor
(λ). However, frictional resistance
can easily exceed 50 percent of the
total resistance, especially for slower
vessels. Froude calculated the frictional forces by towing a series of
flat plates with the same wetted
surface and lengths as the model
ships, and subtracting that value
from the total resistance to get the
residuary resistance. Unfortunately
(and for equal viscosity), the equivalent model speed, Vm, for frictional
resistance is Vs / λ or 72 knots for

Mr. Bryan’s 1⁄12th-scale model of a
6-knot vessel. Hence, the condition
of mechanical similitude for both
friction and wavemaking cannot be
satisfied with a single test.
In the article, there is a photo
showing a model boat being towed
in a shallow stream. Mr. Bryan states
that the wave pattern will predict
the full-scale wave pattern at the
same Froude number. This is also
untrue with the method described.
Models can be used to predict wavemaking resistance in deep water
where the wave train is a strong
function of hull form. However,
any predictions based on experiments in shallow water, like those
suggested in this article, are useless.
Even if the water depth were scaled
to the model scale, the size and
shape of the attached waves would
have a different form due to viscosity. An accurate scale model may
be used to predict full-sized weight
and trim. However, doing so means
that every piece of structure would
be built to scale and modified based
on the density of the model construction material. I believe weight,
flotation, and trim calculations can
be done much more accurately with
a simple spreadsheet and a free, or
very low-cost, hydrostatics program.
Scale models may be used to
predict vessel performance, if the

experiments are systematic and
carefully controlled. Streaming a
small scale model behind a fishing
pole, however pleasurable it may be,
will not predict or give any insight
into the resistance, wavemaking, or
seakeeping of the full-sized vessel.
Andy Davis, Naval Architect, P.E.
Richmond, California
Harry Bryan replies:
I agree that it would be difficult to
accurately predict the resistance of
a full-sized boat based on only one
model, but a second model varying
slightly from the first can be used
to assess their relative performance.
Sam Rabl, who was head of the hulldrafting department of the Bethlehem Shipyard in Baltimore, devised
a rig for testing the resistance of
models similar to those in the article,
and compared their drag against the
known drag of a cone. N.G. Herreshoff towed two models side by side
connected by a balance beam to
determine which one had the greater
resistance.
Mr. Davis has made a good point
concerning the shallow water in the
photograph. I would normally tow a
model in water at least 6" deep. The
article’s photo was chosen for its aesthetic appeal, and I apologize for that.
I must object, however, to labeling
the article’s methods as erroneous,

Credit Is Due
In our newsstand-only MotorBoats editon, published in late
July, we miscredited the lead
photograph of the motorsailer
TRADE WIND. Credit should
have gone to Jane Kurko, who
works with Alison Langley,
who shot the rest of the article. This magnificent image is
one of the first Jane has published, and we’re pleased to
show it again here. You can
order digital copies of MotorBoats from The WoodenBoat
Store (www.woodenboatstore.
com).
—Eds.

6 • WoodenBoat 235

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its implications false, and performance predictions futile. While a
naval architect should be able to
take advantage of a more accurate
mathematical approach to predicting boat performance, particularly
in medium- and large-sized vessels,
we are all programmed differently.
A spreadsheet and hydrostatics program is not a simple approach for
everyone.
Models of one kind or another
have been part of the design process for centuries. In boats under
about 25' (the focus of this article),
the effect of the shifting of crew
weight or the placement of engine
and fuel tanks will be easier (at least
for me) to predict with a model.
Japanese Saws
Dear WoodenBoat:
I enjoyed the articles about use of
Japanese saws for boatbuilding, and
particularly the unique ways they are
used by Japanese builders. However,
the section on the saws themselves
might benefit by some clarifications.

At the start, it should be pointed
out that Toshio Odate’s book Japanese Woodworking Tools, the most
comprehensive on Japanese woodworking tools in English, is still published, now by Linden Publications
instead of Taunton Press, but with
no changes of words or illustrations
from the 1984 original.  With the
retirement of the previous owner,
The Japan Woodworker in Alameda,
California, is no more. But a catalog
with that name is still available from
Woodcraft, as is a Japan Woodworker
website, and both now include a
number of products from the Woodcraft line also.  It should be noted,
however, that in recent decades, The
Japan Woodworker ceased to be limited to Japanese tools only.
Japanese chisels and planes
should not have been dismissed with
so few words, because their laminated construction (a thin layer of
carbon steel forge-welded to a larger
mass of iron that does not harden
and temper) not only makes possible a harder cutting edge, but also

WWW.WESTLAWN.EDU

has far less hard material to abrade
when their less-frequent sharpening becomes necessary.  And while
there are indeed some very fancy
and beautiful ones created with
multiple layers of metal in the soft
backing layer, that feature does
not appreciably affect the cutting capability.  The folding and
forging of metal for swords in the
early days of Japanese metallurgy
was basically required because the
means of obtaining iron from the
ore did not produce a homogeneous metal; that was a chore for
the blacksmith.  Present-day toolmaking blacksmiths use steel of
known composition from modern
steel-makers. For the thicker backing layer, however, many prefer to
use old iron that differs from that
manufactured currently.
While general hardware stores
and tool suppliers may not carry
the needed variety or quality
of Japanese saws, there are still several Japanese tool specialists whose
websites can be found with simple
“Ilona“ • Jack Hargrave • Westlawn Alumnus

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8 • WoodenBoat 235

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web searching, although the traditional boatbuilder’s saws shown at
the bottom of page 54 may be difficult to find.  My nearby neighbor
Hida Tool Co. (www.hidatool.com),
in Berkeley, California, since 1984
(and just north of the Golden Gate
for several years earlier) has been
my primary source of Japanese
woodworking tools.  They can also
arrange shipping of professional
saws to Japan for sharpening.
Milford Brown
via e-mail

We agree with Mr. Brown regarding the
utility and quality of Japanese chisels
and planes. Their scant mention was
only due to the fact that our stated focus
in this article was on saws. 
—Eds.

is after a nice discussion of stand-on
and burdened vessels on the previous page. A word search of the term
“right-of-way” in the COLREGS (Collision Regulations), which govern
vessels, will reveal that the term
“right-of-way” occurs only twice, and
applies to vessels going downstream
in rivers. Otherwise, no vessels ever
have the right-of-way, having only
obligations described in detail in
the COLREGS. Sailors often think
they have the right-of-way over
powerboats, but they are wrong. If
a collision occurs between a sailboat and a powerboat, it is possible
that a court would find the sailboat
responsible.
Edward Kurtz
South Dartmouth, Massachusetts

Rules of the Road
Greetings,
Page 3 of the supplement Getting
Started in Boats in WB No. 234 asks,
“Who Has Right of Way?”  It then
illustrates situations when a boat is
claimed to have this privilege. This

Dear Editor,
Author Guy Gilpatric in one of
his Glencannon stories “The Donkeyman’s Widow” has a character
singing the rules of the road, here
slightly paraphrased to remove the
Cockney accent:

When upon your port side’s seen
A steamer’s starboard light of green
There’s not a thing for you to do
For green to port stays clear of you
 
If on starboard red appear
It’s your duty to keep clear
Steer as judgment says is proper
Port! Starboard! Back her! Stop her!
 
When both lights you see ahead
Port your helm and show your red
Green to green, red to red
Perfect safety, go ahead

 
The last  stanza seems incorrect
until you realize that at the time
steering directions were given to the
helm itself as if it was a tiller, rather
than in reference to the rudder.
Thomas Pearson
Shelton, Washington
Gilpatric’s verse is a variation of an
original and oft-quoted mnemonic, The
Rules in Rhyme, written by surveyor
Thomas Gray when he was assistant secretary of the British Board of Trade in
—Eds.
1869. 

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November/December 2013 • 9

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TEN NEW PRINT BOOKS
Print Books: Order via 1800.273.7447 or www.woodenboatstore.com

The Art of Wooden Boat Repair
Subtitled “A Boatwright’s Secret
Tricks of the Trade,” this book
is the revised, expanded, and
updated (yes, all three...) version
of Allen Taube’s A Boatwright’s
Companion which focused on
repairs below the waterline, and
was first published in 1986. It’s
packed with Taube’s many years
of experience. 184 pp., softcover,
#300-809 $19.95

The Complete Guide to
Sailing & Seamanship

Blend of captivating sea stories and
essential, basic instructional methods
for anyone wanting to sail. Topics include seamanship and boat handling,
anchoring and docking, and history
and lore. This book is worth it just for
the illustrations of Sam Manning. He
illustrated our How to Build a Wooden
Boat, Keeping the Cutting Edge, plus
The Dory Book. 189 pp., softcover
#300-806 $16.95

Marlinspike Sailor’s
Knots and Crafts

The talented Barbara Merry shows you
how to create tool covers, mats, bracelets, hammocks, and much more.
112 pp., softcover, #300-819 $18.00

International One Design

A commemorative history of the class
from its genesis in 1936 to the present.
Large-format with hundreds of lush
photographs from the many years of
sailing and racing IODs, as well as drawings and other graphics.
208 pp., hardcover #300-807 $65.00

The Boys in the Boat

The story of the University of
Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew and
their epic quest for an Olympic gold
medal, a team that transformed the sport
and grabbed the attention of millions of
Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard
workers, and farmers, the boys defeated
elite rivals first from eastern and British
universities and finally the German crew
rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic
games in Berlin, 1936.
432 pp., hardcover, #300-808 $28.95

The Big Book of Wooden
Boat Restoration

Subtitled “Basic Techniques,
Maintenance, and Repair,” this
is both an introduction and a
reference guide for wooden boat
fans... new and semi-pro. Originally published in Sweden, author
Thomas Larsson, has years of
experience and shares his knowledge of the subject with you. The
book focuses on techniques, maintenance, and repair, as well as having a
section on purchasing a wooden boat.
Includes an extensive glossary. Most
of the sources are from Sweden, but
everything else is quite helpful.
240 pp., hardcover, #300-803 $24.95

Go Build Your Own Boat!

Divided into three parts: Building to
your own design; The pleasures and
perils of plywood; A miscellany of
simple solutions. Packed with Dynamite Payson’s how-to and know-how,
as well as photos and drawings.
114 pp., softcover, #300-054
$19.95

The Racing Rules of Sailing

Rules from 2013 -2016, the book is
separated into three sections: International Sailing Federation (ISAF) rules
and regulations; Explanations; Casebook. Includes plastic boat models to
diagram / use for protests.
240 pp., softcover, #300-817 $28.00

Reeds Knot Handbook

Handy little book, packed with color
photos and illustrations of knots,
hitches, and bends. Pocket-sized at 4˝
x 6-1/4˝, and wallet friendly.
128 pp., softcover, #300-816 $9.95

Working Sail

Luke Powell has almost singlehandedly pioneered a revival
in the building of traditional
pilot cutters, those oh-so
handsome boats you’ll see in the
UK, particularly in beautiful
Cornwall. Happily, he also has
a flair for storytelling, making
this elegantly produced book
a good read as well. 240 pp.,
hardcover, #300-801 $70.00

The WoodenBoat Store, Naskeag Road, PO Box 78, Brooklin, Maine 04616
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Down to the Sea

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Chris-Crafts, a 26´ Dart, as well as a 26´ Hutchinson, and more.
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Featuring the work of noted maritime photographer Kathy Mansfield, you’ll find some of the most
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& If, as well as several Herreshoff
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CURRENTS

The flowering of
Azorean whaleboats
by Bruce Halabisky
n 1997, I traveled to the Azores, a
group of islands in the North Atlantic, to work with master boatbuilder
João Tavares. Together, we constructed
the first Azorean whaleboat to be built
in nearly 50 years (see WB No. 146) in a
project commissioned by an American
customer and directed by Lance Lee
of the Apprenticeshop of Rockland.
After a much-publicized launching,
BELA VISTA was shipped to the United
States and eventually donated to the
New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts. This summer, 16 years after
the launch of BELA VISTA , I went to the
Azorean islands of Fayal and Pico to see
the annual festival of Semana do Mar,
or Maritime Week. The culmination
of this weeklong party in the town of
Horta is a whaleboat race in the channel
between the two islands. On the starting
line was an amazing fleet of 25 newly
constructed Azorean whaleboats. Two

BRUCE HALABISKY (BOTH)

I

Top—Off the island of Fayal in the Azores, S. AUGUSTIAS slips past S. MIGUEL while
racing to the windward mark during the festival of Semana do Mar, or Maritime
Week. Above—Whaleboats of nearby villages gather on the slipway of Lajes do
Pico before the races of Semana dos Baleeiros, or Whaleboat Week. Bright-colored
sheerstrakes once helped identify which boat had harpooned a whale, but today
they help spectators tell which boat is ahead in a race.

weeks later, in Lajes do Pico, I witnessed
30 whaleboats gathered for the race of
Semana dos Baleeiros, or Whaleboat
Week. Both regattas involved hundreds
of sailors, thousands of spectators, and

extensive television and radio coverage.
I learned from Tavares that since
constructing BELA VISTA he has built
22 new whaleboats and restored several
others. At the peak of this production,

16 • WoodenBoat 235

Currents235-FINALwADs.indd 16

9/24/13 10:04 AM

GETTING STARTED IN BOATS
from the Editors of

Volume 43

GS_Vol43_Final.indd 1

Magazine

A Sailing Blade

9/26/13 12:43 PM

— A SAILING BLADE —
Text and Illustrations by Jan Adkins

A

t sea, sailors work for hours or days or
months within the limits of their toerails.
They duck through a web of standing and
running rigging, constantly balancing, minding
their footing, and keeping a sailor’s covenant:
One hand for the boat, one for yourself. The
ancient threat of the sea is always in mind: that
beyond the rails, things get wet and chancy.
Sailors are not pedestrians. They don’t need
car keys or change for the parking meter. What
they carry is necessary, one or two basic tools.
One crucial tool is a knife. It’s not optional, and
it isn’t occasional. An experienced sailor has his
knife within quick reach all of his waking hours
afloat.
A knife is a personal tool. But the demands

on a sailing knife are so specific that no sailor
can afford to buy a knife haphazardly, simply
because it looks cool. The criteria for a sailing
knife are subtle and occasionally unexpected.
Before you choose, review a few of them in a
pragmatic, nuts-and-bolts light.
C. W. Ashley’s Book of Knots often cites line’s
wicked propensity for mischief—its “malevolent
intelligence.” Idle, seemingly benign line will
throw a timber hitch around your foot, snag anything sticking innocently out of your clothing, or
lasso your neck with a lazy loop. It’s a seagoing
corollary of Murphy’s Law: Any critical limb,
tool, item, or arrangement will be snared by a
line; the snare will seize its object at the worst,
most life-threatening, or most expensive time.

WOODENBOAT PUBLICATIONS, INC.
P.O. Box 78 (41 WoodenBoat Ln.), Brooklin, ME 04616 • Tel. 207–359–4651
www.woodenboatstore.com/category/getting_started
Subscribe to WoodenBoat Magazine: 1–800–877–5284 (U.S. and Canada)
1–818–487–2084 (Overseas)

2 • A Sailing Blade

GS_Vol43_Final.indd 2

(SUPPLEMENT TO WOODENBOAT NO. 235)

9/26/13 12:43 PM

Why a Knife?

There’s an old bosun’s trick to
cutting line cleanly: The line to
be cut is laid on a cutting block,
a dock plank, or on some part of
your brightwork you feel needs
to be deeply scarred. The knife
is pressed lightly against the line
with its cutting edge about parallel
to the cutting block beneath. Strike
the back of the blade smartly with
a wooden mallet or heavy wood
balk. The speed of the cut will be
clean and straight. If you saw away
at the line, even with a sharp edge,
the lay or braid will deform and the
strands will fray.

E

ven in a mild breeze, the smallest sail
generates mortally dangerous forces. In a
stiff breeze or in the heat of a race, the
potential for disaster rises alarmingly. Lines
suddenly whip out or snap taut, bronze or
stainless fittings burst under strain. If a line has
snared you or a shipmate, there’s only a moment
to save the situation. Your first thought should
be to relieve the pressure. Cut the line. Line’s
valuable, for certain, but you can make it back to
the dock with a jury rig or with one sail, or even
motoring. You can’t replace a life. Cut the line.
Be ready.
Yes, the big dramatic use for a sailing knife
is to save lives and limbs. Let’s hope, however,
that most of your sailing isn’t especially dramatic. Life on a boat is fairly basic, and the knife is
a basic tool. Day by day, dozens of things need
a cutting edge: whipping line, cutting line to
length, trimming splices, cutting seizings, nipping off a hank of small stuff, and opening the
damn bombproof plastic packaging of new AA
batteries.
A sailing knife is expected to have the heft
and stiffness, the basic strength, to be a widely
adaptable tool. You’ll use it for prying stuck storage drawers and opening force-fit lids of various

marine gunks. You’ll use it as a lever, and even
as a small hammer to recall small parts to their
duty.
Cutting line is not like cutting a cantaloupe.
All line, laid and braided, is a matrix of twisted
fiber that flexes as the strain changes. Line can
be seen as a free-standing collector of grit and
sand. Dirt is drawn in, and works its way into the
flexing structure of whatever fiber it’s made of.
When you cut line, you’re encountering the grit
and inevitably dulling your knife. Sharpening is
part of keeping your knife ready.

A Sailing Blade

GS_Vol43_Final.indd 3

(Supplement to WoodenBoat No. 235)



3

9/26/13 12:44 PM

Knife Steel and a Few Knife Styles

S

ome gearheads may insist that a good sailing knife is necessarily stainless steel. For
marine use the concept of “stainless” is a
fond hope more than a certainty. Look at old
“stainless” boat fittings and notice the blotches. There are a dozen common metallurgical
blends called “stainless,” some of them better
than others in strength, non-rusting, price,
edge-keeping, and ductility. This last factor indicates a metal’s plasticity. Early stainless blends
were so ductile that sharpening invariably drew
out a “feather edge,” which folded over and occluded the cutting edge. Stropping—bending the
feather edge back and forth until it fatigues away
at the thinnest point—is sometimes necessary
even for steels with a more brittle nature.
The fact is that no steel is invulnerable. And in
fact, there were sailors before stainless steel was possible. Indeed, some respected knifemakers—David
Boye is one—maintain that “old” steel forged before
World War II had a coarser microscopic structure that
held a better edge than modern “smoother” steels
and later stainless alloys. A high-carbon steel knife
can be a good tool if it’s used often, cleaned and whetted often, and given a bit of machine oil to protect it.
The old cowboy phrase, “rode hard and put away wet,”
won’t do for non-stainless blades, but minor attention
should protect a high-carbon sailing knife.
David’s sailing knives (www.boyeknives.com) are
made of a proprietary Cobalt Dendritic Steel that
takes advantage of the metal’s crystalline structure, which is at right angles to the blade edge, to

Sharpening ductile stainless can draw out a feather
edge which rolls. It can sometimes be fatigued off
with stropping.

provide nano-teeth that cut the fibers microscopically.
John Myerchin is an experienced sailor. Myerchin,
Inc. (www.myerchin.com) makes sailing knives exclusively. He confirms the “toothed” value of “old
steel” and reiterates that a traditional carbon steel
knife needs daily wiping with light machine oil to
prevent rust from corroding the delicate blade edge.
John carries a modern knife, one of his own plainedge folders, but uses a re-forming technique: he dutifully sharpens his blade, then takes a few swipes at
right angles to the edge with a coarse diamond stone.
This final retexturing creates the microscopic teeth
that will rip through line. When he needs his blade
for careful cutting work, he re-smooths the edge with
a ceramic stone to a razor edge in only a few passes.

Wichard

Myerchin

Four folding knives, clockwise from
above: a robust Myerchin model,
with back-folding marlinespike;
a Wichard, with glow-in-the-dark
handle; and two sturdy offerings
with side-mounted marlinespikes
from David Boye, one a blunt tip,
the other a drop point.
Boye

4 • A Sailing Blade

GS_Vol43_Final.indd 4

(Supplement to WoodenBoat No. 235)

9/26/13 12:44 PM

Choosing a Knife

T

GS_Vol43_Final.indd 5

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Sh

A Sailing Blade

Wh

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Sp

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ck

he major forces encountered
in sailing demand a robust
blade that won’t bend, snap,
or waver. Dealing with strong marine line of any size demands a
critical sharpness. Your knife won’t
be a one with which you’ll want to
play mumblety-peg. It won’t be one
of those “perpetually sharp” knives
you find in suburban kitchens. (“I
can’t understand why it’s so dull. It
was sharp when I bought it.”) The
prudent mariner whets his sailing
knife obsessively and settles only
for a hard-working edge.
A note on drama: A knife is a
knife. It’s damn useful for cutting Traditional carbon-steel knives were good shipmates, but needed
thread, peeling oranges, opening frequent oil-wiping. Choose your sailing companion wisely. Do you
packages…for everything a knife really need one of Jim Bowie's sharp-pointed monsters (top) on a
should do. Yes, a sailor’s knife pitching foredeck? Probably not.
is an essential bit of safety gear.
Yes, you should choose it with disaster in mind. But you should also choose a knife
The spearpoint blade has a point and a comthat will make an amiable companion for all your pound cutting edge—straight leading into a curve at
picayune activity on and off watch. A drop-point the point. The point of this shape is thin—delicate
shape can be used for nearly everything, though but useful for some careful work.
you must beware the point. Do you need a point?
The straight-back blade has a cutting edge that
Often. Do you need a stiletto point like a Fairburn curves to the straight, strong back.
fighting dagger? Never.
The drop-point blade is a more recent compromise. It carries some back-blade heft right to the
Blade Shape
point for strength and has a gently curving cutting
The shape of your blade makes a difference—in edge that many find useful.
profile and in section. There are dozens of blade
shapes produced by knifemakers for specific pur- Fixed vs. Folding?
poses. Since it’s doubtful you’ll be testing citrus fruit In choosing a knife, the decision tree’s first branchor castrating sheep (both have special blades), we’ll ing is fixed-blade versus folding-blade. There’s no
concentrate on a few practical shapes.
middle ground here. A fixed-blade knife is stronger,
The clip-point blade looks official and features a less apt to break when abusing your knife (and you
wicked-looking point. It’s designed for puncturing, will), and often makes a slimmer package. A fixed
which is not a big sailing priority. This traditional blade requires a sheath to keep the cutting edge
blade shape, in a radical form, is the pattern for away from you, and to keep it away from getting
the archetypal Bowie knife, the famous man-killing dinged and dulled.
blade. Puh-lease: unless you’re a Malay pirate, you
A folding blade is less conspicuous, lower profile,
don’t need anything like a Bowie knife.
and more compact, and it won’t snag as easily in the
The sheepsfoot blade has a round end, an old rigging. It’s almost as easy to deploy as a fixed blade,
favorite with many rigging knives
because the blunt round end
won’t puncture you or, say, the life
raft you’re in. Its cutting edge is
straight.
The Wharncliffe blade is another straight edge, but the end
curves to a point. There are uses for
straight cutting edges and uses for
points. Experience will inform you.

(Supplement to WoodenBoat No. 235)



5

9/26/13 12:44 PM

choosing
a Pair
knifeofcontinued…
—A
Benches for Handsawing —
but you should not rely on a fingernail nick ground
into the blade for this purpose. Thumb-studs and
blade cutouts will facilitate one-handed opening.
The sheath for a folding blade can be nothing more
than a sturdy pocket seam that holds its clip.
A folding knife should also have a lock that keeps it
in the open position. Blade locks have improved over
time, and the likelihood of a folding knife collapsing
on your hand is less likely than before, but still possible. The simplest and most common lock, the Walker
lock, is a spring liner bar that snaps behind the blade’s
tang when it’s fully swung out. To refold the knife, you
push the “ jimped” (filed or cut-into-ridges) liner back
to the side. A caveat: The Walker lock is a good engineering solution, but left-handers may find it difficult
to manipulate quickly.
The lock-back lock is a spring-bar that locks behind
a detent in the blade-back at the pivot. It’s unlocked
by depressing the spring-bar into a notch on the back
of the knife’s handle. This is a more ambidextrous
folding method than the previous one, but the choice
is chocolate or vanilla—merely personal preference.
There are many types of folding-knife lock-open
devices, and all of them have a common enemy:
pocket fluff. The lint that collects in pockets can jam
any lock with disastrous results. Patrol any folding
knife’s liners for pocket fluff.
Even with a good lock, a folding knife’s pivot is
a stress-failure point; folding knives simply aren’t
as strong as fixed blades. Fixed or folding? It’s your

Spyderco Mariner

choice. The overall decision priority is this: Will you
have the knife instantly when you need it?
Serrated or Smooth?
Another branching on the decision tree is controversial:
Serrated or smooth edge?
Some knifemakers insist that serrated blades cut
line faster. It’s true that the serrations “grab” at the
line’s fibers quickly, concentrate force on smaller areas, and have a fiercer aspect. Do they cut better or
quicker? It depends.
Cut a line with a very sharp knife, and it will be a
clean cut. Cut it with a sharp serrated blade, and the
result will be a furry mess.
There’s another consideration here: Your plainedge sailing knife will get dull, but with a little practice
you can bring it back to fearsome standards. But your
serrated blade will get dull just as quickly, and sharpening any of the fiercer serrations to a bosun’s standards is a challenge for a professional knife sharpener.
If you intend to lose your sailing knife overboard
and replace it quickly, the original serrations are fine.
The Gerber EZ Out Blunt Tip Rescue Knife (www.
gerber-tools.com) is an excellent tool. Out of the box
it should cut line in a flash. But that wavy, complex
blade will never make it a pocket companion for other chores. If it’s used daily, its factory edge will dull.
Resharpening a fully serrated 3" blade with twenty
grooves—six wide and fourteen narrow—is an investment of time and focus requiring at least one and
perhaps two diameters of ceramic or diamond sharpening steels, or a fine tapered chainsaw file. The EZ
Out is a well-designed emergency knife. Its blunt tip
is comforting to you and your shipmates. Perhaps this
kind of emergency knife belongs clipped to your life
vest, a Mayday Mayday fallback, while the folding knife
clipped handy to your pocket is the plain-edged knife
of choice for non-hair-raising situations.

T

Gerber E-Z Out

here is no perfect sailing knife, only intelligent
choices. Some may stretch your budget but be
lifelong companions. Still, you don’t need a trust
fund to buy an excellent knife for your adventures
afloat. Pick and choose. Every knife will require
some maintenance, some more than others, and old
carbon steel most of all. If your knife saves a life,
that’s perfection, no matter how much it cost or how
much time it cost to keep it in shape. But the takeaway lesson here is that your knife must be a friend,
a tool you know intimately, care for obsessively, and
keep at your side incessantly.
A fresh, serrated blade will cut line in a flash, but sharpening it is a test of patience and skill. From left are: a
ceramic rod, chainsaw file, and diamond sharpening rod.

6 • A Sailing Blade

GS_Vol43_Final.indd 6

(Supplement to WoodenBoat No. 235)

9/26/13 12:44 PM

Companions to the Knife, and a Note on Carrying

T

here are many things that
you simply should not carry with you on a boat (see
list, page 8), but the knife has
some worthy companions that
you should consider as part of
your kit. Some improvisational
engineering can be done with a
good sailing knife, but there are
a few tools that are traditionally
grouped, and often packaged in
the same sheath: sailing knife,
marlinespike, pliers, sail needle.
You can do a world of prevention
and correction with these.
The Marlinespike
What do you need with you? Knives have several worthy companions,
Use of the marlinespike, alone,
including pliers and marlinespikes.
could bear an entire treatise,
but we’ll mention briefly that an
able-bodied sailor uses it for more than splicing. Its Carrying Your Knife
robust nature makes it an obvious twisting, prying, While we’re on the topic of carrying knives: Let’s
tamping, holing, and turning device.
have no nonsense about “neck knives.” Consider the
earlier admonition on the malevolent intelligence of
Pliers
line: Anything firmly around your neck is bound to
A pair of pliers gives you the grip to handle met- hang you, by and by. Any sharp knife hanging upal cotter pins and tighten whatever needs tight- side down is bound to come loose and perform inening. You might justify some slight additional advertent surgery on you, by and by. Anything small
weight in a sheath with the broader range of tasks enough to hang around your neck and not incur
they provide.
bruises simply isn’t big enough for the job. Have we
addressed this sufficiently?
Multi-tools
Digging in your pocket for a Swiss Army Knife that
Some contemporary folding knives include, in remark- needs two dry hands and a stout fingernail to open isn’t
ably sleek packages, pliers, files, and blades all wrapped a viable solution. Your knife should be out and workinto one tool, and thus offer valuable abilities beyond ing in the instant after a problem appears. You have
cutting. Depending on the demands of one’s situation, two choices: a sheath that places your knife in the same
these so-called “multi tools” be carried alone or in place, every time, or a clip that fastens your folding
conjunction with a heavier, more accessible blade.
knife in the same pocket, same place, every time.
Your knife was right there, ready
to hand. You deployed it, you used
it. So far, so good. Now you’ve got
a sharp thing in your hand that’s a
danger to you and your shipmates
while you continue the job. Putting it away is almost as important
as grabbing it. As a safety concern,
it’s just as important. Consider how
you’ll put your knife away in an instant, having it ready for further
use but safe and out of the way.

Gerber Crucial

Leatherman Skeletool

A Sailing Blade

GS_Vol43_Final.indd 7

Multi-tools offer remarkable
versatility, though for heavy work
a dedicated knife may be desired.

(Supplement to WoodenBoat No. 235)



7

9/26/13 12:44 PM

What Not to Carry
What you don’t carry on deck is as important as what you carry. Now that we’ve covered the
use, care, and carrying of knives, here’s a list of things to leave at home:

Nothing should go around your
neck that will hold your weight.
This would be called a hangman’s
noose. Cotton string, maybe.
Braided Dacron, no. Ashley’s
caution against line’s malevolent
intelligence is no empty threat.

Your wedding ring or pinky ring
may be a holy covenant or a
handsome decoration, but take it
off. No intelligent woodworker
retains a ring, and no sailor who
desires the same number of digits
in the evening as he had in the
morning retains his. The simple
act of swinging your body weight
under a boom gallows or guiding
a loaded halyard cable can snatch
the edge of a ring and depart with
your finger.

$6.75 in coins is a godsend in the
bazaar but on deck (or, crikey, in the
water) it’s only weight and trouble.
Stand-alone-stiff canvas painters
or carpenter’s pants are a comfort
in a keen wind, but useful-looking
tool loops are preordained to catch
on protrusions. Use your knife to
get rid of them.

8 • A Sailing Blade

GS_Vol43_Final.indd 8

(SUPPLEMENT TO WOODENBOAT NO. 235)

9/26/13 12:44 PM

WoodenBoat’s Boatbuilding & Rowing Challenge (BARC) is a grassroots effort to involve communities and,
in our specific case, high school programs, in the team-building aspects of boatbuilding and then
competitively rowing one specific boat: Iain Oughtred's 22', 330 pound St. Ayles Skiff,
with a crew of four rowers and one helmsperson (coxswain).

North American Championship

JUNE 27–29, 2014

at the WoodenBoat Show, Mystic , CT

For further information: www.woodenboat.com/BARC or www.cnc-marine-hewesco.com

CHRIS PERKINS

PETER NISBET

The Goal — Bring new people to wooden boats!

The Solution —
GETTING STARTED

IN

BOATS,

a removable supplement included in
every issue of WoodenBoat.

This publication is produced for the
absolute beginner; for your family,
friends, and neighbors, members of local
community groups, colleagues at work—
the people you know who should be
inspired into boats and boating.
Share your passion!
To download previous issues of Getting Started that you might
have missed, please visit www.woodenboatstore.com.

WoodenBoat Publications
41 WoodenBoat Lane, Brooklin, ME 04616
207–359–4651 • www.woodenboat.com

November/December 2013 • 17

WB235_Pg17Fracts.indd 17

9/25/13 2:58 PM

he built six of the 38' to 42'
whaleboats over a two-year
period. When pressed, he
has finished a single whaleboat in three-and-a-half
months, working with a couple of assistants. As with BELA
VISTA, new whaleboats are
built from Tavares’s carved
half models rather than a set
of plans. Much of the wood for
building is still found locally,
including acacia crooks used
for frames.
A combination of cultural
pride, an influx of government financing, and, most
important, a desire to compete in races has driven the
revival. In the whaling days,
rowing and sailing competitions between villages were
fierce. Today, the regattas
have reignited this competitive spirit, but the winner
goes home with a trophy and
bragging rights instead of a
harpooned whale.
Currently, Tavares, who
now works out of a shop
in his home town of Ribeiras on the island of Pico, is
restoring the 80-year-old
SÃO GABRIEL , a whaleboat
from Flores, the westernmost Azorean island. He
uses the Portuguese word for
“restore,” but, in fact, only the bronze
hardware, some seam-­batten stringers,
and the nameboard will remain in the
“restored” boat. Entering the shop, I
saw that the hull was heeled sharply to
starboard to allow the port side to be
replanked. Tavares had bedded a new
plank over the original seam battens
with a zinc and linseed-oil paste of his
own concoction—no caulking is used
between the 1⁄2"-thick pine planks. I
mentioned that despite the success of
the Azorean whaleboat revival, it seems
that few people recall BELA VISTA .
There have been several books written
in Portuguese celebrating Tavares himself and the Azorean whaleboats, but
I’ve seen no mention of BELA VISTA in
any of these publications. “BELA VISTA
was the first,” he said in Portuguese
while holding a homemade backing
iron against a rivet while his son-in-law
peened the cut end over a copper rove
from inside the hull. “She was the boat
that started it all.”
Bruce Halabisky is a freelance writer and traditional wooden boat builder who is midway
through a circumnavigation with his wife
and their two children born en route. See also
his rigging article on page 84 of this issue.

Left—More than 200 traditionally
rigged boats gathered for the Old
Gaffers Association’s Jubilee Festival in
Cowes, England, among them the 2009
Luke Powell pilot cutter AMELIE ROSE .
Above—Among the popular harbor
events were sculling races.

A glory of gaffers,
and more, at Cowes
by Nic Compton

I

s it possible to have too much of a
good thing? The Old Gaffers Association’s Jubilee Festival in Cowes,
England, in August certainly put this
theory to the test. Nearly 200 boats
were rafted up in the yacht haven for
the event, most of them old, wooden,
and with stories to tell.
There was the 1864 East Coast smack
PIONEER , dug out of the mud in 1999
and now taking young people sailing. There was the 1907 West Country
trading ketch IRENE , gutted by a fire
in 2003 and restored over nine years,
finally sailing with cargo again last
year. There was the 1872 Itchen ferry
FANNY of Cowes, which won the very
first East Coast OGA race in 1963 and
was to prove a winner again this year.
And there was the 1888 yawl BONITA ,
which celebrated her 125th birthday by
sailing around the British Isles as part
of the OGA’s Round Britain Challenge
this year. The list of “special” boats went
on and on.

It was a long way from the first OGA
event on the Solent, when just 13 boats
turned up. But then, the organization
itself has gone a long way since then.
“When we first started, most yacht
clubs wouldn’t allow a gaff-rigged yacht
to race,” OGA President Mike Shaw
said. “Everyone wanted the newfangled
plastic boats with Bermudan rigs, and
most gaff yachts were taken up rivers
and creeks and left to rot. Now, there’s
a nostalgia for the past and a fascination for old boats. We no longer have
to convince yacht clubs to take gaffers. The Round the Island Race, for
instance, has three classes for gaffrigged yachts. The market has shifted
too, and there are more gaff-rigged
yachts in production now than there
were in the heyday of the rig.”
The priorities of the OGA have also
changed. Whereas back then its mission was to save a dying rig and to raise
public awareness, it’s now busy consolidating that work and looking to the
future. For the future, Shaw said, the
organization hopes to create an online
register of boats and establish a fund
to help young people sail in vessels
such as PIONEER .

18 • WoodenBoat 235

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9/24/13 10:04 AM

A restoration is getting under way
in Ontario on BLACK PEARL, a circa1950 brigantine.

Around the yards
■ “Nick and Amanda Alexander of
Lockport, New York, are plugging
along on their rebuild of the little brigantine BLACK PEARL ,” Susan Gateley
writes, noting that the American Sail
Training Association was founded
aboard the yacht. “The vessel is on the
hard at Point Breeze, Lake Ontario,
getting a new stem, topside planking,
more refastening, and more new frames
as of summer 2013. Built as a private
yacht and launched around 1950, she
is about 52' on deck and spreads 2,000
sq ft of sail including four square sails.

■ Great Northern Boatworks in St. Paul,
Minnesota, recently marked the milestone of completing the largest project
ever brought into its shop. Co-owners
Tim Weber, Theo Halvorson, and Russell
Roque worked with naval architect Bill
Prince to reshape a 33' Skiff-Craft built
in 1985 into a well-appointed family
cruiser—and by the time the project
concluded in the summer of 2013, not
much beyond the hull remained of the
original boat. A new bright-finished Philippine mahogany cabin and flying
bridge were installed. The deck was
reframed for strength, then sheathed in
1⁄2" okoume plywood topped with 3⁄8"
teak planking. Varnished wood was used
extensively in a completely reworked
interior, including a new galley, a new
head, and reconfigured berth spaces.
Virtually all of the instruments and systems were replaced and upgraded. The
systems are all new, including electronics, engine controls, water supply, plumbing, heating, and cooling. The upgrades
include three refrigerators, a fire suppression system, new tanks, new lighting,
and an audiovisual system with 16 speak-

COURTESY OF GREAT NORTHERN BOATWORKS

Nic Compton is a freelance writer and photographer based in Brighton, England, who has
written about boats and the sea for 20 years.
He is a frequent contributor to Wooden­
Boat, and his books include a biography of
the designer Iain Oughtred.

The Alexanders rescued the little ship
after seeing her listed in the 2009 Bone
Yard Boats newsletter. She took daysail
charters for a couple of summers out of
Lewiston before her owners decided a
full reconstruction was necessary. They
started in the fall of 2011, working from
the top down to replace deckbeams,
the laid pine deck, and coach roofs.
Then came a new collision bulkhead,
more replaced frames, some new topside planking, and a new stem. A 2014
relaunching is planned.”
Susan Gateley

The other big change is that the
organization is no longer just about old
gaffers. You don’t have to own a gaffer
to join the OGA —in fact, you don’t
have to own a boat at all. Bermudanrigged boats are welcome, and even
fiberglass boats, like the president’s
own gaffer SUSAN J, have long been
welcome. The organization is increasingly positioning itself as the body for
all traditional craft, not just old gaffers. “There is a changing of the guard
at the OGA ,” Shaw said. “The founding
members are getting old and handing
over to a new generation, and there is
an eagerness to change and move on. I
don’t think a change of name is necessary—the logo might change and the
gothic script might go, but the name
should stay. Language is a slippery
thing; if you worry about it too much,
you don’t catch any fish.”
Back in Cowes, the first day of the
festival was given over to fun events such
as sculling, “flubber” racing in inflatable dinghies with improvised rigs, and
flubber football (same, but with a ball
and lashings of water). The surprise hit
of the day was clog racing, a traditional
Dutch pastime organized in Cowes by
one of the skippers from Holland taking part in the Around Britain Challenge. Eight clog yachts were entered in
the race, including an ingenious design
by designer Andrew Wolstenholme, but
after some shepherding of errant boats,
the winner was—what else?—the Solent
area’s varnished gaffer.
“One of the measures of our success is that a few years ago when a
squall hit the fleet, spars got broken
and boats leaked. Now, boats are better looked after, and if a squall hits us,
everything works and no one sinks,”
Shaw said. That was Friday, and the
very next day his words were put to
the test, as a Force 6 piped up for the
main race. At least two bowsprits were
broken and 30 of the 94 starters were
forced to retire, but those that did
make it round seemed to be not only
coping with the wind but thoroughly
enjoying themselves. The sudden
wind ensured it wasn’t the biggest ever
lineup of gaffers in the U.K., as widely
touted beforehand, but it was certainly
one of the most spectacular. And, with
about 1,000 crew taking part, it was a
memorable finale to the OGA’s golden
jubilee. The old gaffers (and friends)
look safe for at least another 50 years.

ROCKIN’ ROBYN, a 33’ Skiff-Craft that underwent an extensive conversion

completed in summer 2013, was the largest project yet taken on by Great
Northern Boatworks in St. Paul, Minnesota.

November/December 2013 • 19

Currents235-FINALwADs.indd 19

9/24/13 10:04 AM

Coming

To a newsstand near you
(and to the WoodenBoat Store)

NOVEMBER 26
Only available for a limited time.
Order a copy of Small Boats at
www.woodenboatstore.com

or call 1-800-273-7447 and we ca

n ship it to you

circsmallboats235.indd 20

9/26/13 3:40 PM

COURTESY OF SANDUSKY MARITIME MUSEUM

Left—A crew of dedicated volunteers at the Sandusky
Maritime Museum in Ohio used a donated building jig and
materials to build an all-new Interlake Class racing sailboat,
18’ LOA . Above—The new boat won its first and only race at
the Interlake Nationals at the Sandusky Sailing Club July 18
with a crew of Mike Muhn, the class historian; Bob Reynolds,
the chief builder; and Eric Winkel, son of Norm Winkel, who
inspired the construction but died before launching. NORM,
named in Winkel’s honor, now resides at the museum, in an
exhibit devoted to the Interlakes.

BC, V0R 1X7, Canada; 250–247–0142;
www.tonygrove.com.

Offcuts

A

■ On Gabriola Island in British
new wooden Interlake class 18'
Columbia, boatbuilder Tony Grove is
racing sailboat took to the waters
restoring Canada’s oldest registered of Sandusky, Ohio, during the summer
and functioning sailboat. “Built in 1897, sail racing season of 2013, most notably
for the Interlake National Sailing
DOROTHY is a 30' gaff-rigged cutter
that has been under the care of the Mar- Championships hosted by Sandusky
itime Museum of British Columbia in Sailing Club. The class itself has been
Victoria. At present, she is in my shop on going since 1935, after members of
Gabriola Island and is being restored to the club, disgruntled over marina
sail again.” The boat was originally con- rates for boats over 18', approached
structed of western red cedar
planking over oak backbone
timbers and frames, and her
condition was comparatively
good. “While I was exploring
her condition to assess the level
of repairs needed, she revealed
a few interesting archaeological tidbits,” he reports. “A few
items of interest are that the
original planking instead
of being butted was scarfed
together, which is the method
commonly used today. Also,
most of the original planks
are flat-sawn, while today most
planking used is edge-grain
or quarter-sawn. The restoration is still in its early stages,
with most of the hull repairs
commencing this winter. A
documentary called Between
Wood and Water is being filmed
At Tony Grove’s boatshop on Gabriola Island,
simultaneously, following DORBritish Columbia, the cutter DOROTHY, a
30-footer built in Victoria in 1897, is undergoing
OTHY ’s restoration and the
restoration to sailing trim. She is owned by the
story of this Pacific west coast
Maritime Museum of British Columbia.
wooden boat.” Tony Grove,
2505 Coho Dr., Gabriola Island,

Francis Sweisguth for a new design.
Sweisguth was already noted for the
earlier, and very successful, Star class.
The Sandusky contingent had in mind a
hard-chined sloop for local conditions,
favoring amateur construction. After
the Interlake Sailing Class Association
was formed in 1936, the class came
to be known as “Interlakes,” a name
that stuck. Five were sailing by 1935,
13 in 1936, and 90 by the time World
War II broke out. In 1957, the first
fiberglass version came out, and the
class expanded rapidly—with more
than 1,400 still sailing today, including
wooden boats.
Bob Reynolds, who leads boatbuilding classes at the Sandusky
Maritime Museum, and Mike
Muhn, the historian for the class,
write that the new wooden boat
came as a direct result of the determination of one man: Norm Winkel. In 2007, the museum received
a donation of a building jig for
wooden-hulled Interlake class
boats from Ted McCann of Putin-Bay, along with cedar planking,
oak framing stock, two unfinished
Sitka spruce masts, two booms, and
battens and miscellaneous other
parts left by the defunct 1930s-era
builder Darst Boat Works.
Winkel, who himself had been
involved in drawing up specifications in the 1950s for the shift to
fiberglass construction, was on
the museum’s board of trustees
and urged a better tribute to the
Interlake Class. He advocated putting the donated materials to use,
with the idea of building a new
wooden boat that would take the
class back to its roots. “Before long,

COURTESY OF TONY GROVE

ers and a flat-panel television. ROCKIN’
ROBYN was on the water by August 2013.
Great Northern Boatworks, 315 Atwater St.,
St. Paul, MN 55117; 651–747–6314; www.
greatnorthernboatworks.com.

November/December 2013 • 21

Currents235-FINALwADs.indd 21

9/24/13 10:04 AM

Norm secured the museum’s blessing,
obtained some start-up funding, and
started to recruit others,” Reynolds and
Muhn wrote. “A group of approximately
six retired individuals, with varying
degrees of woodworking skills but not
necessarily in boatbuilding, committed
themselves to the project and agreed
to meet every week at the museum
for three or four hours.” A new jig, for
upside-down construction, was built.
They made a new mahogany transom.
An oak stem from Darst already had
the rabbet cut into it, simplifying their
backbone setup. The western red cedar
stock was enough for the necessary
four bottom planks and three topside
planks per side. After the hull was finished and turned over, deckbeams and
blocking went in, followed by a 9mm
okoume plywood deck topped with a
traditional canvas sheathing laid in oil
paint. Mahogany rubrails and cockpit
coamings finished the hull work.
“While all this sounds relatively easy,
it took the group three-and-a-half years
to produce the hull,” Reynolds and
Muhn wrote. Sadly, Winkel never saw
the finished product: he died of cancer
in 2010. “Until a couple of weeks before
his death, Norm attended virtually

every work session,” and the group
informed him that the boat would be
named NORM in his honor. Maritime
Museum of Sandusky, 125 Meigs St., Sandusky, OH 44870–2834; 419–624–0274;
www.sanduskymaritime.org.

“T

he huge enthusiasm for Iain
Oughtred’s St. Ayles skiff that
has powered the Scottish Coastal
Rowing organization and spread
around the world has just taken a
huge jump forward,” photographer
Kathy Mansfield writes from England.
“I couldn’t resist attending the Skiffie
World Championships in Ullapool in
the west of Scotland—an attractive
small community on a sea loch surrounded by misty layers of mountains,
where a week of memorably good
weather and good racing was enjoyed
by about 1,000 visitors, mainly rowers. With a population of just slightly
above that, Ullapool put on a well-run
event with 14 boats racing across the
loch and back every half hour from
midday to late afternoon, about 265
entries in 19 different categories in
all, plus sprint racing for everyone in
the evening and ceilidhs and other
entertainment as well.

e New England
Rope Wreath

“When you consider that the boat was
only designed three-and-a-half years ago
and about 75 have already been built
by communities with little boatbuilding
experience, it’s impressive. So was the age
range of rowers, from 17 to 70. Children
of competitors cheered their parents on,
a nice turn of events. The atmosphere was
friendly, the local welcome heartwarming, and the competition exciting. Just in
the past four months, nearly 40 building
kits have been ordered, adding to the 100
kits already sold. They have gone around
the world, with 24 purchased in the
United States and 10 already launched,
11 sold to New Zealand, 5 to Australia, 4 to the Netherlands, and others to
Canada and Spain. Serious interest has
been expressed in Brazil, South Africa,
Malta, and parts of the Caribbean. Alec
Jordan, spearheading the development
and router-cutting most of the kits, has
become a world traveler, invited to boat
festivals this year from Mystic, Connecticut, to Hobart, Tasmania. And once a
community builds a boat and develops a
core of rowers, a second boat is usually on
the way.
“Three groups of women built their
own boats, and those women were there—
from Portsoy in Scotland, Portland in

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22 • WoodenBoat 235

Currents235-FINALwADs.indd 22

9/24/13 10:43 AM

K ATHY MANSFIELD

Oregon, and Tasmania in Australia. ‘It’s
much more fun than the gym and full
of fresh air and friendships,’ one said.
‘It’s the best thing that’s happened to
Ullapool,’ said the local doctor. A group
of 15 came from the Lake Champlain
Maritime Museum in Vermont, and an
extraordinary entry came from the
Moravian Academy in Pennsylvania.
Michael Brolly had asked if he could
amend the design above the waterline,
and explained that he wanted to make
the boat into a musical instrument.
Thanks in part to funding from a
crowd-sourcing website, he managed to
ship it across and back and enter the
racing, complete with a dragon prow
with fret keys for eight brass piano wires
stretching to the stern planks. The hull
of the boat acts as a sounding board,
and the wires are stroked with cotton
gloves impregnated with violin rosin.
Michael sees it as an attempt to apologize to the whales for killing them, and
set off down the loch on a musical quest.
“Scotland, with about 55 boats
already in action, now has an actionpacked diary of community racing,
regional regattas, long rows, sprints, and
launching ceremonies. Their openness
and enthusiasm was infectious, the com-

In mid-July 2013 at Ullapool, Scotland, 31 St. Ayles skiffs competed in the world
championship for the class, designed by Iain Oughtred. Entrants came from as
near as the town itself and as far away as Australia—and the class shows every
sign of future growth.

munity spirit invigorating. Each crew,
identified by matching tops, staked out a
section of Ullapool’s long beach, cheering each race. Scottish crews hosted the
foreign crews, lending boats, oars, help,
and advice. The 31 double-ended boats,
with their graceful sheers drawn up on
the beach and in the water had a Viking
look to them—it must have been a special moment for Oughtred, seeing the

proliferation of his design into so many
and such individual boats, with their
own color schemes, tholes, oarlocks, and
detailing.”
For more information, see Scottish Coast­al Rowing, http://scottishcoastalrowing.org.
Kits are available through Jordan Boats in
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States at www.cnc-marine-hewesco.com.

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November/December 2013 • 23

Currents235-FINALwADs.indd 23

9/24/13 10:43 AM

COURTESY NATURE IRAQ

Top left—The Tigris River was
once commonly navigated by
basket boats, a type called
a guffa. Bottom left—To
call attention to the river’s
environmental challenges,
Nature Iraq commissioned
modern boatbuilders to build
a new guffa for a river journey.
Below—Two other boat types,
including the slender and elegant
tarada shown here, were also
built for the voyage.

A

nna Bachmann writes from Iraq
with news of an expedition that
was expected to set forth in midSeptember 2013: “The Tigris River
flows from southeast Turkey into Iraq,
where it eventually meets the Euphrates
River and flows to the Gulf. But these
Biblical rivers are suffering, and an
Iraqi conservation organization called
Nature Iraq has decided to conduct a
major expedition down the river this fall
in both modern and traditional boats to
promote the river, its health, and the traditional cultural connections it helped
to foster through the millennia. Boats
have always had the ability to capture
the imagination, and they will be one of
the key tools that Nature Iraq is using to
engage local people we will meet as we
travel down the river. Three traditional
boats of the region, none of which have
been seen in Iraq in more than 25 years,
are being built for the expedition.
“The first is the guffa, a traditional
cargo and passenger-carrying boat
that carried great cargo in a woven
reed hull with a bitumen waterproofing. The kalak, used for downstream
transportation, is a traditional raft
made of the strongest reeds or wood
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24 • WoodenBoat 235

Currents235-FINALwADsr.indd 24

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skins. Finally, the tarada is the traditional canoe of the marsh Arab sheikhs
of southern Iraq. These graceful boats,
up to 10 meters long [33'], carried up
to 12 people and could cover 80 kilometers [50 miles] in a day. This type of
boat was made famous by the British
explorer Wilfred Thesiger in the 1950s
when he traveled extensively within the
region by tarada. As the wetlands have
declined and shrunk in size, so too have
the taradas vanished from the Mesopotamian marshlands. Until the new
tarada was launched this past spring
by Nature Iraq, the last one built in the
marshes disappeared in the 1970s.”
The flotilla was scheduled to depart
the ancient Turkish town of Hasenkeyf
on September 15. “Like any adventure,
there will be certain risks and this will
be doubly true in Iraq, but the many
threats to the river demand action now,”
Bachmann wrote. For more information
about Nature Iraq and the Tigris Flotilla, see
www.connectmesopotamia.org

A

tip of the hat and raise of the pint
are due, if you please, for the Olin
Stephens–designed yacht DORADE and
her intrepid owners, Matt Brooks and
Pam Rorke Levy. The 1930 yacht, com-

missioned by Stephens’s father, reshaped
the face of yacht racing from the outset,
taking a 1931 win of the Transatlantic
Race and the Fastnet Race. It’s old news
by now that the yawl, astonishingly, won
the 2013 Transpacific Yacht Race, replicating her 1936 win on the same
course from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
Brooks has the idea of racing everywhere DORADE has raced before—a
notion that is itself worth a further tip
of the hat and another raise of the
pint, if you will—soon to follow up with
a Trans­atlantic Race and Fastnet campaign expected in 2015. One of the
greatest stories in yachting just keeps
getting better.

S

peaking of the history of yachting,
Kurt Hasselbalch, curator of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Museum’s Hart Nautical Collections,
tells us that his institution is planning a
new exhibit, “The Herreshoff Legacy,”
devoted to the yacht design innovations
of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, whose
design records the museum holds. The
exhibition, which is expected to open in
2015, involves a new 3,500-sq-ft gallery
space that will be used for special exhibits once the Herreshoff exhibit starts

traveling in 2016. (Fundraising for the
project continues.) The exhibit itself
promises to unite a wide array of artifacts. But of particular interest to those
unable to travel to Boston is a new website —http://herreshoff-legacy.mit.
edu—that is part of the plan: “A permanent website will function as an exhibition catalog and will include a wealth of
resources to support educational programming for students of all ages,”
states the museum’s brochure. “The
highly interactive website is designed to
provide not only enduring educational
value, but also expanded access to our
world-class design collections.” Kurt
Hasselbalch, Curator, Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Building N51, 265
Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139;
617–253–5942; http://web.mit.edu/museum.

F

urther to news of good uses of the
Internet, we have word from the Musée
Maritime in La Rochelle, France, that
the entire plans collection of the designer
François Sergent—an oeuvre of 2,300
plans sheets—is now available online at
w w w.histoiresmaritimesrochelaises.
fr/plans/all. A tip of the chapeau and a
raise of the rouge for them, s’il vous
plaît.

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November/December 2013 • 25

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9/24/13 10:04 AM

Across the bar
■ Dick Newick, 87, August 28, 2013,
Sebastopol, California. Mr. Newick’s
lifetime of experimentation and innovation in boat design and construction began at age 10 in Rutherford,
New Jersey, when he built the first of
a succession of kayaks in his family’s
garage. After serving in the U.S. Navy,
graduating from college, and running

a boatshop in Eureka, California, he
spent nearly two years in the 1950s
cruising European canals, then the
Caribbean, by kayak, living a spartan
lifestyle along the way. He, and later
he and his wife, Pat, ran a daysailing
charter business in the Virgin Islands,
first with a monohull and later with
catamarans and trimarans of Newick’s
design, notably TRICE , a 36' trimaran, with plywood topsides but stripbuilt below the waterline for curved

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sections. Later, he increasingly used
wood-epoxy laminates, and later modern composites such as Kevlar and carbon fiber, in his constructions, though
he always emphasized economy and
performance. (For a profile, see Professional BoatBuilder No. 122; see also
“Multihull Pioneers,” WB No. 202.)
In 1964, he sailed with the Newportto-Bermuda Race fleet to test TRICE ,
finishing (though not in competition)
behind only two boats in the fleet. In
1968, his CHEERS, a two-hulled proa,
finished third in the Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (OSTAR)
under Tom Follett. Newick increasingly
focused on trimarans, with curved aka
beam structures, wing-like in shape,
gracefully connecting the hulls. He first
used this aka style in THREE CHEERS
of 1972, with wing akas made of laminated wood. Notable victories with
Newick trimarans were a third place
in the 1976 OSTAR , with the 31' Valclass THIRD TURTLE , and a first-place
OSTAR win in 1980 with the 50-footer
MOXIE, sailed by Phil Weld. He also developed many cruising trimarans. In 2008
he was named to the North American
Boat Designers Hall of Fame.
■ Thomas G. Skahill, 84, July 24,
2013, Laguna Niguel, California.
A look at the WoodenBoat magazine
online index shows that Mr. Skahill
invested an outsized amount of effort
into telling the story (twice with coauthors) of California’s great boatyards and yacht designers: Nick Potter
(No. 83), Edson B. Schock (No. 113),
Ted Geary (Nos. 137–138), Hugh
Angelman (No. 147), Fellows & Stewart (No. 173), and the South Coast
Company (No. 193). Mr. Skahill came
to Los Angeles as a six-year-old, moving with his family from Cincinnati,
Ohio. He graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles
in business administration and then
pursued a career in business and
industrial development that included
establishing hundreds of Jack-in-theBox restaurants and a 37-year stint
with W.H. Daum real estate brokerage
in the vibrant markets in Orange and
Los Angeles counties. He also had his
own company, Skahill Marine, Inc.
But his real passion was yachting and
sailboat racing, and from his youth he
crewed on cutting-edge sail races. He
sailed in Star class challenges starting in 1959 with Bill Ficker, later an
AMERICA’s Cup–winning skipper. In
1960, he crewed with Lowell North to
the Star class Championship in Rio
de Janeiro, in an era when Star class
skippers and crews were a who’s-who
of sail racing’s elite.

26 • WoodenBoat 235

Currents235-FINALwADs.indd 26

9/25/13 1:11 PM

■ Jasper Solo Mohan, 15, July 10, 2013,
British Columbia. In his short life, Mr.
Mohan fell hard for wooden boats,
best told in words from his family: “At
age one, he lived aboard the 32', 1939
English sloop GAMESTER II at Oak Bay,
Victoria. When Jasper learned to walk,
the family planned for a larger boat
and in the interim bought a 21' Shetland sixareen, built on Galiano Island,
for camp-cruising. Jasper often spent
summers with his grandparents in Calgary, Alberta, where he attended sailing
school on Lake Chestermere, earned his
CYA Bronze V sailing accreditation, and
acquired a Byte racing dinghy. When
he was six, the family bought the 1899
Bristol Channel pilot cutter CARLOTTA,
which they lived aboard for a year before
deciding to rebuild. The project lasted
seven years on Sevilla Island before the
family could move back aboard, and
during that period Jasper commuted
to school in his 10' wooden rowboat,
HOBBES. He loved living on the island
and sculled proficiently while exploring
its nooks and crannies, wooden sword in
hand. Jasper spent the final two years of
his life battling a brain tumor. He had a
short reprieve at the end of the summer
of 2012, during which he was able to sail
with CARLOTTA to the Victoria Classic Boat Show and the Port Townsend
(Washington) Wooden Boat Festival.
These were good times, and he proudly
showed off his home. He surprised people with his well-found knowledge of sailing, pilot cutters, and wooden boats. At
the Victoria show, he was honored with
the ‘Young Person–Old Boat’ award—
and a standing ovation. His smile, happy
attitude, and kind heart will be missed.”
■ Ruth Wharram, 92, September 4,
2013, Devoran, Cornwall, England. Ms.
Wharram, and her friend Jutta ShultzeRohnhof, both German-born, became
sailing and life companions, starting
in 1951, of James Wharram, a noted
English catamaran design pioneer and
voyager. Later, in 1973, Hanneke Boon
joined the group for long voyages and
became a design partner of Wharram’s.
“She never had children herself,” Boon
writes of Ms. Wharram, “but during
her life she has been ‘mother’ to Jutta’s

son, Hannes, and ‘grandmother’ to my
son, Jamie.” Ms. Wharram became a
pioneering woman voyager in her own
right, serving as navigator on the first
Wharram east-to-west transatlantic passage in 1951 using only rudimentary
instruments. She mastered navigation
by sextant for later voyages. Beginning
in 1994, then in her 70s, she sailed with
the Wharram-designed SPIRIT OF GAIA ,
a 63' flagship catamaran the group used
to voyage to the Pacific and around the

H

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detailed history, and he did it time and
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photographer and documentarian for
Wharram’s expeditions. By 1980, after
knee replacements limited her mobility,
she managed Wharram’s office in Cornwall, maintaining contacts throughout
the world and following, via the Internet, Wharram and Boon in their Lapita
Voyage from the Philippines to the Solomon Islands to retrace possible early
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WBSchool235.indd 30

9/26/13 3:32 PM

Party Boats
by David Kasanof

B

oys and girls, ’fess
up: partying is high
on the list of important
activities aboard our
boats. Sure, we want a
boat to be seaworthy
and handle well under
power or sail and all
that nautical stuff, but
what good is all that if
it’s not a good party boat?
This is not a simple question, because when it comes
to partying not all boats are
created equal. You can’t party on a
small catamaran, and you can have
only the most inhibited sort of party
aboard a “gold plater” that has
apparently been constructed entirely
out of varnish. What kind of party
can you have if everyone is afraid of
slopping guacamole on the brightwork? And what kind of party can
you have without guacamole?
Obviously, one important characteristic of a good party boat is
that it and its skipper be guacamoletolerant. If you’re not laid-back
enough to tolerate a few spills, then
I would suggest that you contrive to
be a party-goer rather than a partygiver. Surely you can be laid-back
about guacamole on someone else’s
teak deck.
I recall a party in which a small
child had discovered the immense
delight in stuffing bits of ham into
the nooks and crannies of the deck
winches. In would go a bit of ham,
and the little demon would howl
with glee. The kid’s laugh was so
infectious that the adults began not
only to laugh but to supply ammunition from their own sandwiches.
When a voice from the galley asked
if anyone wanted another sandwich,
the skipper replied, “No, but we
need more ham for the winches.”
Now, that’s what I call laid-back.
The best parties often just seem
to happen. A friend drops over, then
another, and another a few minutes

PETE GORSKI

later. Soon one realizes that a party
has occurred. At this point the wellprepared party boat will be ready
with munchies, preferably something greasy and salty. Please, no
celery sticks. This is a party, not
dinner at a health spa.
Some truly great parties occur
when boats are rafted together
in a sheltered anchorage. A good
raft-up should comprise boats of
approximately the same length and
displacement. That way each boat
will tend to roll or pitch with its
neighbor in case of a chop.
If, among the guests at a party, a
responsible and dependable person
can be found, he or she should be
tasked with taking a round of bearings off prominent points ashore
and navigational aids, and rechecking those bearings from time to
time in order to detect a dragging
anchor in time to do something
about it.
Unfortunately, no amount of foresight can protect even the most wellformed raft from the comedian who
thinks that high comedy is achieved
by “accidentally” falling overboard.
Unfortunately, all such “victims”
must be treated like the real thing
just in case, so it’s a good idea for the
outside boats of the raft to be prepared to hoist miscellaneous human
flotsam aboard by means of the
main halyard. In addition, dinghies

should be tied off
the stern for help
in getting people
back aboard.
Dinghies are also
useful as a temporary storage place
for spare gear and
excess children.
The latter become
excess when they
become bored. We
grown-ups forget that
from a child’s viewpoint,
we are extremely boring. They
don’t get our jokes, and they don’t
care about any of the stuff we like to
talk about. Happily, they generally
do like to be in a dinghy rather than
a boat, especially a parent’s boat.
They also prefer other people’s
boats to one’s own. I believe that
these juvenile traits should be made
use of when it comes to dealing with
troublesome kids. Encourage them
to emigrate; that’s what they really
want to do in the first place.
Unfortunately, many grown-ups
have responsibilities ashore and
can’t party on at will. Alas, the raft
must be broken up and so-called
normal life resumed. Children
and other gear must be sorted out.
Don’t forget that you left your power
cord on another boat. I assume you
haven’t neglected to collect any stray
offspring well before you leave.
Once back in your own slip, you
can enjoy another aspect of a good
party: It’s fun to party, but it’s also
fun to stop. The best thing about
guests, remember, is that eventually
they go home. That is why, after a
party, people almost always give a
long sigh. It’s a sigh of relief and a
bit of pleasure at a return to normal
routine.
So clean up the galley, wash the
mud off the anchor chain, and since a
party can happen at any time, remember to make sure you have plenty of
ham for the sandwiches.
November/December 2013 • 31

Focsle235-03.indd 31

9/23/13 2:29 PM

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9/26/13 10:22 AM

COURTESY OF CIA

A Trumpy Fit for James Bond

A secret CIA semi-submersible is
now a museum piece

A

classic power cruiser built by John Trumpy & Sons
of Annapolis, Maryland, is easy to spot, with
the Trumpy styling and the ornate scrollwork
“T” adorning the bow just below deck level. But one
particular Trumpy would always slide by unrecognized
and unseen. The boat was small, only 19' 1⁄2" long, and
it lacked the usual trademark. More important, it
was painted gray and designed to have the lowest
possible profile, running with its decks awash in the
middle of the night—which is exactly the way the
Central Intelligence Agency wanted it.
In 1953—six years after President Harry Truman
founded the CIA—the agency hired Trumpy to build
this unusual boat. It sounded like something that might
have come straight out of Ian Fleming’s first James
Bond novel, which was published that same year. The

by Dirk A.D. Smith

CIA’s objective was to create a boat that could pursue

clandestine operations, running partly submerged as
many as 50 miles to sneak a small crew and their gear
into an enemy harbor. The boat could then be deliberately sunk, awaiting the crew’s return. Up to a month
later, after their intrigues were completed, the crew
could raise the boat and motor to a rendezvous with
the waiting mother ship.
Known as the “CIA Semi-submersible Skiff,” the
boat’s existence was, of course, secret. The world first
heard about it in 2007, when the skiff went on exhibit
at the then-new CIA Museum at agency headquarters in
Langley, Virginia. The skiff also happens to be one of
very few wooden submarines in existence.
The project was directed by my father, Dawson C.
Smith, who established and later presided over the CIA’s

Above—Designed for secret infiltration of harbors during the Cold War, the CIA’s semi-submersible skiff could run on the
surface or semi-submerged, as shown in this photo. It could be hidden in 30’-deep water for weeks while the crew completed
its mission.
November/December 2013 • 33

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9/12/13 10:04 AM

GIMIK, a predecessor to the CIA skiff, was built near the end

COURTESY OF CIA

of World War II. Two boats were built to this design, and in
this image one of them is shown during sea trails in 1945. The
last existing boat of GIMIK’s type is on display at the PT Boat
Museum at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Maritime Operations Branch. (He died in 2009.) The
crew members were Navy Underwater Demolition Specialists, among the predecessors of today’s Navy SEALs.
That fact alone told much about the skiff’s expected role
in the CIA’s plans. The skiff was actually a successor to
a semi-submersible spy craft developed late in World
War II by the Office of Strategic Services, the CIA’s predecessor. The OSS operation involved a boat named
GIMIK , whose clandestine operation was called NAPKO.
The idea was to land recruited Korean-Americans and
Korean nationals on the Japanese mainland for both
intelligence gathering and sabotage ahead of an anticipated allied invasion. Japan’s rapid surrender after the
U.S. nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki put an
end to the operation, but not to the idea: After the war’s
end, GIMIK was transferred to the Navy and later to the
CIA. GIMIK (which today is exhibited alongside PT boats
at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts) has obvious similarities to its successor.
The CIA’s craft was designed to transport an operator, two passengers, and 120 lbs of equipment—including “two machine guns, 32 lbs”—in moderate-to-rough
water up to 50 miles offshore, with a total out-andreturn range of 110 miles. Two skiffs were built in the
operation’s first year. With a cruising speed of about 5
knots, they would never win any races, but they worked
as intended.

undoubtedly the most uncomfortable boat ever to be
spawned by the venerable yacht yard, which closed in
the 1970s. It was 19' 1⁄2" LOA , with a beam of 5' 3", and
after making room for three internal ballast tanks, an
engine compartment accessed via a hatch bolted on the
aft bulkhead of the amidships crew compartment, and
operating gear, there was little space left.
The crew gained access via a quick-acting hatch,
operable either from inboard or outboard. Aft of the
hatch, a Plexiglas dome was fitted to give the pilot visibility. A 34" snorkel provided fresh air, with a second
snorkel, 47" tall, available for use when operating in
seas of more than 6'.
The engine compartment, which also housed the
battery and a gasoline tank at the aft end, was made
watertight so the boat could be deliberately sunk, or
“cached,” on the bottom for an extended time. Filling
the ballast tanks with seawater quickly put the boat on
the bottom. The tanks could also be partly filled, allowing the boat to operate semi-submerged for stealth. On
each side of the engine compartment, an air tank was

Like many yacht builders, Trumpy contributed fully
to the war effort during World War II (see WB Nos.
132–134), so a military contract to build the spy skiff
after the war’s end was not unusual, with the Cold War
in full swing. As an operation specializing in wooden
boats, Trumpy could easily handle the construction of
the wooden framing and plywood sheathing, along
with incorporating its aluminum components, such
as the watertight aluminum hatch fitted over the
engine compartment. The odd little craft, however, was
Right—Carrying capacity included “two submachine guns,
32 lbs,” which could be lashed on deck, amidships,
between the two sets of rails.

DAWSON SMITH COLLECTION

Trumpy’s Role

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COURTESY OF CIA (ALL THREE)

Top—For secrecy, the CIA’s skiff depended on presenting a
very low profile, given away here by a test flag set during
sea trials as the boat ran with decks awash. Neither of the
two skiffs built to the design saw action during deployment.
Above—The Universal Atomic Four gasoline engine was
installed in a watertight housing to keep it dry while the
skiff was cached underwater. Left—Although aluminum was
also used extensively, the skiff’s hull was built of wood. In
this view looking forward, her wooden framing shows her
ready to be sheathed in plywood planking.

Operations

installed for blowing the ballast tank, allowing the skiff
to rise for running on the surface. A third air tank for
purging explosive gases from the engine compartment
was fitted to a bulkhead at the after end of main ballast
compartment.
The boat’s Universal Atomic Four was no muscle
machine, at 64.46 cu in and 25 hp, but it was a tried-andtrue four-cylinder engine. Such engines were installed
in some 40,000 sailboats between 1947 and the end
of production in 1984, and perhaps 20,000 are still in
use today. The engine descended from the World War
II–era Utility Four, which was used heavily by the Navy
before being replaced by the Atomic Four in 1947.

In use, the mother ship would carry the skiff hidden
on deck to within 50 miles of the objective. The skiff
would then be lowered into the water with the crew
and equipment aboard. If the risk of detection were
low, the skiff could remain on the surface, which
allowed it comparatively fast travel and greater range.
When the risk of detection was high, the pilot would
flood the tanks until the decks were awash, which took
about 14 minutes.
While the boat was semi-submerged, the pilot monitored its attitude as if it were a submarine. To ensure that
the hull was in proper trim—neither up nor down at
the bow and neither leaning to port nor to starboard—
he used valves that could direct ballast water forward
or aft, or to port or starboard, as needed. After putting the crew and gear ashore, the pilot would take the
skiff offshore and sink it at a depth of about 30'—deep
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COURTESY OF CIA

enough for the boat to avoid detection at low tide. The
pilot’s preparations for caching included setting two
anchors and leading a line ashore to be secured with a
spike so the crew could follow the line back to the boat
even in the dark.
To retrieve the skiff, someone had to dive—without

scuba gear—locate it, cast off the anchors, and trigger
an external compressed air tank at the stern to blow
the ballast. The air purged water from the ballast tanks
and the crew compartment, allowing the skiff to resurface. As soon as the deck hatch broke the surface, the
crew could re-enter the boat and start the engine. Their

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36 • WoodenBoat 235

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Facing page—After completing lengthy research into
his father’s work as the founder and director of the
CIA Maritime Operations Branch, the author was invited
to see the semi-submersible skiff inside the CIA Museum
in 2012. The boat, only 19’1⁄2” LOA, packed a pilot and
a crew of two into exceptionally tight spaces.
The white-painted dome is said to have eased the
sunburn problems of a bald-headed pilot.

voyage back to the mother ship could take as long as 10
hours.
For secrecy, the skiff relied on the fact that small
objects are really difficult to see in open water, even at
short distances. If the skiff was difficult to see in broad
daylight with seas running at only 1' to 3', at night it
was nearly impossible. The boat’s low profile also presented a miniscule surface area, unlikely to be detected
by radar, especially with 1950s technology.
The greatest risk the crew faced was not from their
covert operations but from the skiff itself. “I wrote the
evaluation of the tests I ran on these submersibles and
recommended that they not be used operationally...
except for highly special missions,” developer Dawson
Smith’s records show. “They were much too hazardous,
even though technically remarkable.” The principal
problem was that gasoline fumes, which are heavier
than air, could accumulate in the bilge, risking an

explosion. Most small-craft engines back then were
gasoline-powered, while safer marine diesels didn’t
come into widespread use until the 1980s. The skiff’s
operations manual specified numerous precautions,
including using compressed air to blow fumes out of
the engine compartment through a tube that exited the
boat. But the hazard was still there. During one test, a
crewman standing in the open deck hatch was thrown
from the boat in an explosion, which shot him out like
a missile. He was recovered from the water, unharmed
except that he “was nude as a sausage” and had lost all
his body hair.
Though heavily tested and even deployed, neither
of the two CIA skiffs saw action. One was shipped to
Saipan but was never used operationally and was later
scrapped in the field. The other was deployed twice,
but on both occasions its operation was canceled.
Eventually, the semi-submersible concept was made
obsolete by inflatables, which were much less expensive, safer, and were so ubiquitous they aroused no suspicion. Nevertheless, for a time Trumpy-built wooden
boats played a role in the James Bond–style intrigues
of the Cold War.
Dirk A.D. Smith is a freelance writer specializing in information
technology and the history of covert CIA operations. He still claims
that one of the wooden boats in his yard will (finally) float next year.
He can be reached at [email protected].

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November/December 2013 • 37

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9/24/13 3:08 PM

Wood in the Rigging

Making simple fittings for a traditional rig
Text and photographs by Tom Jackson

W

ooden rigging fittings are not only effective
for small boats but also a pleasure to make.
Aboard my 18-footer I use rope-stropped
wooden blocks exclusively, and wooden sheaves set into
the masthead for my main halyard and also for outhauls
at the outboard ends of my mizzen boom and mizzen
sprit. But beyond wooden blocks, I also have found
many uses for wooden thimbles and toggles, which are
often overlooked despite their many virtues. Parrel
beads, too, are simple to make and efficient for certain
kinds of rigs. For a traditional boat, such fittings seem
much more appropriate than the stainless-and-plastic

varieties that might be perfectly at home—and much
preferred—in a different kind of boat.

Thimbles
A thimble, very simply, is a doughnut-shaped circle of
wood. Lignum vitae, which has a waxy texture, dimensional stability, and is self-lubricating, is a great wood
for this purpose, although I’ve used hardwoods such as
angelique as well, depending quite literally on what I
had lying around the shop (see related article on wood
types, page 46). Lignum vitae can be hard to find, but
woodworking shops occasionally have wood-turning

Above—For traditional wooden boats, fittings such as (top to bottom) rope-stropped blocks, parrel beads, thimbles, and
toggles can complement a boat’s style, function beautifully, and be enjoyable to make.

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MORE

USES FOR THIMBLES .....

Below—A bridle is a line
attached to two points
on a spar to spread the
load of a peak halyard.
A thimble spliced into
the end of the halyard
slides on the bridle.

Intended to be fitted to a rope traveler, this thimble is made
up in a seized grommet, the other end of which accepts a
toggle. Thimbles are light, unobtrusive, and have no moving
parts.

blanks available in this species; I’ve found 2×2 pieces
about 10" long, which is ample for most small-craft uses.
It’s an expensive wood, but you don’t need much of it.
A thimble is held by one line and allows another to
pass through. I use thimbles in a variety of ways, and
they have proved extremely useful, very light, longlasting, and fine to look at. Once you’ve made and used
thimbles, you keep finding uses for more.
For example, my boat has a simple rope traveler to
allow the mizzen sheet to clear the tiller. The traveler is
made off to pad-eyes on the after deck, reeving through
an unobtrusive thimble on a short line that at the other
end has a toggle seized in (more on those in a minute).
I also use thimbles for my mainsheets, in two different ways.
Early on, my crew reliably informed me that without mechanical advantage the load on the mainsheet
was much too heavy to handle reasonably when the
breeze came up. Despite the simplicity of single-part,
I quickly concurred. That lug-rigged mainsail’s large
square footage exerts a lot of force. It is loose-footed,
however—meaning that it has no boom—so I couldn’t
simply add block capacity. I didn’t want to add turning
blocks at the clew, which would have formed a heavy,
head-banging two-block cluster flying around wildly
overhead during tacks and jibes. Instead, I used lignum
vitae thimbles, which have served the purpose wonderfully, showing little wear in six seasons of use so far.
The other way I use thimbles for the mainsheet is to
dead-end the line at a thimble that’s seized in line with
the after turning block. Here’s how it all works for each
sheet: One end is made off to the thimble at the turning block, and the other end reeves through the thimble at the clew, then goes back to reeve through the
sheave of the turning block. If I’m sailing solo, I take
it from there to my hand, otherwise I reeve it through
another turning block placed well forward for the crew.
Making thimbles is a straightforward exercise. They
can be made easily, though slowly, with the simplest of

Above—In sprit rig, the
snotter line controls
the sprit to tension or
slacken the peak of
the sail. This simple
sling held at the mast
by a thumb cleat has
a thimble in the end
to receive the snotter,
which passes from the
heel of the sprit through
the thimble and down
to a belaying pin.

Above—A mizzen brailing line reeves through a thimble on
the boom and passes on both sides of the sail and through
thimbles seized to each side of a mast hoop at the throat
(more wood in the rigging). The thimbles don’t interfere with
reefing the sail when necessary and mean that even a reefed
sail can be brailed. When the sheet is cast off (by freeing a
toggle), hauling the brailing line captures the boom, sail, and
sprit and brings everything together in a bundle up against
the mast to quickly douse the sail.
November/December 2013 • 39

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A bolt, well tightened down, running through the initial
center hole of a thimble can be chucked in a drill press to
make short work of shaping the concave perimeter. The
same technique works for making sheaves.

tools: Any drill can make the center hole, then a coping saw can be used to rough-cut the outside diameter.
A rasp, round and straight files, and sandpaper finish
out the piece. Machine tools hasten the work, and anyone with a lathe can easily turn one, or a dozen at a
time. For a flat-sawn piece, a hole saw used carefully can
make quick work of the center bore and rough perimeter cut simultaneously—and that’s what I generally use
first.
Before making any cuts, the first step is to determine
the diameter of the line to be used. The thickness of
the finished thimble can be determined by eye, but it
should be about 3⁄16" thicker than the line to be spliced
around it. Determine the diameter of the line passing
through the thimble, too, and plan the finished center
hole to be larger; once that diameter is set, the outside
diameter of the thimble can be judged, making it proportional in appearance and large enough so that the
body of the thimble is stout. For example, the traveler
line shown in the photo on page 39 is 1⁄2", so I made
the inside bore 5⁄8", and judging an adequate amount of
wood to work with, I planned my outside dimension to
finish at 1 3⁄8".
The wood of the thimble is never under a lot of
strain. It’s the line itself that takes the bulk of the load,
so the thimble functions as a kind of filler. In six seasons
of sailing this boat of mine, I’ve never had a thimble
fail. Nevertheless, common sense calls for any thimble
to be up to the task demanded of it. A thimble under
light duty, as for a brailing line, can be small and
relatively thin-walled; for mainsheets, where the stress
is much greater, thimbles need to be larger and of the
best-grained wood. The diameter of the lines involved
establishes the size—a brailing line, for example, is
much lighter than a mainsheet. By determining first
the size spliced around the thimble, then the size of the
line passing through it, the proportions become quite
evident. If a thimble fails in use, just make a larger
replacement.
There’s no need for a drafting-quality drawing of a
thimble, but a quick sketch of the dimensions can help
to finalize the cutting sequence. Once you’ve made one
you like that works well, refer back to its measurements
and proportions when making a new one.

First, plane the stock to the greatest thickness
needed. Next, a holesaw of the right size will work for
the first rough cut, working from both sides toward the
center with the piece well clamped. As an alternative,
drill a 1⁄4" hole, then rough-cut the outer perimeter with
a bandsaw or coping saw.
After the rough cut is made, I rig a 1⁄4" bolt through
the center hole, with washers top and bottom and a nut
cinched down tight. Then I chuck the bolt in my drill
press. With the thimble spinning at a fairly slow speed,
I use a round file to start forming the concavity in the
perimeter, which will receive the eye line. A file can clog
pretty quickly doing this, so keep a file card close by.
I’ve also found it useful to wrap the shaft of a suitably
sized twist-drill bit with successive grits of sandpaper to
finish out the perimeter concavity. While the thimble is
still chucked, I also work down the outer corners of the
sides. I stop the press once in a while, fit a length of line
around the thimble to check the fit, and keep working
until I’m happy with it. After taking the piece out of the
drill press and removing the bolt, I bore the inside hole
to its full diameter. A bit will self-center well enough
in the existing 1⁄4" hole, but it’s best to clamp the piece
securely before attempting this, and using a succession
of progressively larger bits works well.
There’s no need for power tools at all. Bore the center to its full diameter if you like, then cut the outside
perimeter with whatever tool you have, then sit in a
chair, put on some music, and do the rest of the work
by hand with rasps, files, and sandpaper. These don’t
have to be gem-quality pieces of work, but because they
are fun to make and feel good in the hand, the natural
tendency is to make them look good.
Pay special attention to the corners of the center hole. Use a round file, a die-grinder (carefully) if
you have one, reamers, sandpaper, or whatever makes
sense to really round-over those inside corners. A line
is going to pass through that thimble, and it will slide
with much less complaint if the inside of the thimble
has no hard edges.
If my thimble is made of a hardwood like angelique,
I’ll throw it in a metal bucket on a hot plate with an
equal blend of pine tar and linseed oil for a while. Lignum vitae, however, does not do well in hot oil, which
seems to cook out everything that makes the wood wonderful to begin with. Rubbing tallow into lignum vitae,
however, keeps it from desiccating in the weather.
When the thimble is ready for use, wrap the line
around it and determine where to start an eyesplice.
Make the splice, then press the thimble into the eye.
It should be as tight a fit as practical. Especially with
today’s slippery synthetic rope, it is important to back
up the splice with a seizing. Start away from the thimble and work up to it. The seizing will help secure the
splice, tighten the fit, and stiffen the line remarkably.

40 • WoodenBoat 235

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A quick-to-release wooden toggle attaches mainsheets to
the clew becket. Beckets spliced into the sail’s boltrope at
each reef make this loose-footed sail quick and easy to reef.

Toggles
Toggles are highly underrated bits of traditional rigging gear. I use them when quick line release is important, and I also use them for reefing.
The mizzen brailing system I described above starts
with releasing a toggle that connects the sheet to the
rope traveler. To brail, I simply free the toggle from the
eye and haul the brailing line, which brings the boom
to vertical and also captures the sail and sprit in a neatenough bundle. The brailing line makes off to a cleat
on the mast.

My mainsail’s tack (the forward lower corner of the
quadrilateral lug sail) has a built-in corner ring (which
is like a large thimble). The ring receives a grommet
that has a stout toggle seized into its lower end, and the
toggle in turn fits into an eye seized into a grommet
made up through a hole at the stemhead. When shorttacking, I take the toggle to an eyesplice in a length of
line that makes off to a belaying pin at the mast gate.
For reefing, toggles come into play again. At the luff,
or leading edge, of my sail, I have one toggle fitted to
a short line that is spliced directly into the sail’s bolt­
rope at each reef. After easing the halyard to reef, I
simply detach one toggle, roll the sail, make off the reef
nettles, then insert the next reef’s toggle into the stemhead eye. At the leech, the opposite system holds: The
mainsheet thimbles are spliced into each end of a short
line with a toggle seized at the midpoint. This toggle
slips into the clew becket or one of the matching beckets spliced into the boltrope at each reef. This reefing
system has proven quick and marvelously effective for a
loose-footed sail.
Making a toggle can be as simple as whittling while
sitting in an old rocking chair on your back porch or
as complicated as setting up a lathe-turning. Like the
thimble, the dimensions of a toggle are directly related
to the diameter of lines used. Make the becket, or eyesplice, first, taking care not to make it too small. In
three-strand rope, leaving about 20 turns of the lay of
the rope in the becket seems about right and accommodates a seizing that will leave about 15 turns of the lay
exposed.
When shaping the toggle, start with a blank that is
square in section, a little thicker than you think you
need and a little longer, too. You’ll shape a deep groove
at the midpoint, and the finished diameter of the
groove needs to be large enough to make the toggle
sufficiently strong for its intended purpose.
While the piece is square, use a round file or rasp
to work the groove all the way around its girth at the
midpoint. Wrap the line around it from time to time,
and keep going until the groove is deep enough to hold
the line, yet not so deep as to overly weaken the toggle.
When the groove is completed, round the toggle’s arms
and taper them generously toward their ends. These
tapers can be straight or curved, whichever looks good
to you. Toggles can be as crude as a cob or as elegant
as a turned candlestick; they’ll work fine either way.
When the arms have been shaped to satisfaction, wrap
the line around the groove, as with the thimble above,
and make an eyesplice for a tight fit. When the splice is
done, work in a seizing, as with the thimble.
Far left—A squared-off piece with a groove worked into its
midpoint is ready to shape down. Left—The taper is worked
in until it looks good.
November/December 2013 • 41

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MORE

USES FOR TOGGLES .....................................................

For the tack of a dipping-lug sail, a
grommet worked into a hole in the
stem head is seized to receive the
toggle, which is quick to release. For
sailing as a standing lug, the toggle can
fit an eye in a tack line made off to a
belaying pin at the mast gate.

A toggle spliced to a line that is in turn
spliced into the luff boltrope stands
ready to be inserted into the stem head
eye. Once the change is made, the sail
can be rolled up and made off with reef
nettles, including the one set close to
the luff.

The seizing will stiffen the line quite a lot. Pinch one
arm of the toggle against the standing part of the line,
and try passing the toggle through the becket. It should
be a little difficult to get in. If it is too hard to get the
toggle through the becket, either redo the becket seizing to expose more of the bight, or cut back the arms
of the toggle a little bit at a time until it’s easy enough.
If, on the other hand, the toggle fits too loosely, it may
work itself out when the line is slack and flogging, as
during a tack. Rather than discarding a too-loose toggle, try working a slightly longer seizing into the becket
to tighten the loop a bit more.

Parrel Beads
The lug rig is becoming increasingly common these
days in small craft. Like any rig in which a spar crosses
a mast instead of butting into it like a gaff or a boom,
this rig needs some way for the spar to be held close to
the mast. A metal fitting can work well, but for simplicity I like to use a length of line called a parrel line fitted
with wooden beads called parrel beads, which prevent
the line from binding on the mast as the spar is raised
or lowered.
The line itself can be short, only needing to pass
comfortably around the mast with enough tail for two
splices into the halyard. It can be made of quite a bit
lighter line than the halyard. First, make the splice into
the halyard going up. Slip the beads onto the parrel
line, and test it for fit around the mast. It shouldn’t be
too tight. When satisfied you’ve got the right length

To make a mizzen sheet quick-dousing,
a toggle is worked into a short line at
the rope traveler. Freeing the toggle
and hauling the brailing line (see page
39) effectively douses the sail, taking
the boom, sprit, and sail all together up
against the mast.

and enough beads, leave the beads on the line and
make the splice into the halyard going down, starting
the new splice as close as you can to the previous one.
Put seizings on both splices. The part of the halyard
hanging below the parrel line should have enough tail
to be made off with a proper knot to the spar, without
A parrel line,
here spliced
into the
halyard—one
end up, the
other end
down—holds
a lug spar
to the mast.
Parrel beads,
which have
been used for
millennia, make
the halyard
run without
binding. The
end of the
halyard is long
enough to
make off to the
spar.

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Carefully using a long twist drill bit can make fast work
of making the center holes of parrel beads, which can
then be cut to length rapidly—though rounding the beads
themselves can involve a fair amount of hand work.

skimping, but not so much of a tail that it flies in the
breeze. Best to make it too long at first, then cut it back
as the necessary length becomes clear.
Parrel beads are simple to make two or three at a
time. In a square-sectioned piece as thick as the outside
diameter of the bead, bore a centerline hole into the
end-grain, as long and as straight as your bit will carry
it. This hole should be larger in diameter than the line
to be used for the parrel, but not by a lot. Use a block
plane to eight-side and then sixteen-side the piece, just
as in sparmaking. Use rasps, files, and sandpaper to
round it off. Cut off sections of equal length and at least
as long as the bead is thick, or a little longer. Use rasps,
files, and sandpaper to round-over the ends.

Blocks
Of all wooden rigging fittings, rope-stropped blocks
seem to be subject to the greatest degree of personal
styling. It’s rare to find two people who agree about what
they should look like. Some like them very squared-off,

some prefer to make them of glued-up laminations,
some insist on having metal reinforcement or very
heavy scantlings. I make mine out of solid hardwood,
well rounded-over, and elliptical, so that the rope strop
rides in a groove that extends all the way into the splice.
I make wooden sheaves the same way I make thimbles, except they are straight-sided instead of convex. I
rough-out the sheaves with a holesaw, leaving a 1⁄4" center hole that can be reamed slightly later to comfortably receive a 1⁄4" bronze sheave pin. I then chuck the
sheaves in the drill press to shape the concavity in the
rim, just as with thimbles. The thickness of the sheave
should slightly exceed the diameter of the line passing
through the block.
There are two ways to consider sheaves: bored across
the grain in a flat board, cookie-cutter style, or bored
end-on and sliced sausage-style. I think that for thimbles the cookie-cutter style works fine. I am reliably
informed that for sheaves the slice is the traditional
way, if you have stock of the dimension you need—but
I’ve done it both ways with no dire effects.
Make the sheave first. The diameter of the sheave
is a matter of judgment, but obviously the larger the
line, the larger the sheave. Whether you make your own
sheaves or buy off-the-shelf versions of something like
Tufnol or Delrin, the sheave diameter, together with its
thickness, determines the geometry of the rest of the
shell—and here, it’s best to go spend some time at the
drawing board.
The perimeter of the hollowed-out center of the
block, called the “swallow,” has to be drawn first. Obviously it has to be long enough to let the sheave spin
freely. On the end through which the rope will pass, the
swallow needs to be long enough to clear the sheave,
plus the rope that turns around it, plus a little more for
clearance of whipped ends. Take notice that the end of
the block that needs the most clearance for the swallow
is also the end that will receive the splice. On the other
end, where the swallow only needs to be long enough
to clear the sheave itself, the block can be a bit blunter
because the strop merely passes around it.
Once the shape of the swallow is established, the top
and side profiles can be determined. Looking down at
the swallow in the top view, I like to draw a profile that
will keep the sides reasonably thick and use rounded,
slightly drawn-out ends so that the
rope strop will follow easy curves
and fit into the side grooves all
the way back into the splice. The
result is something like a teardrop
shape, or an ellipse elongated at
the splice end. Looking from the
side, I like to make the outside
dimension of the shell very close
This angelique mainsheet turning
block has a low profile but ample
strength. The sheet is dead-ended at
this thimble, reeves through the clew
thimble (see page 41), then reeves
through the turning block.
November/December 2013 • 43

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9/12/13 10:08 AM

Right—Carefully lining off the block centerlines
allows boring for the sheave pin (the hole is visible
on the right side), and multiple bores to hollow
out the swallow. The sides of the swallow
can be finished with rasps and files.
Far right—Angelique, a dense hardwood,
allows a comparatively slender shell body,
elongated so that the groove for the strop runs
well back into the splice.

to, but slightly less than, the diameter of the
coved-out section of the sheave so that the
rope doesn’t chafe on the block body. I also
like the body well-rounded in side view.
I like to make my block bodies as small as
possible, leaving as much material as needed
for strength around the swallow but no more.
Using a dense hardwood permits relatively
scant dimensions. The sides have to be thick
enough to accommodate the groove that
will be cut all around the block. I make the
groove about 1⁄8" deep at the sides, but much
deeper at the ends. A 1⁄4" bronze pin will pass laterally
through the swallow, ending in the center of the groove
on each side. Those sides need to be strong enough to
support the pin and give it some friction to stay put.

But it doesn’t take much—as with thimbles and toggles,
in rope-stropped blocks the bulk of the load is being
carried by the rope, not by the wood. The blocks can
actually be quite slender. I consider a block well made

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44 • WoodenBoat 235

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when the rope stropping and the line itself act almost
like fenders, leaving little of the wooden part of a block
to bang against anything.
After squaring off a piece of suitable wood the
length, width, and thickness of the block’s shell, mark
out the top and side profiles, the profile of the swallow,
and the location of the pin. Use a drill (in a press, if you
have one) to bore the 1⁄4" pin hole first. I like using a
Forstner bit for a very clean bore. Then, turn the block
top-side up and use a Forstner bit of the right diameter
to bore a series of holes along the centerline that match
the width of the swallow. If you have marked both the
top and bottom carefully and have squared the workpiece properly, you can bore in from both sides to the
center. Then use chisels, rasps, and files to finish shaping the swallow, which, like a lot of things, is quick to
say but takes a bit of time to do.
Next cut the outside of the shell around the swallow
and finish this up fair. Then, form the groove around
the shell, using round chisels, round files, or whatever
you’ve got, to a finished depth and concavity that will
comfortably fit the rope strop.
It will be harder to cut the side-view profile on a
bandsaw once the top-view profile has been cut away,
taking your carefully drawn lines with it. But from here
on, you can work by eye and by feel anyway. Saw away
some of the waste, then use a block plane to shape the
shell down to meet the groove all around. Follow up

with rasps, files, and sandpaper. Keep test-fitting the
sheave and the rope strop until you’re satisfied with the
shape. All the edges, especially those of the ends of the
swallow, should be well rounded.
When the shape is good, give the block a long, hot
soak in pine tar and linseed oil. If your sheave is something other than lignum vitae, you can final-fit the
sheave and pin and soak the works all together; otherwise fit the lignum vitae sheave and pin after the soaking. Then, splice an eye for a tight fit, leaving a tail long
enough to tie off to the intended place, and work in a
seizing to make everything tight.

I

ordinarily make up a few extra thimbles and sheaves
to take along in my rigging bag. Sitting in the cockpit in the fading light of day is always a pleasure,
and once in a while I’ll let my eyes fall on a whipping
or seizing that needs tending or a thimble that could
use some tallow. A few minutes here and there keeps
the rig healthy. If I see a sheave that needs replacing or
a thimble that has worn too much, I’ll take satisfaction
in knowing that since I made it, I can fix it if I have to.
More likely, come winter I’ll have one more small project to enjoy when the nights are long and thoughts turn
to spring fitting out.
Tom Jackson is WoodenBoat’s senior editor. His boat is an 18' No
Mans Land boat.

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9/26/13 10:54 AM

Ironwoods

by Ken Textor

B

THE WOOD DATABASE (ALL)

Useful hardwoods for
boat fittings

lignum vitae, Guaiacum officinale

oth in and out of the world of wooden boat
building, various lumber species are referred to
as “ironwood.” But, at the risk of annoying everyone dedicated to a tough, hard, and durable local
wood, the term ironwood is essentially a marketing and
sales gimmick—and a very widespread marketing and sales
tool at that.
As a result, for boatbuilders intent on making blocks,
thimbles, deadeyes, and other highly stressed wooden
parts, the world of so-called ironwoods is a bit of a
conundrum that needs some sorting out. Depending
on the job at hand, there is an appropriate “ironwood”
to fill the bill. But it is best to know what you’re getting
into before you head for a lumberyard that says it’s
selling ironwood.
As the accompanying article points out (see page
38), lignum vitae (Guaiacum officinale, et al.) has long
been considered the ironwood of choice, going back
nearly 150 years when it was prized as an ideal wood
to be shaped into the hard, durable, self-lubricating
bearings for engine drive shafts, among many other
uses in boats. Unfortunately, that long-term popularity has contributed mightily to its increasing scarcity,
now having reached the point where a boatbuilder can
legitimately ask: Do I really need to pay $75 to $120

per board foot to get properties in my wood that I may
not necessarily need? (Lignum vitae is also sometimes
sold by the pound, making the board-foot price even
higher.)
For sheaves in a block, there are few readily available lumber species that could take the place of lignum
vitae and perform as well. As an experiment, I once
made a sheave out of this wood and used the resulting block at one end of our clothesline. Mounted on
a simple 3⁄8" bronze rod axis and left in the elements
with heavy use for 15 years, the sheave performed flawlessly (and quietly!) in all that time and showed no
wear on the bronze rod or in the hole in the center of
the sheave. So if it’s sheaves you’re making, get lignum
vitae—and just be sure you avoid the so-called Argentinian version of this “ironwood.” It’s definitely not the
same stuff.
The shell of the block, however, need not be lignum
vitae, because you don’t need a self-lubricating wood
for that purpose. Moreover, remember that lignum
vitae and several other ironwoods are heavier than
water. So if someone accidentally drops an all-lignum
vitae item overboard, it goes straight to the bottom.
Instead, it’s usually wise to use a lighter-than-water
wood for block shells, one that readily floats. One

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hophornbeam, Ostrya virginiana

mesquite, Prosopis glandulosa

longtime floating favorite of late-19th and early-20thcentury block makers was an “ironwood” that is more
correctly known as hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana).
At least one Maine-based blockmaking factory became
famous for using hophornbeam exclusively in its block
shells, claiming it was ironwood, a moniker that has
lasted to this day.
The reddish-brown heartwood of hophornbeam
performs well as a hard, durable wood in the rigging.
Because it is a very slow-growing, understory tree, the
hophornbeam (found throughout the northeastern
United States and southeastern Canada) produces
wood that is quite dense, with annular rings that are
very tightly spaced. This means it resists splitting when
banged against other wooden or metal objects. While
many foresters and sawyers are familiar with hophornbeam, it sometimes has to be special-ordered at a
price of $5 to $7 per board foot.
Alternatively, another so-called ironwood is mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), which is also called Texas
ironwood in honor of its abundance in the Lone
Star State. It floats in water, is hard and durable,
and resists rot much better than hophornbeam—
although rot resistance is not much of a consideration
in wooden parts that generally stay aired out nicely in

wind-blown rigging. Shipped in small amounts from
lumber suppliers in Texas, it is attractive with a lovely
medium brown coloring and, at around $5 per board
foot, is very good at resisting splitting when banged
around. I used it as the shell of that clothesline block,
and it performed admirably. Some present-day block
manufacturers use ash, oak, or maple for shells, but
these large blocks are usually made for heavy-duty
industrial uses.
Additional rigging items such as parrels, thimbles,
toggles, deadeyes, and the like are good candidates for
other “ironwoods” that are both cheaper than lignum
vitae and more environmentally sensitive. Lignum vitae
these days does carry the stigma of being a “potentially
endangered” species, and at least one organization
recommends not using it at all. Other “fair trade”
agencies also prefer that consumers steer clear of this
wood, which is native to the Bahamas and several other
Caribbean countries.
If you’d like a North American ironwood, the arid
states of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico offer Sonoran, or desert, ironwood (Olneya
tesota). Although it lacks the ideal self-lubricating aspect
of lignum vitae, desert ironwood is similarly heavy (it
sinks too), split-resistant, somewhat expensive, and very
November/December 2013 • 47

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9/18/13 9:32 AM

desert ironwood, Olneya tesota

ipé, Tabebuia, Lopacho, et al.

hard. In fact, it is in the top 10 percent of woods rated
on the Janka hardness scale, which is a scientific measurement of how resistant a given wood species is to
denting and wear. Lignum vitae is near the top ranking
on the Janka scale, and desert ironwood is not far below
lignum vitae.
Price, however, can be a decisive consideration
among the ironwoods, and that is perhaps why a relative newcomer, known alternatively as ipé or sometimes
Brazilian walnut (Tabebuia, Lopacho, et al.), also carries
the “ironwood” designation. Originally imported as

high-end lumber for backyard decks, ipé can be used
as a wood in the rigging because of its hardness, resistance to splitting, and darkly handsome coloring. At
$4 to $7 per board foot, it allows a beginner to make
some mistakes and still have wood left over for a nicely
finished piece. It also rates very high on the Janka hardness scale.
Worldwide, there are at least several dozen more lumber species whose local woodworkers passionately insist
it is an “ironwood,” if not the ironwood. And when it
comes to the likes of gonçalo alves, a.k.a. tigerwood

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9/24/13 11:56 AM

goncalo alves, Astronium graveolens

greenheart, Ocotea rodiei

(Astronium graveolens) from Central America, or
greenheart (Ocotea rodiei) from Australia, or bull-oak
(Allocasuarina luehmannii) from South America, and a
host of others, it’s hard to argue the point of “iron-ness”
of these woods.
Ultimately, then, it’s always important to ask yourself: just exactly how iron-like does the wood need to
be? After all, a piece of real iron flapping around in
the rigging is likely to be painful if it clips you and also
damaging to nearby wooden parts that are not quite as
hard. Various ironwoods definitely have a valuable and

appropriate role to play in a boat’s rigging. Some are
downright indispensable. So it’s sensible to make careful choices among the various “ironwoods,” with the
aim being to get years of reliable service, as well as have
a lot of fun in the workshop.

Our Annual Woodworking
Catalog is Now Available.

Ken Textor has been writing about, working on, restoring, building,
and living on boats since 1977. He lives in Arrowsic, Maine.
Photos of wood samples used in this article come courtesy of Eric
Meier of The Wood Database, a very useful online reference. For more
information, see the website, www.wood-database.com.

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9/24/13 9:31 AM

Will Stirling

Nic Compton

In Nelson’s wake

I

t was while driving his Mobylette over the Alps
to Turkey in 2004 that Will Stirling designed his
first yacht. By day, the then-25-year-old adventurer
drove the 50cc moped from village to village, occasionally pausing to admire the scenery and sample
local delicacies, while every evening he pulled out a
pile of books from his rucksack and dove into a world
of righting moments, buttocks, diagonals, and offsets.
He was particularly drawn to the 19th-century revenue cutters and yachts based on them, such as the
1819 cutter PEARL built by former Essex smuggler
John Philip Sainty.
By the end of the three-month trip, he had designed
his own 37' smuggling boat, based not on the lines of any
one craft but on the amalgamation of the many boats
he had studied. The result was ALERT, a clinker-built,
two-masted lugger with a distinctly period look about
her, with her upright stem and lute stern. Underwater,

by Nic Compton

the influences are even more apparent, with her fine
prominent bow, and hull filling out quickly to produce
broad shoulders and wide beam amidships, before flattening out in a long run aft.
It’s not surprising that Will was attracted to the type.
His great-great-great-great-great-grandfather (or “very
great grandfather,” as Will puts it) was Admiral Sir
Robert Barlow, a British naval officer who saw valiant
service during the American and French revolutionary
wars. Barlow has the distinction of having made the
first capture of an armed ship from the French Republic, a privateer called LE PATRIOTE, which he seized on
January 2, 1793, just a month before France officially
declared war on Britain. Before that, he commanded
revenue cutters off the coast of Cornwall, where he
captured “several fine vessels laden with contraband
goods, one of which was a new cutter of one hundred
and fifty tons.”

Above—For the past decade, designer-builder Will Stirling has dedicated himself to building traditional British vessels of
uncompromising quality. He’s also made several challenging expeditions under sail.

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Sailing, then, and in particular the romantic but
little-known world of revenue cutters and smugglers,
are in Will’s blood. So too is a certain spirit of derringdo—or at least a complete inability to think that anything isn’t possible, providing you throw your all at
it. You might call it the “Eton effect,” Eton being the
expensive private school where Will studied along with
the likes of Prince William, Boris Johnson, and Bear
Grylls, to name but a few Old Etonians. It might also
be the effect of being related, if only by marriage, to
Britain’s greatest naval commander, Horatio Nelson,
for Robert Barlow’s daughter Hilaire married Nelson’s
older brother William.
Not that you’d know it. In person, Will is affable and
self-deprecating to a fault, and even his unbounded
enthusiasm for whatever project he’s currently working
on is tempered by a genuine consideration for others.
This man of steel with a soft center is a classic British
formula that has produced some of the country’s greatest explorers—the likes of Scott and Shackleton—and
it comes as no surprise to find that Will has traveled to
the Arctic not once, but five times.
Even when he’s not off on some daring expeditions
to the frozen north, Will is dreaming up other challenges, such as building a 14' dinghy and sailing across
the English Channel for the fun of it (or, as he puts
it, because “contrast sharpens one’s appreciation of
circumstance”). Or sailing the same dinghy around
the Eddystone Lighthouse, 12 miles off Plymouth, to
raise money for Water Aid (the stunt raised £820). Or

building a replica of Charles Darwin’s BEAGLE to sail
through the Straits of Magellan (this last one is still just
a dream).
In between adventures, he’s found time to build
one of the most elegant yachts to appear on the classic
yacht circuit in recent years: the 43' cutter INTEGRITY,
inspired by the plank-on-edge designs of the Victorian
era. She seems to have spilled from his hands fully
formed, for her lines display a vessel with a long and
distinguished sailing pedigree as if she were built by a
shipyard of great standing, rather than being the second major creation of a lone shipwright working in a
drafty barn in an obscure part of Devon, with a little
help from his friends.

S

o where did this precocious vision come from?
And who is this man who seems determined to
create such uncompromising objects of beauty?
Surprisingly, given their nautical lineage, Will’s immediate family weren’t sailors. A week’s holiday on the
Broads on Britain’s East Coast at a young age seems to
have struck a chord in Will, however, and after quitting
his languages studies at Edinburgh University (“I felt
too much ‘on track’”), he applied for a course at the
International Boatbuilding Training College (IBTC) in
Lowestoft. His explanation for taking such an unconventional (i.e., un-Etonian) route is straightforward: “I
wanted to be outdoors and to be making something,
and I wanted to be able to travel and work. Boatbuilding seemed to offer all those things.”

Stirling & Son

Stirling’s first large, independent new-boat build was the 1885 smuggling lugger ALERT, whose design he began in 2004 while
on an overland journey through the Alps to Turkey.

November/December 2013 • 51

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ALERT

Particulars
LOA 35'
LWL 32' 6"

Beam 11' 8"
Draft 6' 3"
Displacement 14 tons
Sail Area
1,135 sq ft

It was while at the IBTC that Will bought the 19' cutter MARY DAWN, which he proceeded to fix up and live
aboard for the duration of his time there. Despite his
inexperience and the fact the boat had no engine, at
the end of his studies Will and a friend embarked on
a circumnavigation of the North Sea over the course
of two summers, visiting Holland, Germany, Denmark,
Sweden (where the boat was laid up for the winter),
Norway, and the Orkney and Shetland Islands. There,
his friend Stephan had to leave, and Will sailed alone
the length of the British Isles from Cape Wrath to Cornwall. Again, his explanation for undertaking such an
ambitious voyage with so little experience is disconcertingly simple: “It never occurred to me that I couldn’t
do it.”
It was only after he’d reached Hayle on the western
tip of Cornwall that the enormity of what he’d done
seemed to dawn on him and, after being spooked by
lurid tales of shipwrecks at Land’s End, he was persuaded to truck the boat to Gweek, on the other side
of the peninsula. It would almost certainly have been
quicker to sail those last few miles, yet something prevented him from making a passage that in all likelihood
would have been utterly straightforward compared to
his adventures in the North Sea. It was as if the weight of
history—either the memory of all the brave souls lost in
those waters, or perhaps the thought of finally crossing
tracks with his revered “very great grandfather”—was

will stirling

For his master’s thesis in maritime history, written on rare days out of the
shop, Stirling described the typical revenue cutter hull as “deep draughted
with a significant rake to the long keel. A pronounced forefoot faired into
a V-shaped midships section from which the fine run aft developed.
The stem and sternpost were relatively upright, the beam wide and length
on deck larger than waterline length due to the overhanging lute stern.”
The description might just as well apply to ALERT, shown here.

too great and caused him to lose his nerve before the
final hurdle.
In between sailing expeditions, Will managed to
wangle a job with Luke Powell of Working Sail, the legendary master of traditional wooden boat building (see
WB No. 163). Over the past 20 years, Luke has developed an unparalleled reputation as a craftsman, building pilot cutter–inspired craft adapted for comfortable
cruising. It’s a winning combination that has earned
him a devoted following. Will readily acknowledges
the influence of Luke’s designs, in particular the 46'
AGNES, based on the lines of an 1841 pilot cutter from
the Isles of Scilly, which was built while he was at the
yard.
The influence may run deeper still for, like Will,
Luke has a fearless approach to boatbuilding learned
from apprenticing on the mighty Thames barges, where
steaming 4"-thick planks and carving lumps of timber
into gargantuan frames are all in a day’s work. Before
that, he spent some of his childhood in Greece and
observed the local boatbuilders putting together fishing caiques on the foreshore, using a few rudimentary
“molds” and fitting planks by eye. It was the kind of ad
hoc, intuitive approach to building that had all but been
lost in the U.K. and which Luke almost single­handedly
revived, inspiring a generation of young boatbuilders
along the way. It was certainly a formative time for Will,
who thrived on the combination of creative freedom

52 • WoodenBoat 235

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9/17/13 2:47 PM

Stirling & Son (This Page)

To build ALERT, Stirling worked 15 hours
per day, six days a week, for a year and
a half. Here he is boring the cutter’s
shaftlog.

and technical rigor such an approach demands.
After working with Luke for two years, it was inevitable that Will would attempt to build a boat on his
own. First, however, he had a few more adventures to
squeeze in. In June 2004, he attempted to cross France
in a canoe using a derelict network of canals issuing
from Brest. When the canals proved to be unusable, he
swapped the canoe for a Mobylette and continued to
Turkey. It was during the second half of this adventure
that he designed ALERT. Back in England, he bought
a vintage fire engine on eBay for £560 and promptly
crashed it on the M6 when a truck hit him from behind,
sending him through the window and breaking his left
arm in several places. It took him six months of physical
therapy to recover. Unfazed, he went out and bought
another vintage fire truck on eBay for exactly the same
price, and proceeded to live in it.
They say you make your own luck, and certainly
Will has worked incredibly hard to achieve whatever he
has set out to do. No doubt his natural charm helped
secure free space at the Morwhellham Quay heritage
site, on the upper reaches of the Tamar River in Devon,
from which to launch an independent boatbuilding career. But he also had the luck to have inherited
£50,000 (about $76,000) some years before, which he
had squirreled away and all but forgotten. Most young
men in their mid-twenties would no doubt
have used such a resource as a deposit on a
house, but Will spent the money on wood,
lead, sails, and an engine for his new boat.

go, and lapstrake construction was not
only traditional for smuggling boats,
providing greater strength for less
weight, but would also set the boat
apart from the influx of new pilot cutters that was appearing at the time. At
37', ALERT was the biggest boat Will
could manage on his own, and he
admits that even then he was at the
limit of his abilities.
What Will lacked in experience, he more than made
up for in energy, and for 18 months he worked 15 hours
a day, six days a week, to get the job done. His workplace was a rudimentary shed with open sides, which
let in the rain and snow during the winter. He initially
lived in the fire engine parked nearby before eventually moving into a cottage on the other side of the river.
When the tide was out, he simply dragged his dinghy
across the mud to get to work. “I didn’t have a phone or
Internet,” he remembers, “So when I came off the main
road down into Morwellham, it really was like entering
another world. I was completely focused on my work,
and became lost in that, emerging only occasionally for
a bath or a meal with the neighbors.”
The day he wasn’t working on ALERT, Will spent
studying for an MA in Maritime History at Exeter University. The logical topic for his dissertation would have
been the West Country smuggling luggers of the type
he was building, but as he had already discovered, the
clandestine nature of smuggling meant there was very
little material available about these vessels. Instead, he
chose a subject close to his heart: the revenue cutters
of 1770 to 1850—encompassing, of course, the period
his very great grandfather commanded these very craft
off the coast of Cornwall. In truth, revenue cutters and
smuggling boats were probably very similar in design,

A

lthough described on Will’s website
as a “replica of an 1835 smuggling
lugger,” ALERT was really simply the
best boat Will could design, drawing on all
the lines he had studied as well as his experience working on Luke’s boats. A trip to
Douarnenez on the Looe lugger GUIDE ME
persuaded him that lug rig was the way to
ALERT’s lapstrake planking is traditional for
the smuggling cutter type, and it sets the boat
apart from several other recently built British
cutters, which were planked carvel-fashion.

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as each side had exactly the same
priority: to create the fastest possible
boat for those waters, and indeed the
boats were often built by the same
builders.
One of the drawbacks of working
in a quasi-19th-century boatyard was
that it lacked a crane or Travelift.
Instead, Will fitted some wheels onto
a pair of drying-out legs, which he
bolted to either side of the boat and
then pushed, pulled, and dragged
the boat over scaffolding poles to the
slipway. ALERT was launched into
the Tamar River in February 2007,
although it would be a few more
months before she tasted the open sea. In the meantime, she was moored a few feet away from the 1909
ketch GARLANDSTONE, one of the main attractions at
Morwellham, while Will completed the interior.
Looking at the two boats lying side-by-side, it would
have been hard to determine which was the older. This
was partly because ALERT was built to a budget, so
there was no splurging on 21st-century bling: The deck
seams were caulked with cotton and payed with tar, and

Stirling & Son (This spread)

ALERT’s interior is well executed and
not fussy, with white-painted tongueand-groove bulkheads accented by
varnished-oak trim.

all the fittings were crafted out of steel and then galvanized. One of the live exhibits at Morwellham Quay
was a replica 1860 forge where, in between talking to
parties of schoolchildren, blacksmith Richard Hingley
kindly heated, hammered, and honed most of the new
boat’s fittings.
Below decks, the fitout is workmanlike rather than
fancy, with white-painted tongue-and-groove bulkheads contrasting with the varnished oak trim. That

With a makeshift system of scaffolding, legs, and wheels, Stirling dragged ALERT’s completed hull to a slipway for launching.

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ALERT’s first voyage was to Iceland—

a venture that Stirling hoped would
stimulate interest in the new boat.
As luck would have it, a man local to the
boat’s home happened upon the lugger,
was smitten, and bought it.

said, Will wasn’t above carving the
occasional decorative motif into the
deckbeams, and for the saloon his
effort even stretched to a set of brass
fiddles.
On May 14, ALERT made her
maiden voyage around Plymouth
breakwater, and the following day
Will and his crew anchored off
Cawsand, 2 miles south of Plymouth,
to await better weather for the boat’s
first cruise. Once again, the weight
of history must have hung heavy on
Will’s shoulders, for Cawsand was
once a notorious smuggling village—
indeed, in 1804 it was estimated that
17,000 casks of booze were landed
by smugglers in one year alone. The
town was also said to have been visited by Will’s distant relative, Lord Nelson, who may or
may not have have supped at the Blue Anchor Inn (now
the Blue Monkey guest house) sometime in 1801.

W

ill’s plan was to take his brand-new and
untested boat not on a gentle amble to the
West Country, as any normal person would
have done, but on a testing journey of more than 2,500
miles to Iceland and back, visiting the islands of Shetland, Orkney, and Faeroe along the way. It could have
been worse: His original plan had been to sail the boat
to Spitsbergen, 500 miles north of Norway, and only
the imminent arrival of his first child forced him to
abandon that plan in favor of a mere trip to Iceland.
The idea was to get the boat noticed, to stimulate her
sale, although ironically the buyer, when he eventually
emerged, was a local man who became smitten with
ALERT while paddling by in his canoe.
Meanwhile, back in Morwellham, there was a sudden
injection of cash after the local council took over the
site, and Will soon found himself heading a team of five
people restoring the old docks and railways, as well as
patching up the old GARLANDSTONE . Then in January 2008 he received a commission from the Ministry
of Defence for a 27' ship’s yawl to be displayed alongside the Royal Navy’s flagship HMS VICTORY—the ship
once commanded, of course, by Will’s very great grand­
father’s daughter’s husband’s brother, Lord Horatio
Nelson. Will’s past, if seems, is never very far away.
Things were no less busy at home. Alfred Nelson Barlow
Stirling (otherwise known as Alf—the son in the business’s name, “Stirling & Son”) was born on August 31,
2007, and Will and Sara were married a few months later.
At the end of the year, Will delivered a thesis entitled

“What Factors Influenced the Design of Revenue Cutters between 1770 and 1850?” to Exeter Univer­sity, and
was awarded his MA the following summer.
The long-dreamed-of trip north followed, not on
Will’s own boat, as originally planned, but on Roger
Capps’s much-traveled 1909 Bristol Channel pilot cutter
DOLPHIN. After a practice trip to the Lofoten Islands in
2008, the following year they made it to the northern­
most tip of Svalbard to Nelsonoya, which is famed as the
place where, in 1773, a precocious teenaged Horatio
Nelson was almost killed by a polar bear. He and other
members of the Phipps expedition were trapped by
pack ice while looking for a northeast passage between
Russia and the Arctic, and Will’s expedition suffered a
similar fate. After several close encounters with pack
ice, DOLPHIN retraced her steps and was laid up south
of the Arctic Circle, before resuming the planned circumnavigation of Svalbard the following year. Meanwhile, Will’s long-suffering wife gave birth to Grace
Hilaire (in honor of Will’s very great grandmother) in
November 2009.
Despite these distractions, Will remained focused on
his chosen path. No sooner was the money from the
sale of ALERT in the bank than he went out and bought
the wood for his next project. Once again, he looked
back to the designs of the past for inspiration, this time
settling on the yachts of the late 19th century—particularly the era’s plank-on-edge cutters with enormous rigs
and huge amounts of lead ballast.
“The design of INTEGRITY was inspired by well-known
boats such as Nicholson’s MARIGOLD, Beavor-Webb’s
PARTRIDGE , Watson’s VANDUARA , and Dixon Kemp’s
ZORAIDA . The straight-stemmed cutters of this era are
particularly graceful,” he says. “But whereas with ALERT
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INTEGRITY

Particulars

LOA 43'
LWL 37'

Beam 11'
Draft 7' 6"
Displacement 15 tons
Sail area
1,500 sq ft

The shape of Stirling’s next large build after
ALERT was based on the straight-stemmed
gentlemen’s yachts of the 1880s. The resulting
boat, INTEGRITY, is based on no particular
historical antecedent, but is rather Stirling’s
unique interpretation of the type.

I was trying duplicating an exact historic type, I had a
bit more leeway this time. Designers were always trying
out different things on yachts. So with the shape of the
cockpit, for instance, I could play around and see what
worked best, without being tied to a specific historic
shape.”
Despite such apparent leeway, the design was so
meticulously researched that one gets the feeling
that every component was thoroughly investigated
before Will even lifted pencil to paper. Take the rig,
for instance. That topsail yard might look the same as
PARTRIDGE’s topsail yard to you and me, but Will is
quick to point out that the angle between the yard and
topmast changed around 1880–85, so that the spar on
boats built before then (VANDUARA) were less steeply
set than on boats built afterwards, such as PARTRIDGE .
INTEGRITY ’s rig, he assures me, is the older plan.
Or consider the deck. Most builders choose either
straight-laid decks, which run parallel to the centerline, or swept decks, which follow the curve of the hull.
Looking closely at PARTRIDGE, however, Will noticed
that her deck planks do both: they start off parallel to
the boat’s centerline and then gradually taper at their
ends until the outer courses follow the curve of the
hull. This means that, unlike the other two methods,

most of the deck planks run in a single, tapered line all
the way from stem to stern. It’s also a logistical nightmare for the builder tasked with figuring it all out, as
no two planks are the same. “It’s a Victorian aesthetic
that has little regard for labor,” Will says. “Working out
the maths is a complete nightmare.”
Will was uncompromising in his choice of building
materials. INTEGRITY is traditionally built from larch
planking on sawn oak frames, spaced 15" apart, with
alternating bronze and oak floors, all fastened with
copper and bronze. The decks are of solid Columbian
pine, and the deck furniture is opepe with oak trim.
Likewise, the hull seams were all caulked with cotton
and puttied, and the deck seams payed with Jeffery’s
No. 2 marine glue. Will assured me there is absolutely
no plywood in her whatsoever and, in fact, he seemed
slightly outraged at the question.
He designed and had made patterns for most of the
new boat’s bronze deck hardware, including cleats,
pad-eyes, and fairleads (the latter identical to those on
PARTRIDGE). He even made the mainsheet buffer from
scratch, casting the nuts and bolts and the oversize
shackles, and spacing them with giant rubber washers.
The anchor winch was assembled using elements of an
old one combined with parts Will had specially cast or

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INTEGRITY in frame, with ballast

Stirling & Son (This Page)

attached. To cast the ballast, a 17’-long
female mold was built in steel and a fire
lit under it so the lead could be melted
and set in a single piece. The keel itself
is 12” wide, tapering to 6” at both
ends; the resulting wide faying surface
minimizes torque. About half of the
ballast is in the bilges, to produce a kind
motion at sea.

fabricated himself to produce a two-gear mechanism,
with a low gear for breaking out the anchor and a high
gear for hauling in the chain.
The final effect looks remarkably like the 49' PARTRIDGE , with her low sheer and rather austere stem.
Yet the figures tell another story, for despite being 6'
shorter than PARTRIDGE, INTEGRITY has 6" more
beam than PARTRIDGE’s 10' 6". INTEGRITY also has
relatively more freeboard for her size, a more rounded
forefoot, slightly more sheer, and a wider stern. The
result is a pleasing compromise that looks every bit like
a Victorian gentleman’s yacht but is initially stiffer and
less likely to act like a submarine in a seaway. The early
plank-on-edge designs were notoriously tender and wet.
“It’s great looking back,” Will says of the designs that
inspired him, “because you can pick and choose. You
can look back at different aspects of design and make

a judgment about what worked and
what didn’t, and improve the bits
that didn’t.”
Classic-yacht aficionados will pick
up on a seemingly cheeky detail carved
into the yacht’s stern: Below her name,
where yachts such as PARTRIDGE
have their year of launching, Will
has carved the figure 1879, even
though the yacht was launched in 2012. To many this
might seem as if he is trying to pass off his Victorianinspired design as a genuinely old boat, but he brushes
this notion aside, saying: “I did it to prevent confusion.
Someone who doesn’t know about the history of yacht
design might look at the boat and not understand why
it looks the way it does. The date is meant to indicate
the era the design is based on. It wasn’t meant to hoodwink people into thinking she was built then.”
Launched in June 2012, INTEGRITY was officially
christened by Will’s mother, Elizabeth Barlow. Once
again, the event was heavy with symbolism as, 214 years
earlier, Elizabeth’s great-great-great-grandmother
Eliza Barlow had performed the same service on the
HMS FOUDROYANT. That 80-gun warship went on to
have an illustrious career—including serving for two
years as Nelson’s flagship.

INTEGRITY’s hull, at first glance, is quite reminiscent of the 1885-built, J. Beavor-Webb–designed cutter PARTRIDGE .
But INTEGRITY is 6” shorter while also being 6” wider—as well as having a more rounded stem and greater freeboard.

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INTEGRITY’s sails were built by North Sea Sails in
Maldon, Essex, England. There’s much handwork in them,
including hand-stitched boltropes. The standing rigging
is built of galvanized steel wire (see “In Search of a 100Year Rig,” page 84) spliced by TS Rigging, also of Maldon;
running rigging is three-strand matte polyester from
English Braid. The Danish-made ash blocks were finished
using a protocol espoused by author-sailor Claud Worth:
They were stripped of their original finish, and then
soaked in linseed oil for three weeks, hung up to dry for
three months, and then revarnished.

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Nic Compton (This Spread)

All of INTEGRITY’s hardware, including this mainsheet horse,
was cast by Major Castings in Fowey, which also welded the
copper stemband that appears on the facing page.

Three weeks after INTEGRITY was launched, Will
sailed her up to Cowes for the annual British Classic
Yacht Club regatta. Although he had no intention of
racing, Wednesday is Challenge Day and INTEGRITY
was duly challenged by two other comparable yachts:
THALIA , a 45' Victorian gaff cutter; and AEOLUS, a 42'
original plank-on-edge gaff cutter from California. It
was a dramatic day, with thunder and lighting exploding all around and hail gathering on the deck. At one
point there was so much rain the crews couldn’t see the
next mark. Despite the atrocious conditions and only
having a borrowed crew, INTEGRITY won convincingly
on only her fourth outing ever. A few weeks later, she
picked up the Best Boat Trophy and was named People’s Choice at the Plymouth Classics. It was a good
beginning for the plucky West Country upstart.
The launch of INTEGRITY signaled a coming of age
for Will. Whereas ALERT might have been dismissed as
a one-off from an aspiring young man with a bottomless
pool of energy, with this latest craft he has upped the
game and produced an elegant yacht that would be the
pride of any boatyard. For Will has achieved a rare
thing in INTEGRITY : He has managed to design a yacht
imbued with period character without becoming a slave
to historical detail. INTEGRITY’s sheer is as sweet and
clean as any yacht designed during that era, and yet the
whole boat has its own distinct 21st-century personality.
It’s an astonishing achievement for only his
second major build, and one that bodes well
for the future.

W

of building clinker dinghies at £575 (about $875) per
foot (not including taxes). Most recently, he was asked
to build a set of four dinghies—fully functioning,
apart from having no transom and no thwarts—to be
used, upended, as drinking cubicles in a pub. He’s also
dreaming about his next new build, and once again it’s
likely to be a historically specific replica from the end
of the 19th century—though this time he’s thinking
about a clipper bow and something “super-elegant.”
Meanwhile, he has finally leased a proper boatyard.
Not any boatyard, but the slipway where HMS FOUDROYANT was built and christened by Will’s very great
grandmother back in 1798. Built in 1763, it’s thought
to be the oldest operational slipway in the world and is
listed as an Ancient Monument, which means the structure cannot be altered. The slipway currently forms
part of the Princess Yachts site, and the terms of the
lease specify that it can be used only for the repair and
construction of wooden boats, which suits Will just fine.
“It’s incredible,” Will says, “to think I’ll be walking
on the very stones where Eliza Barlow trod. What better
place could there be for building historic replicas?”
The weight of history is there again, but as usual Will
seems to relish it. He has one foot in the past and one
in the present, and thrives on the rich blend of old and
new, past and present. What’s more, he’s young and has
broad shoulders. I suspect Elizabeth Barlow is going
to be considerably busier than her illustrious forebear
christening vessels.
Nic Compton is a freelance writer and photographer based in
Brighton, England. He has written about boats and the sea for 20
years and has published nine nautical books, including a biography
of the designer Iain Oughtred. He currently sails a 25' strip-planked
Cheverton Caravel built in Cowes in 1961.

ith INTEGRITY safely tucked up in a
marina in Plymouth, Will went back
to his usual bread-and-butter work

Belowdecks, INTEGRITY’s accommodations are
executed in oak paneling, with buttoned leather
settees in the saloon. The pilot berths on either
side of the saloon are paneled in, reducing the
apparent width of the cabin. Delicately curved leaf
supports under the saloon table marry in perfectly
with the curve on the sides of the legs. To avoid
a shiny varnished finish, Stirling stained the oak
using Van Dyke crystals, a traditional recipe made
from crushed walnut husks, which is mixed with
water before use. After staining, the wood was
sealed with beeswax to produce a soft finish.
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The Canoes of Haida Gwaii

A legacy renewed
Text and photographs by Bruce Kemp

M

aking our way through an old-growth forest
on Haida Gwaii, the archipelago off the British Columbia mainland known until recent
years as the Queen Charlotte Islands, my wife and I
found traces of ancient Haida artisans. We could see
where strips of cedar bark had been cut away for use
in weaving mats and clothing, but we had hoped to
find partly completed dugout canoes abandoned in the
forest long ago by their builders, and these eluded us.
Such canoes—no one knows how many—slumbered in
the forests for as long as 150 years before anyone other
than loggers paid attention to them. An earlier generation named one road the Canoe Main for the large
number of abandoned boats hauled out of the bush to
be resawn into lumber.
Our disappointment showed later in conversation
with Bridget Quinn, curator at the Port Clements Logging Museum. She told us her neighbor, Dale Lore, had
found a partly completed canoe in the dense forest and
loved to show it off. Before I could ask directions, she
had him on the phone. Lore not only came to meet
us but also drove us out into the forest, turning into a
tunnel of scrub alder not far from where we had been
hiking earlier. Soon, he came to a stop. “You go first,”
he said. “You should see this by yourself.”

Top—Deep in the forest of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago
off the British Columbia coast known until recent years
as the Queen Charlotte Islands, a canoe lies abandoned in
in early phases of construction, well over a century after
it was begun. Above—Dale Lore discovered the canoe
while building a logging road and left it untouched for an
archaeological survey and preservation.

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Above—Carving a canoe is a process more of reduction than of construction. John Bennett is among the Haida Gwaii canoe builders
who spend days and weeks reducing western red cedar logs to their final shapes using adzes, inshaves, and finally power sanders.

Walking into the deep forest, I first saw a giant cedar
stump, its moss covering proving the tree hadn’t been
felled recently. To my left was a standing cedar with
a 3'-wide hole about head high, evidence of a canoe
carver checking for a suitable tree.
Then, I turned and saw the form of a canoe lying at
the bottom of a gully. It looked like any other log, but
unnaturally flat along the top and cloaked in moss. On
closer inspection, the shaped bow and stern became
clear, along with the curve of the sheer. The hull was
upright, ready to be hollowed out. I guessed its length
at 40', with a beam of perhaps 36" and a depth of about
30". Trapped beneath the hull were remnants of small
trees placed to cushion the fall of the canoe-tree, whose
cut-off top lay beyond the stern.
Lore, a non-native who has lived in the islands since
1987, found the canoe in 1995 while building a logging road. Since then, he has had plenty of time to
analyze it. “The guys building it had iron tools, not
steel,” he told me when he caught up with us in the
grove. “You can tell from the tool marks on the stump.
They chopped, then burnt, which you still needed to
do with iron tools, but not with steel.” The traditional
technique was to use controlled fires to do much of
the heavy work of felling such a tree. “The Haida got
iron from Russian fur traders, and it wasn’t until years

later that they had steel,” Lore said.
He believes the canoe is at least 130 years old. “The
key to the age comes from the top of the tree,” he said
as I followed him to the tree’s moldering upper section.
It had become what is known as a nursery tree, with
five new cedars growing up from its fallen trunk. “It
takes at least a hundred years for that to happen,” Lore
said. “Cedars are slow-growing, and those new trees are
at least 30 years old, so that puts this site somewhere
around 1880—right when the smallpox epidemic was
killing everyone.”
In the late 18th and 19th centuries, smallpox epidemics swept through the island villages, and carvers simply
laid down their tools and went home to die. “We think
this canoe was being made by one of the poorer clans.
It’s nine miles to the [Masset] Inlet, and the richer Haida
had clan forests a lot closer. So these guys weren’t very
wealthy and came all the way out here to get their tree.”
In the wake of these epidemics, the art of canoe building
among the Haida all but disappeared for 80 years.
Forests here have a tangible silence. Even though the
carpet of needles on the forest floor was so soft we sank
into it, we could still hear the hollow sound of a footfall
or the rustling feathers of a raven in flight. Standing in
that forest, we knew that this was one of those places
where you feel the past as if it were a ghost in your attic.
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Right—After the exterior shape of the
canoe is finished, the laborious hollowing
of the interior proceeds, using traditional
hand tools for the initial stages. There are
no power tools that will do the job as well.
Below right—To maintain the integrity
of the hull and to keep it from collapsing
in on itself, carvers leave in place a balk
(or two in the case of long canoes) to be
removed after all the other carving is done.
Water in the canoe’s bottom prevents
checking and splitting.

L

ore’s was not our only warm
greeting in Haida Gwaii. I had
made advance contact with native
Haida canoe carver John Bennett,
and just after our arrival in the islands
Bennett called with an invitation to a
traditional feast at his home. A public works supervisor
in Old Massett, Bennett builds plank-on-frame boats
and carves canoes in his spare time.
Deadly European diseases were one factor in the
extinction of canoes, but another was the influence of
European plank-on-frame construction, a skill at which
Haida craftsmen became adept. Marine engines dealt
another blow. Haida turned away from their own boatbuilding traditions to become commercial shipwrights
for the region’s growing herring fleets.
The powerful stylistic elements and sculptural perfection achieved by traditional Haida craftsmen had
earned widespread respect from Europeans since their
first contact in the 1700s. In the 1960s and ’70s, however, fresh appreciation for traditional indigenous art
emerged worldwide, and the Haida legacy gained new
adherents. Native peoples everywhere were working to
reestablish their cultural identity, critical skills, and
languages that they had been forced to relinquish earlier. Among the Haida, an upwelling of traditional culture took place in those days, and associated with that
movement came a desire to revive the art of traditional
canoe-building.
Dugout canoes proliferated all along the temperate
rain-forest coast from Alaska all the way to northern
California. They were the state-of-the-art transportation
on the coast, where enormous trees, thick forests,
and dense undergrowth discouraged land travel. Each
tribe had its own canoe tradition, but the Haida type was
uniformly considered the highest form of the art.
The boats were used for fishing, trade, and warfare. The
largest could seat 60 paddlers, and when English
Capt. George Dixon sailed into Cloak Bay in 1791 to
trade for furs, he was greeted by 11 such boats carrying
nearly 600 paddlers. Oral history has such canoes
traveling as far as Hawaii and Japan, and there is
archaeological evidence that they ventured as far south
as Baja California.
Haida artisans of the early modern era, however,
were chagrined to find that by their time, no one knew
the techniques used by canoe carvers. So they began

piecing together memories from their elders and reinventing the craft by experimentation and close examination of the remaining boats. At the forefront of the
renaissance was Bill Reid, a controversial artist whose
design was used on the modern Canadian $20 bill and
whose most important public sculpture, the canoeinspired “Spirit of Haida Gwaii,” has long been displayed at the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C.
Reid never lived in the islands, but he learned Haida
culture from his grandfather, who in turn learned from
Charles Edenshaw, whose work was famous internationally in the early years of the 20th century. Edenshaw

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Bennett’s canoe shows the hump shaped into the sheer at this point of construction. Later, as the sides are spread by
softening the wood with boiling water, the amidships sheer lowers to an eye-sweet curve. The amount of curvature to carve
before boiling is a matter of experience. In this canoe, Bennett experimented with a hard chine in the after hull sections to
improve seakeeping qualities.

had produced a number of commissions for the American Museum of Natural History and other institutions
worldwide, and he decorated one of the two remaining
19th-century canoes—a 62' war canoe currently in the
American Natural History Museum’s collections and
a 56' war canoe housed at the Canadian Museum of
Civilization just outside Ottawa. Reid came from a boatbuilding family, and when he was offered a commission
to build a Haida war canoe for the 1986 World’s Fair in
Vancouver, he jumped at the chance.
Reid was getting on in years by the time of Expo
’86, so he was only able to develop the design and
oversee the canoe’s construction by younger carvers
and a growing school of apprentices, a pattern he had
established in his artwork as well. The canoe—named
LOOTAS , which means “wave eater”—became an
ambassador of the art, traveling widely and even paddling the Seine into Paris. Today, she is undergoing
restoration at the Haida Heritage Center in Skidegate.
Reid eventually came to consider the canoe his most
important work of art. The young carvers he worked
with are building on what they learned and passing
their own knowledge along.
John Bennett is one of those carrying on the tradition of canoe building in Haida Gwaii. He is also a
plank-on-frame builder, and at the time I visited he
had station molds set up for a double-ended 15' skiff,

replicating a boat that had been built by his grand­
father. The earlier boat, which was hanging in the boat
shed, was in turn based on canoes built by their ancestors. But it is the dugout canoe that has become Bennett’s passion.
Bennett didn’t work with Reid. Instead, he learned
his skills from his father, Wilfred, and his grandfather,
both respected craftsmen on Haida Gwaii.
His latest canoe was a small one, 20' overall, and
nearly ready for the interior shaping. The canoe’s sides
were stoutly supported on a balk of wood to keep the
boat stiff and to prevent cracking under the tremendous  blows the hull has to  take while chopping and
adzing. The upright hull also had about 2" of water in
the bottom to keep it from drying out. Bennett used
an adze to rough out the interior and an inshave to
smooth it further. Another canoe, a 14-footer that Bennett described as “a toy,” was nearby, fully completed.
Behind the shed, a raw red cedar log as wide as Bennett
is tall was set aside for a much larger canoe, perhaps a
40-footer.
I met another Haida carver with ambitions to
become a canoe builder, Christian White, in the islands
as well. In his carving shed, he stores boats built by his
father, Morris, two of them completed in the 1980s
and another left unfinished at his death. Before he
would even show me these boats, however, he talked
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Above—One of canoe carver Morris White’s prized canoes
now belongs to his son, Christian White, a renowned Haida
carver working in argillite stone. He keeps the canoes in his
longhouse as an inspiration while completing a canoe his
father left unfinished at the time of his death. Right—Haida
craftsmen early turned their woodworking skills to plankon-frame boats, among them the salmon seiner HAIDA
WARRIOR , built by Morris White in the 1950s but tragically
seized by the company that financed its construction.

extensively about Morris and his grandfather and
insisted on showing me the herring seiner HAIDA WARRIOR , now propped up in a field, drying out. His grandfather lost her in the 1950s to the fishing company that
financed the boat. The loss is still a cause of bitterness
for White. Lineage is of vital importance to the Haida
culture, and White often referred to his father as he
showed me work in progress in the longhouse, which
is part boathouse, part carving shed. He had a totem
pole ready to carve, with the figures outlined on the
surface but the first cuts not yet made. His father’s boats
occupied the shed’s main space. White himself has a
canoe project in mind, but he is awaiting the necessary
approval to harvest an old-growth tree.

T

alking with John Bennett and Christian White,
it’s evident that a Haida canoe is a work not
only of art but of technology. The canoes are
beautifully made, but they are also dependable and
extremely seaworthy. They had to be: Haida Gwaii is
reported to be the windiest location in Canada, and
wave heights often hit 35'.

Left—Canoes are
repaired with tenons
precisely fit to
matching mortises.
Christian White uses
a shape inspired by
traditional copper
amulets that were
once a sign of wealth
in Haida culture.

My education in the archipelago’s canoes began at
the Haida Heritage Center, which has two traditional
canoes and one made of fiberglass, which the locals
smugly call LOOFLEX. The two wooden canoes are
modern renditions built by apprentice carvers at the

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Above—Heritage is ever-present in the ancient trees of the
islands, as shown in the cuts made in this enormous cedar
long ago to check whether the heartwood might be sound
enough to make a canoe. Felling a tree was considered a
specialized skill.

Top—Traditional skills are increasingly valued by Haida
people as they regain their cultural heritage, as shown in
the highly decorated sterns of two canoes built by artisans
at the Haida Heritage Center in Skidegate. Above—For a
seal-hunting and whaling canoe, the long and shapely bow
overhang has a harpoon rest attached with trunnels.

Heritage Center, and very sophisticated in their construction. Each is carved from a single western red
cedar log. The only joinery involved comes with fitting
a long extension to the bow, where harpoons would
be placed, ready for use, and another cap at the stern.
Both are fastened with treenails. The canoes are reinforced with yellow cedar frames, which help prevent
splits and provide support for the thwarts. Splits are
repaired using precisely fitted butterfly tenons; White,
for example, repairs his father’s canoe using tenons
with the same profile as copper amulets traditionally
prized by hereditary chiefs.

he monumental red cedars of the Pacific coast
rain forest enabled the Haida to build their largest canoes. Old-growth rain forest dominates
the landscape here, and the forest is filled with massive
stumps left from the harvest of western red cedars and
also Sitka spruce, which is the predominant species on
the islands.
First, the canoe carver has to find a suitable tree. It
must be big enough for the intended canoe and without
the twisting growth pattern that sometimes occurs in

T

red cedar. Fresh greenery at the top indicates it’s probably a viable tree, but test holes are cut anyway to make
sure the heartwood is free of rot. Because cedars are
found in boggy ground, excess water drawn up through
their root systems can cause the tree to rot from the
heartwood out.
Historically, cutting down a tree of these proportions took a lot of patience. First, an interlaced nest of
hemlock and other small trees was prepared to cushion the prized tree’s fall and prevent its fracture. The
person chosen to fell the tree—who might not be the
carver—started by cutting out a small groove girdling
the tree. Once he had enough space to work, he coated
the top of the groove with mud as a fire retardant and
set a fire in the lower section. As the wood charred, he
used an adze to chip out the charcoal. The process was
repeated until the tree came down.
Today, the process isn’t limited by technology but
by laws that protect the remaining monumental red
cedars, which are becoming increasingly rare. The
Haida Gwaii Cultural Wood Access Permit program
is a joint effort between Canada’s Ministry of Forests
and Ranges and the Council of the Haida Nations. It’s
meant to provide a long-term source of wood for traditional Haida nation artisans, such as canoe and totempole carvers. Before a carver can cut down a tree, he
must file an application with specific volume requirements, project blueprints, and letters of support. An
advisory board made up of representatives from the
Haida council, the ministry, villages, and hereditary
chiefs reviews applications.
Despite advances in technology in felling trees,
the adze remains the most important tool for carving
canoes. Adze blades are now made from steel, but their
elbow-shaped handles are still made from the crooks
of red alder roots. White believes that before iron was
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The elbow adze, made from a natural timber crook,
is the primary tool of Haida carvers to remove large
amounts of wood quickly. Before contact with
Europeans, their blades were made of jade.

introduced through trade with Russian fur-traders,
jade was most likely used for adze blades, since it is
tool-hard and holds an edge for a long time. Jade is not
native to Haida Gwaii, but the islanders traded for it
with mainland tribes like the Tsimshians.
The coastal tribes were all avid and expert traders,
and iron had become an important commodity for the
Haida even before their own first contact with Europeans. Mainland tribes in Russian Alaska traded scrap
iron for canoes. Bennett told me a story reflecting
iron’s importance: “A chief and his two sons found a
mast floating in the water from a sailing ship that probably sank. Around its top it had an iron band, the kind
you attached rigging to, so there was a lot of good iron
in it. That much iron would make any man a chief in
his village and very rich. The old man hopped into the
water to try to take the iron off, but couldn’t budge it.
They were going to need tools, but didn’t have any in
the canoe. The old man told his sons, ‘I’ll be all right.
You paddle to the village and bring back the tools.’ But
it was a long way to the village, and the old man had to
spend the night on the spar. The next day, when the
boys got back, they could see their father sitting on it.
He was tired and cold, but he had his iron and was a
very rich man in his village.”
After the chosen tree was felled, the carver worked
on the outside, first giving the canoe its shape. A canoe
used for inshore seal hunting would have a flatter bottom than an offshore canoe, giving the seal hunter

more speed for the pursuit. The bow would be flared
to keep the canoe dry as it worked in heavy seas, and
it gave the harpooner a support for his weapon and a
stable platform to throw from. A voyaging canoe would
have a rounder bottom with more rocker, more flare to
the sides, and higher ends.
In shaping the exterior, the builder had to form a
reverse sheer, a kind of hump amidships. The reason
was that the canoe would eventually be filled with boiling water to soften the wood so the sides could be bent
outward to give them considerable flare. Such bending has the effect of lowering the sheer amidships, and
the builder had to predict how much material he had
to leave to account for the bend. Done right, the final
sheerline would be eye-sweet.
With the exterior shaping completed, the hull would
be partly dug out to reduce the log’s weight. The boat
then had to be dragged down to the coast, sometimes
from places that were miles from the sea. Canoe building began in late fall, after food had been gathered for
the winter. The timing has nothing to do with sap production, since trees in this temperate climate don’t go
dormant like they do in eastern North America. Carvers worked all winter, then in the spring skidded their
boats down to the water’s edge so they could be towed
to the village. Boats would be pushed over muddy
ground, or on log rollers when the ground was dry. If a
canoe was not ready in time for the fishing season, work
was set aside until the following winter.

W

hen the canoe arrived at the carver’s village,
the next project was to boil it to flare the sides
out, which also had the effect of raising the
ends. First, the hull was hollowed to its rough dimensions. The thickness of the sides and bottom was carefully measured using pegs of a specific length and
painted with a little pigment on their inboard ends.
These pegs would be driven into strategically placed
holes along the length of the boat. They would be set
For taking fine shavings, Christian White uses long-handled
chisels he makes himself.

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Right—John Bennett developed his own method of
gauging hull thickness. Traditionally, dowels of known
length were inserted in holes until flush with the finished
exterior, then the interior was carved until the heads of
the dowels were reached. Bennett, however, inserts a
wire probe into a 1⁄8” hole, to measure thickness. Comparing the found thickness against his cardboard template for desired
thickness, he uses tape to set a stop on a larger bit for the difference between the two. Using the small hole as a pilot, he
bores from the inside to the depth of the stop, then shaves away interior wood until reaching the depth of the larger hole.

flush on the outside, then the inside of the hull would
be carved with adzes and chisels until the colored heads
of the pegs were flush with the surrounding wood.
Bennett, however, uses a different method to measure the thickness of his hulls. He pushes an adjustable wire probe through a 1⁄8" hole in the hull until it
emerges on the other side. The end of the wire is black
and extends through the inside of the hull. The probe’s
body is white and using tape as a stop, he can set the
depth he needs. The white portion of the probe is measured against a tapered cardboard template. The cardboard’s widths represent the finished thickness of the
hull at corresponding points around the circumference
of the exterior.
When the probe appears on the inside of the hull,
Bennett measures the difference between the black
and white sections and uses that measurement to drill
a larger-diameter hole from the interior outward with
tape on the drill bit marking the required depth. Then
he shaves the hull down with an adze and inshave until
the larger hole disappears, leaving him with just the
smaller hole, which is then easily plugged.
After the inside shaping of the hull is finished, it’s
time to boil the canoe for bending. First, hemlock
boughs are placed in the hull to protect its interior
surfaces. Traditionally, the hull was filled with a mixture of water and urine, which has a nitrate content
that increases the wood’s flexibility. Today, hulls are
filled with a mixture of fresh water and ammonia. The
water is brought to a boil by heating rocks to red-hot
over a fire, then transferring them one-by-one to the
water. Bennett told me he uses only round river rocks
so the hull is not gouged by sharp edges. He also uses
white stones exclusively, because they are less likely to
explode than dark ones.
The boiling is kept up by continuing to drop hot rocks
into the water. Depending on the size of the canoe—
and historically some of them reached 70'—the wood
becomes flexible after a day or more, and then the hull
can be bent to its final shape. Sometimes, a hull can

become so flexible that the carver has to drive stakes
around the perimeter to keep the sides from flaring out
too much.
When the bending is completed, the water is drained
off and the wood allowed to cool. Then, the final finishing can begin. Railcaps and thwarts are added. The
hull traditionally was “sanded” using volcanic rock and
sandstone. Today, belt and orbital sanders take the
place of the rocks. Extensive decorations usually incorporated mythological creatures of importance to the
carver if the boat was ceremonial; otherwise, it would
be left plain. The canoe would be honored in a ceremony upon launching.
White believes that Haida adopted sails for their
canoes only after their first contact with Europeans.
Woven cedar bark or spruce roots were probably used
at first, supplanted eventually by canvas. The canoes
are reported to have sailed as well as they paddled.
One famous canoe, named TILIKUM (see WB No. 121),
sailed around the world at the turn of the 20th century. The boat was from the Nootka tribe on Vancouver
Island but similar to the Haida style, and it was decked
over for the voyage.
With the abundance of the fish and gigantic cedars,
Haida craftsmen could draw on the resources of their
immediate environment for everything they needed,
and the rich culture they established created one of the
most admired artistic forms in the world. Cedar made
life on the islands possible: cedar bark made rope and
cloth; mortise-and-tenon-joined cedar posts and beams
supported longhouses and riven cedar planks sheathed
them; cedar was the foundation of a rich heritage of
woodcarving; and above all cedar logs made possible
the canoes that allowed the Haida to draw on the sea
resources that surrounded them. Canoe carving today
not only reconnects Haida with their legacy but with
their environment.
Bruce Kemp is a writer and photographer living in Westbank, British
Columbia. For more about his work, see www.c2cmedia.ca.
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A Canvas Backrest
Comfort in a small cabin
Text and photographs by Harry Bryan

O

ne of the joys of cruising is having the time to
read. The never-ending list of things to do at
home has been left behind along with myriad
other distractions. In fact, a rainy day at anchor can be
the highlight of a cruise. In order to spend an enjoyable length of time reading, however, one must be comfortable. In a boat over 30', if the cabin is well thought
out, there will be several good places to sit comfortably.

The deck is usually high enough above the berth or
settee so that a person can sit comfortably out against
the hull. But this will not be possible in a smaller boat
that depends on a cuddy or trunk cabin to get sitting
headroom. In this case, we need to think more about
comfortable seating.
The backrest presented here should be adaptable to
most small boats, and it will add to the seating options

Above—In a boat with only sitting headroom and a deck edge too low to allow leaning out against the hull, a comfortable
backrest is a welcome addtion. The simple one shown here is formed by a single strip of canvas hung from a roof beam by
means of a wooden spreader bar.

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Harry Bryan

The backrest is secured to an eye strap on the roof beam
with a swiveling trigger snap. Here, the snap connects
to the wooden spreader with a heavy brass screw eye. A
second eye strap, instead of the screw eye, would work
as well.

of larger craft. In a small boat it will usually be clipped
to an eye strap fixed to a cabin roof beam, while on
larger craft it can be fixed to a bulkhead, creating a
comfortable angle between that vertical surface and a
settee. In either case, the angle of the backrest is easily varied because its lower end is simply fixed by the
weight of the occupant.
A fairly heavy cotton canvas (No. 10 as used for covering decks) is best for this project; it has adequate
strength and resists wrinkling and bunching. The texture of canvas gives the necessary friction to hold the
backrest in place between your body and the cushion.
A synthetic material would undoubtedly work as well as
long as it’s heavy enough and not at all slippery.
Cut a piece of your chosen fabric 14" wide. The finished width will be 12" after the edges are turned under
for a hem as shown. The length will be the vertical distance from the overhead connection point to the sitting
surface, plus 21". This measurement will allow for the
top and bottom hems. Turn, crease, and sew the side
and bottom hems to finish ½" as shown on the drawing.
Now create the 2" -wide, hollow top hem that will receive
the wooden spreader. Use two rows of heavy stitching
close together for this top hem, making it strong while
maintaining a loose fit around the spreader.
The spreader is a piece of hardwood 9⁄16" × 1" × 12".
Slightly round its edges and corners to protect the

canvas from wear. Slide the spreader into the
hollow hem and fasten a pad-eye or heavy screweye at its center. Keep in mind that there can be
a considerable strain on this connection point.
A 2½" trigger snap (as in the photo) or a No. 1
brass snaphook is used to fasten the backrest to a
pad-eye on the bulkhead or overhead beam.
In use, the backrest’s angle can be adjusted
from nearly vertical to about a 45-degree slope by sliding the canvas along the berth’s cushion before sitting
on it. Stowage can be flat under the cushion or as a
3" -diameter roll.
In spite of its simplicity, this is an unusually comfortable
backrest.
Harry Bryan is a contributing editor for WoodenBoat

Materials
• Canvas: 14" × length to suit boat (see text)
• Spreader: hardwood such as ash or oak,
9⁄16 × 1" × 12"
• 5⁄16" bronze eye strap
• No. 1 bronze snap hook, or similar-sized
trigger snap

Sources
Canvas: C.E. Beckman Co., 35 Commercial St.,
New Bedford, MA 02740; 508–994–9674; www.
cebeckman.com.
Hardware: Hamilton Marine, 155 East Main St.,
Searsport, ME; 800–639–2715; www.hamilton
marine.com.
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AMYCITA

A

MYCITA is one of thousands of amateur-built

“knock-down frame” kit boats sold out of Bay
City, Michigan, at the beginning of the 20th
century. In the knock-down method, manufacturers
would cut or steam-bend all the oak backbone timbers
and frames, erect the resulting framework on the factory floor, then knock it down, crate it, and ship it to
the customer (see sidebar). Bay City was once home to
four firms that manufactured such boat kits beginning
in 1905. All four companies were advertising regularly
in Popular Mechanics magazine by 1908, and it’s likely
that my great-grandfather, Professor Frederick Leslie
Ransome, took inspiration from those advertisements
when he ordered frame kit No. 430 from Defoe Boat
and Motor Works in 1915 and began building the boat
that would become AMYCITA .
Professor Ransome, a government geologist, laid his
boat’s keel on December 27, 1915, in a temporary boat

shed he had erected on a vacant lot behind the French
embassy in Washington, D.C. Three-and-a-half years
later, AMYCITA emerged from that shed one rainy Saturday morning, May 10, 1919, to be launched into the
Potomac River.
One of Defoe’s competitors was Bay City Boat Manufacturing Company, and their 30' double-ended launch
(a 1908 offering listed as No. 39) suggests the amount
of sweat equity involved in this project. The frame set
was a mere $70, the coaming $8, planking $32, garboard and sheer strakes $9.50, all hardware and fittings
of brass and galvanized iron $45. And you could throw
in design No. 21, a 9' “yacht tender” dinghy knockdown frame kit, for another whopping $21.04—which
included “K.D. frame, D2S planking, iron copper and
brass hardware, one pair galvanized oarlocks, and one
pair 6' copper tipped spruce or ash oars.” That’s a total
of about $185 in 1908 dollars, which today equals a bit

Above—Working with a “knock-down frame” kit from Bay City Boats, author Eric Baxter’s great-grandfather built the glasscabin launch AMYCITA on a vacant lot in Washington, D.C., between 1915 and 1918. Through the generations, she has become
a family heirloom. Baxter has done considerable structural work and refurbishing of the interior (opposite page) and exterior
finishes since acquiring the boat recently and moving her to coastal North Carolina.

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A knock-down-frame kit boat
approaches the century mark
over $4,000. AMYCITA could barely be hauled and
painted today for what she cost my great-grandfather
to build.
Family lore has it that Professor Ransome was not
satisfied with the standard scantlings of the kit, so
the Defoe Company, probably for a small additional
charge, allowed him to customize his order. He had the
thickness of every other frame in the middle third of
the hull doubled by steaming and laminating another
piece onto the inside of the stock frame. He specified
1 5⁄16" square ribs spaced more or less every 8"–9" on the
keel. He also ordered massive 3" × 6" engine bed stringers that run two-thirds the length of the hull.
Charming as she is, performance-wise AMYCITA is
from an era when boating was a much more leisurely
affair. She is not for people in a hurry. Born at the
dawn of recreational marine gasoline inboard propulsion, her first engine was a 1915, 20-hp four-cylinder
Kermath. This engine could push her to her hull speed
of 6 1⁄2 knots. The present 44-hp diesel engine can add
0.8 knot to this, but at that point she’s really climbing
the bow wave. With her round bilges and narrow beam
(6' 8" ), she rolls like a top-heavy destroyer, and with
her correspondingly narrow entry she is famous for

by Eric L. Baxter
Photographs by Graham Byrnes

burying her nose when driving into a chop. The helmsman can on those occasions momentarily study sea life
through the forward window. On the plus side, she was
once known for being the only boat in Washington’s
Corinthian Yacht Club that, with her 4" × 4" samson
post, could tow the club’s swim float up and down the
Potomac.
AMYCITA and boats of her type were bare-hull kits,
and that kept the initial expense low. Cabins and other
details were left to the builders. Professor Ransome’s
idea was to build a cabin cruiser, a pocket cruiser of
sorts. He was inspired by the glass-cabin style popular
in the last half of the 19th century. This style mimics
the San Francisco cable car look, with multiple (17,
in this case) tall single-pane windows all around the
cabin front and sides, each of which opens vertically
by sliding down into slots in the cabinsides. The pillars
between the windows are quite slender, so that glass
dominates the surrounding oak trim. A hinged oak sill
covers the slot. The pronounced sheerline curve of the
cabin roof in profile and rounded cabin front in plan
view contribute to the aesthetics. At the stern the roof
continues over the “cockpit” supported by lathe-turned
oak pillars and oak coaming, creating a veritable back
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AMYCITA’s roof continues over the

aft “cockpit,” and is supported by
lathe-turned oak pillars. This cabin
resembles those of the Truscott Boat
Manufacturing Company of Michigan,
built in the early 1900s.

porch. It seems my great-grand­
father took some inspiration from
the finished launches built by Michigan’s Truscott Boat Manufacturing
Company in the early 1900s (see
WB No. 213). AMYCITA’s glass-cabin
design is strikingly similar to those
boats—right down to the number of
windows and the locations of the pillars.
Bulkheads of beaded 2" cypress
staving separate the forward cabin from an engineroom amidships that doubles as the galley and chartroom. The forward cabin sleeps two on foldout berths,
and the galley consists of a small porcelain sink and
locker to port and stove and locker to starboard. The
original stove was an explosion waiting to happen: two
gasoline burners (now decommissioned and residing
in my antique collection). No longer wishing to tempt
fate, Dad converted it to a charcoal hibachi during the

1960s. The hibachi has since been replaced with nonpressurized alcohol for convenience and cleanliness.
There is room in this center cabin area for a head just
large enough for the bowl—but not the occupant’s
knees.
Entry and egress from AMYCITA for four generations has always been by squeezing between the pillars under the cockpit roof or through a (lowered)
forward window. Add three constantly swinging and

The Knock-down Frame Method

A

lthough the Brooks Boat Manufacturing
Company probably pioneered the steam-bent, knock-down frame kit method
(they advertised it as “the Brooks method”),
at least three more concerns were established
in 1905 in Bay City including the Defoe Boat
and Motor Works. This company was started
by Harry J. Defoe, who must have been having a midlife crisis, as he had formerly been
a school principal. Later the firm became better
known as the Defoe Shipyard after it had spun off its
kit boat division as Bay City Boats, Inc. One telltale
feature that set their launches (and AMYCITA) apart
was the canoe stern.
The Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York,
has a 1908 Bay City Boat Manufacturing Company catalog, which includes a detailed description of the knockdown frame method. This company was one of the four
1905 startups, and in 1908 it offered some 61 different kits for sale, including launches and cruisers, both
power and sail, from 16' to 150' in length. The company
claimed to be “the only complete boat pattern concern
with a factory behind it.”
The manufacturing process went as follows: The
company cut, and steam-bent as required, the boat’s
timbers and frames. These were “all made of the best

Michigan white oak, well seasoned”; this probably
meant they were stickered and air-dried for a year per
1", with no kiln-drying. They were then “treated to a
bath of preservative, which adds double to their lasting
qualities.” The parts were all numbered, and typically
included steam-bent frames, deckbeams, fitted oak
or cypress garboards and sheerstrakes (for nominal
extra cost), keel, shaftlog, stem knee, stem, sternpost,
breasthooks, sheer clamps, floor timbers, engine beds,
rubrails, fashion piece (the keel piece above and aft of
the shaftlog), and filler (the piece above the keel and
below the shaftlog). The keel, stem, and stem knees were
beveled and rabbeted and “when put together” were
“ready for planking.” The company assembled this oak
skeleton, fitting each part including frames and deck

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banging four-panel oak rail-and-stile doors, along with
my grandmother Janet, my grandfather Horace, the two
boys (who bunked in the cockpit), two blue homebuilt
canvas kayaks on the roof, the family bulldog “Patsy,”
and the dinghy in tow, and you have a Depression-era
family vacation on the Chesapeake.
The professor named his boat for his wife, Amy,
who had been born in Cordoba, Argentina, while her
father, Miles, was an assistant astronomer at the Argentine National Observatory; AMYCITA is the diminutive

form of her name in Spanish, and it remained a term
of endearment throughout her life. The boat earned
the admiration of the Defoes, who in 1919 requested
permission to use photographs of AMYCITA in the new
company catalog.
My dad grew up cruising summers in AMYCITA in
the Chesapeake since infancy. When he inherited her
from my grandfather, he brought her to our home in
Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where she spent 50 years.
That’s where I got to know the boat as a child—though
her significance as an artifact did not hit me
until much later. In October 2011, the torch
was passed to me, and I brought her to my
home on North Carolina’s Pamlico Sound.

T

here wasn’t much time for tears of joy
when she arrived at my dock after having been trucked 900 miles. She was
leaking through the shaftlog and rotting
from rainwater entry into the cockpit. The
copious interior brightwork was blackened
by moisture and charcoal soot, creating a
For the sake of safety, AMYCITA no longer has
her original gasoline-fueled cookstove, but her
antique knife switch electrical panel remains—
along with 90-plus-year-old analog ammeters and
voltmeter.

beams at the factory, then “knocked it down,” crated,
and shipped it. Besides the skeleton, the kits included
the rudder, rudderport (tube and stuffing box), rudder shoe, tiller, two flagstaff sockets, two cleats, bow
chocks, stern chocks, steering cable fairleads, flexible
tiller cable, steering cable turning blocks, a galvanized
steel gasoline tank, steering wheel, cypress planking
lumber, and full-sized paper patterns.
Nearly all of these boats, including AMYCITA , had a
straight keel as, according to the Bay City Boats catalog,
“this admits the building of boats on better lines
than can be done if the curved keel is used.” More likely
it lent itself to knock-down construction, eased the
process for amateur builders, and allowed for custom
lengths.
For framing, the factory divided the boat into sections, and stated that “in each of these sections are several ribs, none of them exactly alike, but each
one more or less, to conform to the lines or
contour of that section of the boat design;
one rib, however, which may be designated
as the ‘mold rib,’ in each of these sections,
is fitted accurately over the mold and then
securely stayed so that it will retain its exact
shape; the other ribs to complete the section are bent to conform to the contour
of the completed boat; fitted, beveled, and
stayed.... These ribs are created inside the

mold rib of each section, after being numbered to correspond with like numbers on the keel. First set up
the keel, fasten on the stem and stem knees, then the
after end the same way. These pieces are beveled and
rabbeted and when put together are ready for planking.” The boats were to be built right-side up with the
keel set on edge and the frames toe-nailed in place to
the ribbands. Then the deckbeams, sheer clamps, and
sheerstrakes were installed. Next came the red cypress
planking fastened by 3⁄16" copper rivets. Bilge stringers
were secured through frames and planks with these
same rivets.
The kit companies certainly copied each other,
perhaps even exchanged inventory, as the above list
matches what is found on AMYCITA down to the minor
details.
—ELB

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sandpaper-clogging gum. Portions of bulkheads were
missing. The cabin and cockpit soles were in disarray,
with a mismatched collection of worn, indoor-outdoor
carpet covering jigsaw puzzle pieces cut out for access
to this and that over the years. She had recently been
repowered with a 44-hp Universal diesel after a succession of three gasoline engines over her lifetime. There
was no engine box. Several floor timbers had either rotted away or had been weakened by previous work. Steering cables were jury rigged and binding. Broken frames
were discovered, probably the result of overcaulking

her plank seams. Five starboard frames in a row had
3⁄16" gaps at the breaks, but the 7⁄8"-thick Louisiana red
cypress planking was in good condition. She was floating, but not without the help of a little electricity now
and then.
I knew I had my work cut out for me. Dad had always
said that you must work on a boat at least one hour for
every hour of use. Yet despite all this, weathering and
age had gotten the upper hand. The work list was long,
and the ratio of labor to use seemed more like a hundred to one. But, in time, an amazing list of accomplishments grew from the list of chores. While AMYCITA
was hauled out, I repaired her shaftlog with lots of
dutchmen, epoxy, and filler, and her electric bilge
pumps now sit idly in reserve. All of the interior
brightwork has been scraped down to bare wood
and clear-coated with epoxy before receiving a
water-based polyurethane topcoat. Bulkheads
have been replaced or resurfaced with tongueand-groove yellow pine beaded boards. In a nod to
practicality, bilge access, and ease of maintenance,
the beaten-up-and-never-glorious 4" tongueand-groove pine cabin sole has been replaced
with attractive birch veneer plywood thoroughly
AMYCITA was originally powered by a 1915, 20-hp fourcylinder Kermath; she now has a 44-hp Universal diesel.

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Professor Frederick Leslie Ransome, AMYCITA’s builder,
was inspired by a style of pocket cruiser popular in the
latter half of the 19th century. The boat has 17 tall singlepane windows surrounding the cabin front and sides; each
window can be slid into a slot beneath it.

embalmed in epoxy and bright finished. She has a new
custom-built plywood engine box, trimmed in oak.
Floor timbers have been replaced or sistered. Steering cables have been returned to their original routes,
their fairleads replaced, and the four original turning
blocks restored. Thirty-nine of the eighty frames now
have laminated white oak sisters. Several hundred feet
of household Romex wire have been replaced with
properly tinned marine wire carefully concealed by
new oak joinery. The rejuvenated AMYCITA is back in
commission.
How many of those affordable boat kits were sold
out of Bay City? How many made it into the water? And
how many exist today? Although the kit companies
were prone to inflate their numbers while beating their
sales drum, conservatively it is likely that upwards of
5,000 kits were shipped between 1905 and 1925. Probably fewer than half ever reached the water. Time, the
elements, and the vicissitudes of life are hard on old
wooden boats. Cypress planks and preservative-treated

frames helped with AMYCITA’s longevity, as did the
boat’s move to salt water 55 years ago. Nevertheless, I
think it likely that there are ten or fewer knock-down
frame kit boats left in the world, and AMYCITA , an
enduring family heirloom, is equally likely to be the
very last Defoe boat of her type left.
Eric Baxter lives on Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, where he builds

and restores boats under the moniker Bear Creek Custom Boatworks.
Visit his web site at www.bearcreekcustomboatworks.com.

Traditional & Composite Boat Building
• Career Programs
• Classic Woodworking
• Yacht Joinery

19-ft. Cutter - Paul Gartside design - built by the Classes of 2011 and 2012

Great Lakes Boat Building School

Les Cheneaux Islands, Michigan
906.484.1081
www.glbbs.org

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ALISON LANGLEY

the Jeweler as Modelmaker
The miniature yachts of Rob Eddy
by Maria Simpson

“A

ll my life I have been trying to talk about my work
not as a craft, but as three-dimensional art,” says
modelmaker Rob Eddy. With his springer spaniel sprawled at his feet, Eddy is pointing out details of his
most recent piece with the tip of his pinky. The work-inprogress is a model of the K. Aage Nielsen–designed,
doubled-ended sloop NORTHERN CROWN. Eddy demonstrates the backstay adjuster, which is slender as a
toothpick, operational, and made of green gold.
To look at NORTHERN CROWN at 1⁄2" scale is an
uncanny experience. One can almost feel a light breeze
across the deck, or imagine going below to the boat’s
comfortable galley. Details such as winches and deck

boxes are so accurate and evocative of the original that
we are drawn into the tiny world.
Eddy, who last appeared on these pages in 1990 (see
WB No. 97) when his career was gaining momentum,
has 40 years of experience in both model- and jewelrymaking. He began as a child when his mother bought
him an X-Acto carving set that he promptly put to work
hewing miniature AMERICA’s Cup racers, a childhood
obsession. He also found important advocates at a young
age. Sam Manning, a marine illustrator who often contributes to this magazine, lived down the street from
Eddy and taught him how to read lines drawings. Eddy
also forged a friendship with Jay Hanna, a modelmaker

Above—Rob Eddy (right) of Camden, Maine, has developed a worldwide reputation for his exquisitely accurate scale yacht
models. At left is Reuben Brown, Eddy’s associate, who learned the art from Eddy and did much of the work on this miniature
rendition of the Aage Nielsen sloop NORTHERN CROWN—the finished model of which appears on page 82.

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who contributed to the Smithsonian Institution’s nautical collection and wrote several books about marine
carving, including The Shipcarver’s Handbook (WoodenBoat Books). Hanna took the 12-year-old Eddy’s interest
in modelmaking very seriously.
“I would take my models over to show him, and he
would critique them,” says Eddy. Hanna also urged
him to study jewelry making. He told Eddy, “If you are
going to stick with this, you need to learn how to build
your own hardware.”
Hanna thought this was important because hardware
for models simply isn’t available in all the sizes a professional modeler needs, and the quality is not the best.
Eddy took the advice to heart, and apprenticed with a
jeweler in his native Camden, Maine. After two years at
a liberal arts college and two years at Wentworth Institute in Massachusetts learning home building, Eddy
took jobs at an architectural modeling company and a
jewelry store, both in Boston.
He also took on occasional boat-modeling jobs. Each
model he built was more sophisticated than the last,
and each modelmaking job brought him more skills,
more contacts in the world of yachting, and more
money for a few more tools. At 21 years old, Eddy built
a model of the 12-Meter COLUMBIA , the Sparkman
& Stephens–designed 1958 AMERICA’s Cup defender.
The job was a breakthrough for young Eddy. In 1980
he met his wife, Patty, moved back to Camden, started a
family, and began to pursue modelmaking full time.
Tom Perkins, for whom Eddy has built five models,
including famous yachts such as MARIETTE, MALTESE

FALCON, and ATLANTIDE , believes that Eddy has elevated the craft of modelmaking to an art form because
of his exceptional accuracy. “[His models] are so true
in detail that a photograph of the model cannot be differentiated from a photograph of the yacht,” he says.
“The eye is very good at spotting a model from the real
thing; any shortcut leaps out.  But this never happens
with an Eddy model.”
The accuracy of Eddy’s models begins before he ever
lifts a tool, with careful research. Consider, for example,
NORTHERN CROWN. After going over the original
Nielsen plans, Eddy took his own photographs and measurements and made drawings of each part. “It’s a lot of
homework,” he says. He collected notes, pictures, drawings, lists of materials, paint colors, and other significant
details. He calls the binder where it is all kept “The Bible.”
From there, he and his associate, Reuben Brown,
who has worked for Eddy for eight years and is a sophisticated modeler in his own right, got to work custombuilding all the components of the boat. Small pieces
of hardware for NORTHERN CROWN are organized in
plastic dishes in Brown’s workspace. Both he and Eddy
work on jewelers’ benches, specialized stations with
shelves and trays to hold jewelers’ tools: small tweezers,
files, blades, drills, a small tap-and-die set, a bright
light, and a magnifying lens.
Eddy acknowledges that some might not fully appreciate his exacting standards, but his eyes light up as
he points out the details in NORTHERN CROWN’s rig.
“My God!” he exclaims with mock surprise. “There is a
shackle connecting every block!”

EAGLE

WILLIAM THUSS

T

he 41' Concordia yawl EAGLE is hull No. 92
of the famous series of 103 boats built to this
design. She was built by Abeking & Rasmussen
in Germany in 1962 as GEISHA GIRL . Eddy’s model of
her is also his first restoration. He built it in 1991 for the
boat’s owner, when the yawl was named WHITE LIGHT.
After the full-sized boat changed hands, the new owner,
Daniel Smith, discovered by chance that the model was
part of a collection to be auctioned off in Annapolis,
Maryland. He went in person to ensure he had the
winning bid, and model and boat were thus reunited.
Unfortunately, when Smith shipped the model to Eddy
to make some repairs and adjustments to reflect her
current configuration, it was badly damaged in transit.
The model arrived in Camden with crushed stanchions
and hull damage, and much of the delicate hardware
was ruined.
The damage provided an opportunity to make the
EAGLE model better than the original. Eddy modified some details to match the boat as it exists today,
such as creating a new elegant butterfly hatch forward
to replace the previous Lexan one, and getting rid of
some of the modern parts, such as the radar dome, in
order to make the boat look more original. Repainting and varnishing followed, and the job was completed
last summer.
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REUBEN BROWN

STORMY

S

TORMY, a 32' Sparkman & Stephens–designed
sloop built in 1965 by Paul Molich, was intended
to evoke the beauty of classic Six-Meters but have
an interior for cruising. For her model, Eddy turned the
reins over to his associate, Reuben Brown, and the project became Brown’s first solo effort.
The hull of the original is varnished mahogany. To
re-create this finish in miniature, Brown carved the
model from a piece of solid mahogany whose grain followed the sweep of STORMY ’s sheer, giving the illusion
of spiled planks. The topsides are carved in two solid
pieces joined at the centerline, while the bottom is composed of several layers, or “lifts” (see sidebar, page 83,
for details of how Eddy shapes a hull).
There are 1,000 logged hours, and many more hours
of training time, in this model. Brown has been with
Eddy for eight years, first as an apprentice and now as
an indispensable co-worker. He also grew up in Camden; in fact, his mother used to care for Eddy’s two
daughters when they were small. Brown remembers

playing with them and visiting the shop since he was
eight or nine years old.
After earning a degree in graphic design and gaining experience in various studio arts, Brown came back
to Camden and worked a number of jobs to help put his
wife through school. One of those was at an art store
where Eddy was a frequent customer, and he repeatedly
invited Brown to the shop, badgering him until he actually showed up. A weekend job with Eddy turned into
part-time and finally full-time work.
STORMY ’s model has rigging and hardware made
of silver, which mimics the real boat’s stainless steel
and chrome. Brown suspects that many observers
believe the modelmakers simply copy a real boat’s
details in the same materials, but smaller. “It’s not
that easy,” he says. Highly polished hardware, for
example, can look wrong if it is shrunk down exactly
to scale, because when the light hits it, parts of the
rigging can disappear. So, the hardware and wire size
actually is imperceptibly scaled up.

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SCHEHERAZADE

T

boat is a 154' cold-molded Bruce
King design built in 2003 by Hodgdon
Yachts (see WB No. 156). This model
was built specifically to adorn a passageway on the actual boat.
Eddy considers carefully where
each of his models will reside. Will
it be in a small space or a large one?
Will it be the focal point of the room,
or not? Will it be in a home, boat, or
public space, like a yacht club? How
should the case look: traditional or
modern?
The SCHEHERAZADE model is displayed in the real yacht’s classically
modern interior, which has warm
wood tones, bold lines, and strong
lighting. The presentation of the
model had to be equally dramatic,
and so Eddy came up with a distinctive concept for it. Instead of building
a whole model, he built a half model mounted on oneway glass, which is both reflective and transparent. The
observer’s brain does not register the split between real
and reflection, and the model appears to be floating in
space. It also appears to go on to infinity, because the
model actually sits in a box made of this glass, so the
bottom and ends are also reflected.
White-gold hardware reflects in the mirror, and it’s

COURTESY OF ROB EDDY

his model of the ketch SCHEHERAZADE is 58" long. The actual

nearly impossible to distinguish between the actual
scaled-down ventilators and their reflections. One of
the best effects is the centerline, four-bladed propeller, made of yellow gold to mimic polished bronze—
with a zinc anode at the end mimicked in sterling
silver. It is built with only two blades, the other two
emerging as a reflection in the glass. The transition
between real to reflection is seamless.

CUILAUN

C

WILLIAM THUSS

UILAUN is a 56' bright-hulled ketch launched by

McGruer’s in Scotland in 1970 (see WB No. 132).
Eddy built this 1⁄2"-scale model of her in 1995
and, as with STORMY, carved the hull from a piece of
tight-grained quarter-sawn mahogany with sweeping
grain. The varnished finish on the topsides meant that
there could be no errors in the carving; the surface had
to be perfectly fair.
CUILAUN’s topsides are two pieces of mahogany
joined at the centerline with a thin piece of pearwood
sandwiched between them to represent the lightercolored stem and sternpost. The seams between the
mahogany and pearwood subtly delineate the rabbet
line. Eddy also used pearwood for the varnished deckhouse and cockpit. This wood’s fine grain, at scale,
resembles both mahogany and teak, and it stains well
to match either of these species. It’s also relatively hard,
so can be carved with intricate details.

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WILLIAM THUSS

ATLANTIDE

T

he 122' steel motoryacht ATLANTIDE and her
crew were part of the flotilla of “Little Ships” that
rescued stranded Allied troops from Dunkirk,
France, during World War II. She was designed by
Alfred Mylne, and launched in 1930 by Philip & Son in
Dartmouth, England. In 1999, Tom Perkins, who has
since sold her, opulently restored ATLANTIDE with an
Art Deco interior.
When Perkins commissioned the model of ATLANTIDE , he had already had two other models built by
Eddy. The new model would prove to be one of Eddy’s
most exquisite to date, taking 5,500 hours to build.
This is more than one model, for ATLANTIDE’s cabintop holds two smaller boats, one of the 9' Bugatti power
launch YOU/YOU, and the other an Italian-built sailing
tender named WIZARD. Each miniature of these small
boats is less than 3" long, and together they took over
500 hours to build.
Building YOU/YOU included a trip to see the
actual boat and take measurements, which were

then transferred into an Auto CAD file. Eddy also
studied old brochures of the design to better understand its construction. The boat itself is a bit of an
anomaly: Ettore Bugatti, known for building highperformance automobiles, did not want to build cars
for the Germans during World War II. “He decided
to play around building boats,” Eddy says. “Well, he
didn’t know anything about boats.” This resulted in
a boat with both the engine and the driver in the
bow, and the hull plows through the water if not
ballasted by passengers in the stern. “But it was a
collectible piece to Tom Perkins,” Eddy says,
“because he is into automobiles.”
Both the ATLANTIDE model and a later one of Perkins’s 289' ship-rigged sailing yacht MALTESE FALCON
drove Eddy to create new techniques and embrace
new technologies, including a laser cutter to create
the caulking seams in the deck of MALTESE FALCON.
It took hundreds of tries with different settings on the
laser machine to get it right.

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REUBEN BROWN (BOTH)

GRACE B

G

RACE B is a 1955, 29' Chris-Craft. Her model

captures the 1950s styling down to the Naugahyde upholstery, Formica countertops, and vintage instrument panel. The owners commissioned it to
help preserve the boat’s history for his family.
One notable characteristic of GRACE B is her whitecaulked decks. To simulate the style, Eddy used pearwood for its aforementioned reduced-scale quality.
Strips of styrene placed between the planks resemble
the white caulking. The deck panels were built on

sheets of waxed paper mounted to flat glass; the gluedup assemblies were then removed from the waxed
paper, cut to proper shape, and glued onto the model.
Each piece of the deck was built a little thicker than
needed to allow for sanding away of glue buildup.

IMAGINE

sloop-rigged in order that a couple could handle her
easily. “This is what I would want for this [Penobscot]
bay and for myself. It’s a great sailing boat for two
people.”
Although the new boat is double-ended like
NORTHERN CROWN , Eddy has given IMAGINE a narrower beam and carried her load waterline farther
aft. He has designed both full-keel and centerboard
versions, and says that she is similar to a Concordia 41. When working on the concept, Eddy went to
yacht designer Mark Fitzgerald to confirm that the
boat would sit correctly in the water and perform
respectably.
IMAGINE is meant to be an example of the quality
of models Eddy can build rather than a design to market as a full-scale boat project. But Eddy says that he
would not turn someone down if they were interested
in building her.

PETER LUEHR

E

ddy has designed a boat of his own called IMAGINE . Based loosely on the Concordia yawls and
NORTHERN CROWN, she is double-ended and

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NORTHERN CROWN

N

the beginning of this article, was
launched in 1956 by A. Walsted’s
Baadeværft in Thurø, Denmark. Her design
blends a traditional Danish hull form with
an American-style underbody and rig, and
she is among K. Aage Niesen’s finest designs.
She has been impeccably kept for nearly two
decades by Taylor Allen and Martha White,
who acquired her from White’s father, Joel,
in 1991.
As in many of Eddy’s models, NORTHERN
CROWN’s winches each have a diamond
adorning their tops. This might seem like
embellishment, but in fact the diamonds
perfectly mimic the faceted opening at the
top of a winch that receives the handle. “It’s
sort of a trademark thing,” Eddy says.
All hardware on this model is of green
gold, pure gold with silver or cadmium
added to it, which gives it a slightly greenish cast. Eddy
has chosen this metal to mimic the weathered bronze
patina of NORTHERN CROWN’s hardware, something
Allen requested but they had never done before. To create the effect, Eddy and Brown have carefully blasted
each piece with fine sand to create a matte, rather than
polished, finish.
Eddy and Brown built the model’s turnbuckles exactly
like the real ones: There is a threaded body that receives
the shroud’s end from above and the chainplate toggle.
Each toggle is slightly smaller than a lentil, and the whole
turnbuckle assembly is only about 2" long.
The turnbuckle bodies are all custom cast, and Brown
described the process of making them. First, he makes
the master shape—the mold pattern—out of metal. A
long, thin handle, called a sprue, is attached to the piece,
and this creates a channel through which the molten wax
travels. This pattern assembly is encased in a soft rubber

ALISON LANGLEY (BOTH)

ORTHERN CROWN, introduced at

mold material, which is then carefully cut in half with
an X-Acto knife to retrieve the pattern. Then, the rubber mold is placed in a special machine that injects the
mold with wax. The wax injection machine melts wax to
a specific temperature and allows the user to control the
pressure at which the wax enters the mold. These settings
are adjusted according to the complexity of the piece:
too much pressure and the wax will force its way into the
mold’s seam, making a web that must be trimmed away
and possibly compromising the finished product; too little pressure and the mold will not be completely filled. It
takes practice. Finally, the wax piece is encased in plaster,
and then baked in a kiln to harden the mold and melt the
wax. Several wax pieces are used in one mold, and the
mold is destroyed to retrieve the final pieces.
Maria Simpson is a Maine-based freelance writer and graduate
student.

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COURTESY OF ROB EDDY (THIS PAGE)

C arving an Accurately Shaped Hull

This scale rendition of SILVER HEELS is a half model. If it were a full model, Eddy would have created its mirror
image using the same technique, and then joined the two halves together.

R

ob Eddy works from a boat’s
original lines drawings to
make a series of templates that
describe the shape of topsides.
The painted bottom of a model is
built in two halves by layering several half-breadth lifts. Here, we see
a solid-mahogany topside block
and a stack of basswood “lifts” for
the 41' Murray Peterson–designed
schooner SILVER HEELS. Basswood
is used for the bottom because it is
easy to carve, and it allows Eddy
to create the “tuck,” or tight curve
under the transom. He also can
lightly carve out details such the
bottom planks, rudder, and keel.
Eddy carves the solid block to
shape by working from amidships
toward both ends with a hand
plane and chisel, checking progress against the templates as he
goes. The bottom is also carved
to shape, although in this case the
top of each lift represents a waterline in the same way that contour
lines on a map represent precise
elevations. As the “steps” are
carved away from the square-edge
lifts, the shape of the hull comes
into focus. Eddy must be careful
to not tear the grain—especially
in models that are to be finished
bright.
–MS

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In Search of a
100-Year Rig
The logic of
galvanized wire
for a gaff cutter’s
standing rigging

Text and photographs
by Bruce Halabisky
Left—VIXEN, a 34’ Atkin cutter with
new, fully served standing rigging of
galvanized wire, sails near the island of
Flores in the Azores. The village of Lajes
is in the background.

I

n 2006 my gaff cutter, VIXEN, was nearing the end
of a 1,000-mile sail north from New Zealand to Fiji.
It had been a fast passage, although not excessively
rough, and I hoped another 24 hours would bring us
to the harbor of Savusavu on Fiji’s northern island of
Vanua Levu. After finishing a night watch I looked to
windward across the starboard bulwark to see another
glorious sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. But then, in the
foreground, my eyes caught an almost inconceivable
sight: During the night one of VIXEN’s four starboard
shrouds had parted and now hung pathetically from the
mast, flipping limply with the motion of the boat.
To my disbelief, the 3⁄ 8" stainless wire had broken where it had been formed into a tight eye
over a thimble through which the turnbuckle was

shackled. Fortunately, VIXEN was sufficiently overstayed so the mast appeared not to be threatened,
but the fact that an 11-year-old stainless wire had
parted so easily in only 15 or 20 knots of wind was
reason for concern. Upon closer inspection I could
see that the break was at the turn of the eye, and not
the splice. The metal had been work-hardened by
forming the tight bend; a coating of salt spray had
accelerated the deterioration.
After safely making our landfall, I temporarily
re­placed the broken shroud and did a thorough examination of the whole rig. It appeared that stainless-steel
wire was a poor choice for a gaff cutter like VIXEN.
Perhaps on a modern sloop, with a high-tension rig
and clean, exposed standing rigging, stainless might

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be the first choice; but on a gaff rig, with the wire covered in baggywrinkle and ratlines, and with leathered
eyes passing around the mast, there were too many
opportunities for corrosion. Sailing in the heat of the
tropics exacerbated the situation. Nigel Calder, in his
Boat­owner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual, quotes the
makers of Norseman terminals as recommending that
stainless rigging be replaced “after 5 to 8 years of seasonal ocean racing; after 10 years round the buoys; and
after possibly 12 to 15 years of summer cruising.”
A few months later, having sailed a jury-rigged VIXEN
to Australia, I was able to rerig her while anchored
in the Brisbane River. I changed out all the stainless
wire, except for the two forestays, with galvanized wire.
Because I was unable to unstep the mast, I terminated
the stays’ upper ends with cable-clamped eyes and the
lower ends with swaged eyes over thimbles.
This somewhat unsightly setup took VIXEN, over
the next five years, up the Great Barrier Reef, through
the Torres Strait, across the Indian Ocean, around the
Cape of Good Hope, across the southern Atlantic, and
up the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.
Unfortunately, despite my efforts to protect the galvanized wire with lanolin, linseed oil, and other coatings, rust consumed it. After those five years of hard
sailing, VIXEN’s standing rigging—bristling with cable
clamps and stained with rust—was an ugly sight.
It was at this stage that I read an enlightening passage in Brian Toss’s The Rigger’s Apprentice:  “The oldest rigging afloat,” wrote Toss, “is not stainless steel,
which has a lifespan limited by fatigue, but parceled
and served galvanized wire, which is less susceptible to
fatigue and can be completely sealed from rust.” Later
Toss adds, “If served galvanized rigging is slushed
(coated with a mixture of Stockholm tar and boiled
linseed oil) whenever it gets to looking dry, it will last
a century or more. Very cost-effective.” Wow! Here was
the Holy Grail of the traditional rig: not stainless-steel
rigging that was thrown on the junk pile after 10 years,
and not bare galvanized rigging that turned to rust in
even less time, but an option that could last 100 years.
Even a rig that would last half that long must surely be
worth the extra effort to construct. And so with Toss’s
words as inspiration, building a long-lasting rig became
my winter pursuit.
I broke the project into three stages: First, galvanized wire would be spliced into eyes to fit over the mast
above the spreaders; second, the wire would be protected with parceling and service for its entire length;
STAGE ONE: SPLICING
Upper right—Here, the early stages of a wire splice in 3⁄8”
galvanized wire are shown. The thimble is only temporarily
used to position the wire in the rigging vise while splicing.
The eye resulting from this splice will go around VIXEN ’s
mast just above the spreaders. Lower right—This is one of 12
splices required for VIXEN ’s new rigging. I worked all of my
splices in the vertical rather than the horizontal orientation.
Although I tried both methods, I found the vertical position
made it easier to see around the splice and it took up less
space in the shop. Here, a steel spike is entering the splice.
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STAGE TWO: PARCELING AND SERVING
Above—This is a homemade serving mallet; the seine twine
is hung from an old paint roller clamped to the handle.
Above right—With VIXEN ’s mast laid on sawhorses, the new
rigging is installed. Here the throat halyard attachment point
gets a seizing. Right—VIXEN ’s new rigging is set up and
ready for the crane to restep the mast. Notice the leathered
eyes to give a larger bearing surface around the mast.

and third, the lower terminals would be bronze spelter
sockets filled with zinc. I resolved to keep careful notes
of the costs and the time it took to build the rig, to see if
a reasonable argument might be made in favor of fully
served galvanized rigging rather than the omnipresent
stainless wire found on most sailboats.

 Wire-Splicing the Eyes  
When I set out to produce my 12 eyesplices in 3⁄8" and
5⁄16" wire, I was not given much encouragement from
fellow sailors. At the mere mention of wire splicing,
most people just groan and roll their eyes. But as with
many traditional skills, when I asked if they had actually spliced wire, the answer was usually “no.” Haunting the whole endeavor was the famous French ocean
voyager Bernard Motissier’s oft-cited quote: “Life is too
short to splice wire rope.” Before lending too much
credence to this quip, one might want to look at photographs of Motissier’s beloved JOSHUA: Cable clamps
are everywhere. It is nearly impossible to find a picture

of Motissier aboard without a half-dozen cable clamps
in the background. And the issue is not just cosmetic;
he writes of having to go aloft at sea after JOSHUA’s
main halyard chafes on a cable clamp.
Thus dismissing the great navigator’s advice, I set
out over a month of evenings and weekends to learn
how to splice wire. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but with
the help of Brian Toss’s excellent DVD on the subject
(see Resources, page 91) and some guidance from
a rigger friend, I was eventually splicing eyes with a
degree of confidence. Once I got down to producing
the 12 splices I needed, they took an hour each. It took
another hour to set them up, parcel and serve the eye
(on the straight before it was bent), and finish off the
splice. In my notes I totaled 24 hours for the splices.

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 Parceling and Serving 

If mentioning wire splicing brought groans of sympathy from non-splicers, when I explained the idea
of wrapping every piece of the new rigging in twine,
the un­
initiated simply shook their heads in disbelief. Indeed, it seemed a Herculean task when I first
stretched a stay between two Douglas-fir trees with a 1⁄4
-ton chain hoist. I did the math in my head as I worked
my way down the first stay: “Let’s see... 16 turns covers an inch, 192 turns makes a foot, so for this stay of
25' that makes, ummm...4,800 turns!” Oh dear God, I
almost gave up right there: 50,000 turns of the mallet
for the 10 stays!
In fact, once I calmed down and got to work, it took
only two hours per stay to apply a layer of goop to the
wire, wrap the length of it in friction tape, and serve it
from end to end with a serving mallet.
I’m sure a professional rigger would do it faster, but I
chalked up 20 hours to parcel and serve the ten shrouds
and stays (four to port, four to starboard, and two backstays; the two forestays remained in stainless). I haven’t
seen the numbers published elsewhere, so here are the
numbers for the friction tape (for parceling) and seine
twine (for serving) I used: a 60' roll of 3⁄4" wide friction
tape covered 20' of 3⁄8" wire, and 1 lb of No. 36 seine
twine served 25 feet of 3⁄8" wire.

industrial rigging because they equal the strength of
the wire if done correctly. In contrast to more modern terminals like high-pressure swages or Norseman
fittings, there is no deformation of the wire in a spelter socket. A modern epoxy is available as a substitute
for molten zinc. Industrial sockets are of galvanized
steel. Bronze spelter sockets are difficult to come by;
I know because VIXEN was missing a pair and it was
only through much searching that I procured two 3⁄8"
sockets from Port Townsend Foundry in Washington
State. These cost about $125 each. The galvanized version, available through many industrial rigging supply
stores, cost less than half that.
Although I was tempted to use a special epoxy to fill
the sockets (Wire Lock is one brand), my friend Adam
proposed that nothing could be more fun and traditional than pouring hot zinc while atop VIXEN’s deck.
Perhaps too easily convinced of Adam’s logic, I decided
to keep it traditional. On a dry spring afternoon, with

Spelter Socket Terminals 

The termination of a stay presents an engineering challenge: how to maintain the strength of steel or rope in
the transition from stay to chainplate or stay to mast. A
traditional method would have the lower end spliced to
a lignum vitae deadeye and the upper end be a spliced
eye around the mast. Instead of a splice, the modern version consists of a mechanical terminal such as
Norseman, Sta-Lok, or Nicopress. But what to do with
a vessel of VIXEN’s vintage, designed in 1950? Spliced
eyes still make sense around the mast, but VIXEN is too
much of a yacht to look proper with deadeyes. Spliced
eyes shackled to the turnbuckles would make sense,
but since I was splicing the eyes on the U.S. West Coast
and shipping them back to VIXEN on the East Coast,
it would be hard to measure a stay’s exact length. On
the other hand, modern stainless terminals would
be anachronistic. The answer I arrived at, and what I
believe VIXEN was originally rigged with, was bronze
spelter sockets.
A spelter socket is a bronze or galvanized steel cone
into which the wire stay is led and then splayed, or
“broomed,” to expand it. The cone is then inverted
and molten zinc is poured around the wire ends, bonding them into the socket. Although not used on modern rigs, spelter sockets are still commonly used for
STAGE THREE: ZINC-FILLED SPELTER SOCKETS
Top right—Melting zinc for the spelter sockets.
Right—A freshly poured spelter socket. This is one is from
Port Townsend foundry, and is markedly longer than VIXEN ’s
original ones. Far right—One of VIXEN ’s spelter sockets with
new wire set into it. Notice the service carried right over the
connection to the wire for extra protection.
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a fire extinguisher at the ready, we put some zinc in
a crucible, melted it down to a beautiful shimmering
puddle, and filled eight sockets. Pouring the socket onsite allowed me to get the exact length for each stay and
shroud. (Here I will confess that one of the eight sockets failed on a shake-down sail. Undaunted, I repoured
it and have had no problems since, including an 1,800mile cruise from Maine to the Azores. I suspect we had
not properly cleaned and fluxed that particular socket.)
To prevent any galvanic corrosion between the
bronze socket and the galvanized wire, I liberally
greased the finished connection and ran the parceling
and service right over the end of the socket.

The Finished Rigging 
When I added up the time for VIXEN’s new rigging, it
totaled 55 hours of labor: 24 hours for the splicing, 20
hours for the serving, 5 hours to pour the sockets, and
6 hours to leather the eyes. With new stainless-steel
rigging, the time to fit the terminals and leather the
eyes would still have been needed and, in fact, unless
I used cable clamps again, I still would have had to
splice the eyes around the mast. So, I figure that the
fully served rigging added only the 20 hours of parceling and serving.
As for the cost, 3⁄8" galvanized wire can be had for
about 66 cents a foot and 5⁄16" for 54 cents per foot.
This brought the total cost for the wire to $190. The

equivalent amount of wire in stainless, which sells
for $4.87 and $4.39 per foot, respectively, would have
brought the total to about $1,300—a price difference
of $1,110. (These estimates for stainless steel are taken
from a local marine chandlery. The price goes down
significantly if buying bulk reels or shopping around
online.) My other costs included $100 for seine twine,
$40 for friction tape, $50 for a lanolin wire-coating
mixture, and about $40 worth of leather for the eyes.
My guess is that any cost savings of parceled-and-served
galvanized rigging would only be realized by doing the
job oneself; hiring a rigger would quickly eat away at
the savings in materials.
Aside from some added labor, VIXEN’s new, fully
served rigging has the disadvantage of increased windage. On a gaff-rigged cutter with so many other nonaerodynamic aspects—what could be less aerodynamic
than baggywrinkle?—it is hard to imagine that the
slightly increased diameter of the stays makes much
difference. However, for a yacht seeking maximum
windward performance, bare stainless wire might be
the best option.
The advantages of VIXEN’s new rig, aside from being
a bit cheaper to put together, are aesthetics, safety,
and—if the rigging lasts a couple of decades or more—
longevity. This is not to disparage standing rigging with
stainless-steel eyesplices, which has proven itself over
the years on boats such as the famed Concordia yawls,

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88 • WoodenBoat 235

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VIXEN sailing offshore from Maine to the Azores with her new standing rigging. Here the staysail is boomed out to windward
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tiller; a variation of the system was described in WB No. 221.

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A section of 18-year-old served galvanized
rigging cut back to the wire. There’s no rust,
despite a long period of no maintenance
or “re-slushing” with a mixture of Stockholm
tar, linseed oil, Japan drier, and varnish.

whose beautifully spliced rigs have lasted for
decades without failure. There are numerous other examples of the longevity of such
rigs. However, I would make a clear distinction between sailboats that are in commission for three or four months each summer
and yachts such as VIXEN that are being
sailed year round. During a typical year of
voyaging, VIXEN will spend only one week
out of the water to receive bottom paint.
During an ocean crossing with big seas, the rig will be
covered in salt with no fresh water available to wash it
down. In these extreme conditions a stainless rig will
no doubt perform well, but after a decade it would be
unwise to not carefully inspect it and consider rerigging.
During nine years of continuous ocean voyaging in
VIXEN, it is surprising how often I have seen a dismasted
yacht limp into an anchorage. The story is inevitably
the same: not an epic gale or full knockdown, but

rather 10 to 15 knots of wind and a single failure of a
stainless-steel fitting or stay, and down comes the mast.
There is little, if any, redundancy in a modern sloop
rig, and stainless-steel rigging has a relatively short life.
In addition, stainless rigging is difficult to properly
inspect. These weaknesses make for a strong argument
in favor of a gaff rig with fully served galvanized rigging.
The low-aspect gaff rig is generally overstayed, as I
witnessed on my approach to Fiji in 2006; galvanized
rigging is less prone to work-hardening—a common

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90 • WoodenBoat 235

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cause of rig failure—and galvanized rigging is easier
to inspect than stainless, as rust is hard to ignore even
under a layer of service. Why go to sea with any other
rig? If an informal survey of the world’s marinas is
any indication, where one out of a thousand yachts
is gaff-rigged with galvanized rigging, I will concede
this argument is not a convincing one for most boat
owners.
I have heard it said that the galvanized wire of today
is not of the quality it was 60 years ago when VIXEN was
first launched. This may be so, although the industrial
wire rigging supply stores I talked to disputed the idea.
But perhaps if galvanized wire is properly sealed with
parceling and service, it is not such a crucial element.
As to the longevity of the rigging, 100 years seems
impossibly long for anything on a boat to last.
When I began to replace the galvanized backstays
that had been fully served by a previous owner in 1995
(and that I had neglected to “re-slush” in 11 years
of owning VIXEN), I was happy to discover pristine
18-year-old galvanized wire under a layer of sticky black
goop. Only time will tell if VIXEN has a “100-Year Rig,”
but this inspection was encouraging.
Bruce Halabisky is a traditional boat builder and a frequent
contributor to WoodenBoat. In 2004 he and his wife, Tiffany,
left Victoria, British Columbia, in their 34' Atkin cutter, VIXEN.
Nine years later, with two girls born along the way, they have crossed

the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. They are currently sailing
in the Azores. To learn more about their voyage, visit www.
vixensvoyage.com.
The author would like to thank Peter Marshall and Adam Yanchunis
for their help in rigging VIXEN.

Resources
Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual, by Nigel
Calder. This comprehensive book includes a general
overview of modern rigging systems and the hazards of
stainless steel.
The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice, by Brian Toss. This
guide to traditional rigging includes excellent arguments for certain methods and materials, as well as
detailed instructions. Also useful is Toss’s DVD on wire
splicing, which is available at www.briontoss.com.
There is not much information available today
on spelter sockets—particularly those filled with
zinc rather than epoxy. The Crosby Group offers
some information on spelter sockets and Wire
Lock epoxy in their user’s manual; this is available at www.thecrosbygroup.com/portals/0/docs/
manuals/9992320.pdf.
Port Townsend Foundry sells bronze spelter sockets,
as well as other bronze rigging hardware; visit www.
porttownsend foundry.com.

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The Floating Farmer’s Market
A New Haven sharpie brings
by Randall Peffer
Photographs
by
Matthew P. Murphy
food from fields to islands

C

apt. David Berry snags a sugar-snap pea from a
bin on deck, takes a bite, and licks his lips. Then
he grabs the big, brass school bell his grandmother once used to call her students to class.
Berry, a farmer and sailor, is standing at the wheel,
just aft of the mainmast, on the 34' New Haven sharpie
BETH ALISON as she idles under power toward the
dock at Robinhood Marina in Georgetown, Maine. His
blue eyes twinkle as he casts a glance to his deckhand,
Pippa Stanley, at the bow and his adult son Seth at the
stern. It’s the look of a conductor on his podium cuing
up the orchestra. Pippa, a Middlebury College student
on summer break, beams back her eager smile. Seth
crosses his arms over his chest and inhales.
“Here we go again, Dad,” he says. Seth is 44 and the
House Majority Leader in the Maine Legislature, but
onboard today he’s a kid loving every second of sharing
this ritual with his 73-year-old father.
Berry raises the bell overhead and starts shaking it. The clanging echoes across the harbor to the

spruce-and-pine forest on the opposite shore and
rumbles back. And with each clang of the bell, people
ashore turn and start filing toward the wharf, green
bills in their hands, amusement in their eyes, as they
anticipate mild goat cheese, strawberry-rhubarb pie,
fresh duck, blueberries, local oysters, and a cookie
called “kitchen sink.”
It’s 9 a.m. on a crystal-clear Wednesday morning.
There’s just a hint of a sea breeze beginning to stir as
the Merrymeeting Farm boat begins her scheduled
weekly rounds. For more than 20 years, that clanging
bell and the appearance of David Berry in the BETH
ALISON have marked summer, leisure, and feasting in
the islands of the Boothbay region of the Maine coast.
Regulars gather around Berry to exchange morning
greetings and the news of the day as he weighs handfuls
of tomatoes, peas, carrots, and russet potatoes on the
scales dangling beneath the awning at the middle of the
boat. Up forward three women are buying pints of raspberries and Peruvian pesto paté from Pippa. Back aft,

Above—For more than 20 years, farmer-sailor David Berry has delivered fresh produce and other products to waterfront
communities in the Boothbay, Maine, region aboard the 34’ New Haven sharpie BETH ALISON.

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Berry (above right) stocks a range of products including
jam and tomatoes from his own Merrymeeting Farm,
and pies and other baked goods from Annabella’s
Bakery & Café of Richmond, Maine.

a newcomer, surveying the loaves of sourdough bread,
ginger scones, and sticky buns, quizzes Seth about this
improbable market boat that seems transported from
another time.
“I remember working on the boat with my dad the
summer the Berlin Wall protests started,” he says. That
was 1989, and Seth was just two years into college.
His father eases into the conversation. “This whole
thing started more or less by accident.”
As the story goes, the Maine Maritime Museum in
nearby Bath approached the senior Berry about storing

the BETH ALISON in his large chicken barn at Merrymeeting Farm. Built of pine on white oak, the boat was
less than four years old when its owner donated it to the
museum in 1984. Except for having leeboards instead
of a centerboard, the BETH ALISON is nearly an exact
copy of the 1880s-era, two-masted New Haven sharpie
pictured in Figure 40 of Howard Chapelle’s classic
American Small Sailing Craft.
“The builder had intended to use the boat for
lobster­ing. But his plans changed, and he donated her
to the museum,” Berry says.
November/December 2013 • 93

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New Haven Sharpies

A

ccording to marine historian Howard Chapelle,
the sharpie “began its climb to popularity
in the fisheries of New Haven, Connecticut, in the 1870s.”
The origin of the sharpie is unknown, but it’s
believed to have emerged as an outgrowth of the
flatiron skiff at a time in the oyster fishery when
timber for log-built canoes for tonging was disappearing. New Haven sharpies are box-built, hardchined, cross-planked, centerboard (or leeboard)
open boats with flat bottoms, narrow beams, fine
entries, graceful sheers, round sterns, and long,
shallow rudders. They have a lot of rocker to their
bottoms.
Two versions of these New Haven boats were
once popular with the oystermen. The 25' model
carried a single unstayed mast. The 35' model carried a cat-ketch rig with unstayed masts and lego’-mutton sails using sprit booms. Cheap and easy
to build, capable cargo carriers, stable and fast,
New Haven sharpies are easy to sail and have
masts that can be shipped or unshipped by one
person.
Since their origins in the later part of the
19th century, these workboats have captured the
interest of many mariners. Yachtsmen and yacht
designers as different in era and ethos as L.F. Herreshoff, Commodore R.M. Munroe, and Reuel
Parker have rendered handsome cruising evolu—RP
tions of the New Haven sharpie.

As a man who began messing about in boats during
his youth on Merrymeeting Bay, and a man who has
gone seafaring commercially on Penobscot Bay windjammers, lobsterboats, and swordfishermen, Berry took
an immediate fancy to the traditional, functional elegance of this flat-bottomed design originally developed
for oyster tonging in Long Island Sound.
“I told the museum I’d store it for them free of
charge if they let me keep it in the water. I didn’t know
what I was going to do with it at the time. It was just a
nice boat.”
After a year or two of “storing” the boat, and a lot of
daysailing, Berry thought the BETH ALISON could offer
him more than just an escape from the demands of
organic farming. He made a deal to swap free storage
of other museum boats for outright ownership of this
one.
At first, he put her to work tending oysters with the
Pemaquid Oyster Company in the Damariscotta River,
but then he hit on the idea of using his boat for selling
his own oysters, along with Merrymeeting Farm’s chickens and produce, to the communities of island “rusticators” who populate the summer colonies around
Boothbay. After all, he reasoned, the BETH ALISON’s
open-boat design had been conceived to carry 150–175
bushels of oysters. That’s 6 tons of freight. And this
sharpie is not a pure sailboat; she has a 29-hp Gray­
marine gas engine to help her on her way.
Armed with a mobile vendor’s license, the BETH ALISON gave birth to Berry’s new farmboat business. And
Pippa Stanley, a regular crew member of the BETH ALISON,
guides a customer through the boat’s stable of offerings at
MacMahan Island.

94 • WoodenBoat 235

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Above—The BETH ALISON keeps a tight schedule on her weekly market run. Here, the crew takes a short breather after the
crowd has dissipated at Five Islands, before continuing on.

this morning, on his first run of the summer season,
Berry’s cell phone is chirping with orders from other
islands. He and his crew wish they could stay and chat
with the folks on the Robinhood dock, but customers
are already gathering at eight other stops. And the
BETH ALISON has to catch the fair tide through Goose
Rock Passage.
Later, at MacMahan Island, the clanging of Grand­
ma’s school bell and the arrival of the Merrymeeting
Farm boat provoke waves from passing lobster­
men
and shouts from the dock that “summer has officially
started.” Once the boat is alongside, there are lots of
hugs for Berry. Customers besiege the crew with orders
for hermit cookies, pies, and produce. Pippa and Seth
smile at each other and their patrons as they fish into
the pockets of their purple aprons to make change. The
purchasing is so fast and furious that Berry quips to
one older gentleman, “You don’t want to let that money
burn a hole in your hand now, do you?”
During the BETH ALISON’s next stop at Five Islands,
a customer eyes the display of plump, crimson tomatoes
at the base of the mainmast and says, “Those tomatoes
look like they’ve had a life of leisure. They can’t be from
Maine, not this time of year.”
Berry assures his client that the tomatoes are indeed

from his farm. He starts them in January in a green­
house he heats with a woodstove.
“Wait till you taste them,” Seth says. “They’ll melt
in your mouth.” He has his father’s passion and a
genuine, familiar way with every person he meets,
making it clear why he may soon be upping his politi­
cal aspirations and running for the state senate. As
customers gather round, he explains that Merrymeet­
ing Farm is located in the Kennebec River basin, an
inland delta reputed to have some of the best soil in
the entire eastern U.S.
Meanwhile, up forward, a client has run short of cash
after adding a bouquet of flowers and jars of Merry­
meeting Farm pickles and jam to her order.
“Enjoy them now. You can pay me next week,” Berry
tells her as he nods to Pippa and Seth to cast off the
docklines. He’s running a little late and knows there
is already a small crowd waiting on the dock at Cozy
Harbor a half mile away.
The folks at Cozy Harbor snap cell phone pictures of
the farmboat, chat up David in their Texas accents, and
shop with an appetite fitting their home state. One man
buys no fewer than three blueberry pies at $24 apiece
before the BETH ALISON heads off across the mouth of
Boothbay Harbor.
November/December 2013 • 95

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9/18/13 12:47 PM

Sam Manetti tops a bag of produce with ripe
fresh-picked berries at MacMahan Island—one of
the farmboat’s most popular stops.

I

t’s almost noon, and a gentle sou’wester has started
blowing. Berry cuts the engine, cocks the awning
up to catch the breeze, and lets the boat sail.
“Lunch?” asks Pippa from up forward. She must
have guessed that back in the stern Seth has already
begun making canapés out of sliced bananas coated
with organic peanut butter and topped with fresh
raspberries.
“This is why I still do this,” Berry says. He’s organizing change in his apron pocket, and at first it seems
he’s talking about commerce. But after Pippa delves
into her ice chests and passes out cold bottles of a
local microbrew and homemade sandwiches of tuna,
Peruvian pesto, goat cheese, and tomato on pungent
sourdough, it’s clear that the BETH ALISON’s captain is
referring to the quintessential harmony of being at this
place at this time in this boat. Two schools of porpoises
are circling the sharpie, blowing softly, rhythmically.
A large white schooner, all sails set, is running up the
bright blue bay. Offshore, Seguin Island seems to float
above the sea mist like some sort of Brigadoon.
The crew eats in silence as they take in the scene.
“I’ve been a lucky man,” Berry says at last.
No doubt he’s musing over the uncommon life he’s
made for himself. Probably he’s reflecting on the serpentine course that has taken him from Bowdoin College, to teaching English in Italy, to commercial fishing
and seafaring, to organic farming, to this sharpie full
of fresh produce.
Possibly he’s thinking about the BETH ALISON herself—the way she seems perfectly laid out to do her
farmboat work. She carries the load so well, displays

the produce with such panache. Her simple, crossplank construction and basic sailing rig with unstayed
masts are so easy to maintain. She moves so efficiently
through the water that she only burns 5 gallons of fuel
all day.
Berry couldn’t do this job at three times the price in
one of Maine’s ubiquitous lobsterboats. Nor could he
take a lobsterboat daysailing in the off-seasons, as he
and Seth sometimes do. And David occasionally goes
cruising in the fall with Seth’s sons. For that use, they
remove the produce cases and the hemlock working
deck, bolt on a cuddy cabin, toss in a few mattresses, rig
up a woodstove, lay in a cooler of Merrymeeting Farm’s
best foods, and head out under sail.

Where to See the Farmboat
■ The best place to see the Merrymeeting Farm boat

in action is at the wharf at Robinhood Marina in
Georgetown, Maine, every Wednesday during July
and August, beginning at 9 a.m.

■ If

you want to make an adventure out of shopping
at the farmboat, you can rent wooden houseboats
at Robinhood Marina. The houseboats are on
moorings and come with use of a dinghy and 19'
sailboat. You can also rent a day trawler to explore
the islands. Houseboat rates run from $185 to 350
a night. Riggs Cove Rentals, 207–371–2525, www.
RiggsCoveRentals.com.

■ For

more conventional accommodations, many
visitors stay at the Hampton Inn on the Kennebec
River in Bath, 800–992–2694, www.hamptoninn.
com.



No visit to the area is complete without a stop
at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. The
museum campus includes an intact 19th-­century
shipyard, a working boatbuilding shop, a vast
collection of artifacts and exhibits from Maine’s
coasting schooner and steamship days, a lobster
fishing exhibit, a small-craft collection, the
commercial Grand Banks fishing schooner
SHERMAN ZWICKER , a full-sized sculpture of
the six-masted schooner W YOMING , and the
bow of the main-built clipper ship SNOW
SQUALL that was salvaged as a derelict from
the Falk­

a nd Islands. 207–443–1316, www.
mainemaritimemuseum.org.

■ For

restaurants, don’t miss the collection of hip
eateries along Front Street in Bath.

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The New Haven sharpie type is ideally suited to the farmboat’s mission: It moves easily through the water, has ample deck
space, and carries up to 6 tons of freight. That’s 150–175 bushels of oysters, and an unimaginable amount of lettuce.

W

ith lunch finished, Berry starts rearranging
his tomatoes to show their best sides, Pippa
starts restocking her trays of fresh berries,
and Seth fills in the holes in his jam-and-baked-good
displays. Finally, they fire up the engine and it’s off to
more bell ringing and commerce at Newagen on Southport Island, Squirrel Island, and Capital Island.
At Mouse Island a man takes Berry’s hand and holds
on saying, “My but you’re a sight for sore eyes, David.”
It’s a tender moment and clearly one built on years of
meeting like this over bags of hermit cookies, bunches
of beets, and blueberry pound cake. Before the interchange is over, Berry’s old friend has scored several
fresh breasts of duck for dinner. Back at the stern a
clutch of women have gathered around Seth to talk
Maine politics. They gush about his efforts to advance
coalition-building and better dialogue at the Maine
State House.
At the farmboat’s last stop on Isle of Springs, the talk
on the wharf is not politics, but the weather.
“How was your winter, David?” asks a recently arrived
rusticator from California.
“It’s over,” he says with typical Maine dryness.
“And it’s summer now,” the woman says.
“Aren’t we loving it?” Berry asks.
Seth moves his bouquets of flowers onto the dock

and nearer to his patrons’ feet. They came for sticky
buns, sugar-snap peas, fresh bread, and raspberry jam.
But who can resist those rainbows of flowers, especially
after Seth says he’s offering two for the price of one
before the farmboat turns homeward.
It’s after 4 p.m. when the BETH ALISON crosses the
Sheepscot River and heads back toward her mooring
at Robinhood. Seth catches his father’s eye and asks,
“How’d we do?”
Berry looks around at the snug, tree-lined cove waiting ahead. He has laughing eyes, and right now they are
beaming with satisfaction.
“I don’t know how much money we made,” he says.
“But it was a good day.”
“Yeah,” Seth says. His eyes are laughing, too. “It
really was, Dad.”
“Yeah,” echoes Pippa from the bow. She pulls on a
pair of Ray-Bans and grins into the rosy glow of the evening sun.
Randy Peffer is the former Chesapeake Bay editor of WoodenBoat.
He is the captain of the research schooner SARAH ABBOT, and the
author of 17 books, including nine novels. He’s no stranger to oyster
boats; his book Watermen documents the lives of the Chesapeake’s
commercial fishermen during the last boom of the oyster industry in
the late 1970s.
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Is That Wood Legal?
by Richard Jagels
n many ways, boatbuilders and guitar makers share common DNA :
dedication to craftsmanship and a
high sense of aesthetics. In the global
scheme of lumber trading, both kinds
of craftsmen are small potatoes, but
they demand the rarest of woods and
only the best quality will suffice. At
times, they are like ships passing in the
night—the landlubbers routing out
caches of rosewood and ebony for fretboard and body, the sailors pursuing
covert stocks of teak or cypress. But at
the nexus of woods like mahogany, the
wood sleuths may collide.
Recently, Assistant Editor Robin
Jettinghoff told me that at the 22nd
WoodenBoat Show in June 2013 she
was approached at the editorial booth
by some folks wanting to learn more
about the Lacey Act, and wondered “if
it might make a worthy topic” for one of
my columns.
At first blush, a discussion of a U.S.
congressional act that became law during the McKinley Administration in
1900 might seem a little off the mark
for boatbuilders or owners. The law,
after all, made game poaching a federal crime when the bounty of such
shooting, such as furs and feathers, was
sold across state lines. But this act, first
sponsored by Representative John F.
Lacey, an Iowa Republican, has been
amended several times, and it is the
2008 amendments that should interest
boatbuilders, instrument makers, and
others who purchase wood, especially
exotic woods.

A Look Back
Before we jump from 1900 to 2008, a
stopover in 1973 will be instructive.
After more than a decade of international discussion and a meeting of the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature in 1963, the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES) reached agreement among 80
countries on March 3, 1973. Two years
later, on July 1, 1975, CITES was fully
implemented.
As in the case of the U.S.-based
Lacey Act, early targets for CITES
enforcement focused on international
trade in live animals or animal products, for example elephant ivory, rhinoceros horn, and parrots in the pet
trade. But in time, enforcement gradually expanded to include many plant

RICHARD JAGELS

I

Among GreenWood-sourced mahogany guitar neck blanks in Honduras, bar
code tags provide precise source information for each blank so the wood can be
continually monitored from forest to buyer.

species. By the 1990s, CITES was targeting endangered or threatened tree
species that were illegally entering the
lumber trade (see Wood Technology in
WB No. 114).
As an international agreement,
CITES depends on voluntary adherence. Once a nation joins, it has to
establish its own legislation to regulate
exportation of threatened or endangered organisms or products. When
the agreement was first established,
80 countries signed on, and today that
number stands at 178.
In theory, exportation of threatened
or endangered raw wood or wood products from any of the 178 nations should
no longer exist. Unfortunately, many
of these countries, especially many of
those in the tropics, lack the resources
to effectively monitor illegal logging
and subsequent exportation of wood.

Lacey 2008
Enter the 2008 amendments to the
Lacey Act. These amendments “prohibit trade in plants and plant products
that have been taken, transported, or
sold in viola­tion of law, including the
law of other countries.” 1 To add teeth to
the 2008 amend­
ments in the United
States, importers are required to file a
detailed declaration that includes, among
other things, the country of origin and

scientific name of the plant species. An
interesting aspect of the law is the range
of penalties that can apply depending
on the “mental state” of the defendant.
A person who innocently buys a set of
salad bowls made from an endangered
species illegally exported from a CITES
signatory country may face no liability.
But, if someone imports wood that “in
the exercise of due care” the person
should have known was illegal, a mis­
demeanor charge may be filed. Finally,
if the importer knows the wood was illegal, he or she may face a felony charge.
The most widely publicized felony
charge and conviction involving the
2008 Lacey Act fell upon the Gibson
Guitar Company. In several federal
raids between 2009 and 2011, ebony and
rosewood pieces illegally tagged from
Madagascar or illegally exported from
India, and worth thousands of dollars,
were seized from Gibson warehouses.
Gibson very publicly denied all charges,
but after the U.S. Justice system filed
civil cases in 2011 and 2012, Gibson
finally admitted violating the Lacey Act
and paid fines totaling $350,000.
As a founding member and current
board member of GreenWood (www.
greenwoodglobal.org), I have been
aware of both CITES and Lacey Act
developments during the past few
decades. GreenWood operates as an

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NGO in Honduras and other Latin

American countries providing employ­
ment for indigenous people in furni­
ture making and in exporting wood
products. For several years, we have pro­
vided stock for mahogany guitar neck
blanks to Taylor Guitar in California,
and more recently to other guitar mak­
ers. Operating well within Honduran
laws, CITES, and Lacey Act regulations,
we find that our biggest hurdle to con­
tinued success is the rampant illegal
logging occurring around us. Unless this
illegal logging is curtailed, many legal
exporters will face financial ruin. The
Lacey Act amendments of 2008 provide
the first real teeth afforded the federal
government in thwarting the impor­
tation of illegal wood into the United
States.

instrument makers, furniture makers,
or architects, but rather between legal
and illegal sources of wood. Until ille­
gal logging is drastically curtailed, all
efforts to achieve sustainable forests
and long-term markets for forest prod­
ucts will be futile.
1

Asner, M., and K. Ghilain. 2013. “The Lacey
Act Amendments and the Fight Against
Illegal Logging,” A Bloomberg Law Report

Dr. Richard Jagels is an emeritus professor
of forest biology at the University of Maine,
Orono. Please send correspondence to Dr.
Jagels by mail to the care of WoodenBoat,
or via e-mail to Assistant Editor Robin
Jetting­hoff, [email protected].
For more information on the Lacey Act,
see www.ela-global.org/lacey.

Meet the Readers of

Concerns?
After the much-publicized Gibson
Guitar case, some guitar owners began
to worry about confiscation of their
instruments. However, the federal
agencies enforcing the Lacey Act have
stated that “individual consumers and
musicians are not the focus...of law
enforcement investigations pertaining
to the Lacey Act, and have no need for
concern about confiscation of their
instruments.” 1
Similar alarms among those who
hold antique ivory carvings or old gui­
tars made from Brazilian rosewood, the
importation of which has been banned
since 1992, have surfaced in the past
with the same reassurances. Boat own­
ers can feel equally assured, I believe.
Of greater concern is the liability
that falls upon the shoulders of profes­
sional boatbuilders, especially those
that may procure wood directly from
foreign sources. They need to be vigi­
lant, ask relevant questions, and insist
that suppliers provide only legally har­
vested and legally exported wood, with
appropriate documents for proof.
Laws are generally a compromise
between the goal of protecting the
common good and that of protect­
ing individual rights. The legal analy­
ses I have read about the 2008 Lacey
Act amendments assert that this law
achieves the right balance. According
to one analysis, “the potential benefits
from the 2008 amendments are promis­
ing. As companies eliminate risky sup­
pliers, fewer illegal goods will enter the
U.S. [thus decreasing] illegal logging
by reducing demand.”1 I would add
that the competitive nexus in the inter­
national wood-trading market is not
among end-users such as boatbuilders,

Zach Simonson-Bond and Alea Robertson
Zachary Simonson-Bond and Alea Robertson both grew up on Whidbey Island,
Washington, and met by chance on a Washington State ferry. Zach was wearing
a sweatshirt for Sound Experience, which operates the schooner ADVENTURESS
in nearby Seattle, and Alea was looking for sailing opportunities. They fell into
an easy conversation about boats—wooden boats—and have been together
ever since.
“My dad has subscribed to WoodenBoat magazine for as long as I can remember,”
says Alea, who now sails with ADVENTURESS. One year into this new career, she
says, “I love it. All of it. I love the sailing, and I love the winter maintenance.“
Zach has sailed professionally in schooners in Maine and Washington and just
completed his studies at the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building. “The
Getting Started articles are phenomenal,” he says of WoodenBoat magazine’s
supplement that teaches the basics of boating. He’s also devoured many back
issues that include detailed technical articles, finding them to be an important
piece of his boatbuilding education. “I’m saving up for the zip drive with all of
the back issues,” he says. “What a wealth of knowledge!“

Build your wealth of knowledge.
Subscribe to WoodenBoat today.

Call 1-800-877-5284
If outside of the U.S. or Canada, call 1-818-487-2084

www.woodenboat.com
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DESIGNS

The ICW 48
Loon
A Dick Newick
Shoal-draft
monohull
23'
canoe yawl
Commentary by
Robert W. Stephens
Design by
Kees Prins
Commentary by
Mike O’Brien

H

ere’s a trailerable canoe
yawl drawn in the spirit of
Rozinante. Inspired by that
L. Francis Herreshoff masterpiece,
designer Kees (pronounced “Case”)
Prins set out to create a lighter, shallower, and more easily built little boat.
The first images to float from his
drawing table showed an open 23'
daysailer/beach cruiser (WB No.
223, page 40). Later the designer
added 3" of freeboard, 4" of breadth,
and a substantial trunk cabin to give
us the nifty cruiser seen here.
Prins gave Loon a ketch rig,
which will demonstrate the usual

advantages of its type: short masts
(built bird’s-mouth fashion, WB No.
149, page 31); small, easily handled
sails; good helm balance under
reduced sail (the centers of effort
for various sail combinations rest at
about the same longitudinal location); and precise maneuverability
(achieved by backing the mizzen
and/or jib). True enough, the steering gear will be complicated by the
locations of the rudderpost, mizzenmast, and various hatchways.
The arrangement shown in the
scale-model’s photo needed alteration. Prins’s ultimate solution, which

Loon
Particulars
LOA23' 0"
LWL21' 0"
Beam6' 9"
Draft (bd up)
1' 4"

(bd down)
4' 6"
Displacement
2,260 lbs
Trailer weight
1,900 lbs
Sail area
233 sq ft
Power
4-hp outboard

The cruising Loon (top) carries a gaffheaded mainsail. A taller gunter rig
propels the original daysailer (above).

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4-hp outboard in
stored position

Tiller turns around flange
and can hinge up.
Anchor locker
Self-draining
cockpit

AP
8

7

Pivot

Shelf/
backrest

5

4

6

Plywood
knees
3

Flotation
2

1

0

400 lbs ballast

Aperture closes under sail

Stove flat
Outboard in
stored position

Hatch for
motorwell
Storage accessible
from cabin

Flotation

Stove

Fill-in to make
double berth

Toilet
under
bridge
deck
Watertight
bulkhead

Flotation
Rod with
ball joints

Hatch

Watertight
bulkhead

Hatch
to fuel locker Watertight
Cockpit locker
bulkheads between watertight
bulkheads
Fuel locker
(vented to cockpit)

6' 8" berths

Access
hatch

Trunk off-center

Flat for charts, etc.

Anchor locker

Flat for
charts, etc.

Gutter drains
in cockpit Flotation

Backrest

Storage
Shelf
Motor mount

STA 9
FWD

Cockpit
sole

STA 7
FWD

Cockpit
locker

400 lb
ballast

Shelf

Storage

Trunk off-center
STA 5
FWD

STA 4
FWD

Flotation

STA 1
FWD

This canoe yawl holds well-conceived details. An off-center centerboard trunk hides in the furniture. The 4-hp outboard
motor remains completely out of sight whether working or resting. Plenty of flotation will ease our minds, and keep Loon at
the surface, if the worst should happen.

appears in the drawings, makes
good use of readily available stock
hardware as well as some custom
fittings.
Preliminary drawings for the
daysailer show a gunter mainsail.
Concerned that the long yard when
lowered might strike the mizzenmast, the designer now specifies a
gaff-headed mainsail. The short gaff
will swing well clear of other rigging
as it comes down. That gaff-headed
sail (with two halyards) likely will
allow us more exact control of sail
set. In addition, this slender and
shallow hull should appreciate the
gaff rig’s lower overall center of
effort.
The designer likes the look of all

that roach (convex curvature to the
leeches) on the sail plan rendering,
but he worries that batten pockets
can be expensive and the battens
themselves a nuisance. We might get
around both problems by dispensing with the battens and asking our
sailmaker to cut a slight hollow to
the leech of each sail, which should
keep those trailing edges from curling. This alteration will cost us some
sail area, but this boat is hardly
under-rigged as drawn.
Loon’s accommodations seem
fairly traditional—a V-berth forward
with workspace and a galley flat at the
companionway—but Prins’s drawings
bristle with clever detail. In any case,
we should recall that a traditional

layout becomes traditional because it
works. A long off-center centerboard
trunk hides in the face of the chart
flat, under the bridge deck, and in
the starboard wall of the cockpit well.
It’s never in the way, and experience
with similar arrangements suggests
that this boat won’t take any notice of
the asymmetry.
In the self-bailing cockpit, nicely
angled 16"-tall coamings form particularly comfortable backrests.
Pipes and gutters drain the seats
and hatchways at any reasonable
degree of heel. We’ll work recessed
drainpipes into the forward corners
of the footwell as specified…no
puddling here. Some of us might try
to add a few inches to the 6' 2"-long
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DESIGNS

DESIGNS

The ICW 48
A Dick Newick
monohull
Commentary by
Robert W. Stephens

The hull lines (top) describe a narrow and shallow double-ended hull of smooth and gentle shape. In the drawings above,
designer Kees Prins shows how we might line off the strakes if we choose to build a glued-lap hull.

cockpit seats for open-air sleeping.
The designer doesn’t tolerate any
wasted space aboard Loon; note the
flotation compartments below the
rails outboard of the cockpit (Station
7). These supplement vast amounts
of positive flotation elsewhere in the
boat, and will add stability if the boat
swamps.

No compression post interrupts
the V-berth, yet we’ll not worry
about strength. The 17"-tall cabin
face adds to the support offered by a
1½" × 2½" beam, and this structure
mates with the hull through unusually tall knees that descend into the
bilge. Longitudinal “shelves” at the
height of the cockpit seats and berth

extend through much of the boat’s
length and help to form girders,
which add strength and rigidity to
an already strong hull.
As for the hull planking, Prins
would like that we employ ½" cedar
strips sheathed inside and out
with 6-oz fiberglass cloth to create a smooth hull. Nevertheless, he

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DESIGNS

Toerail

3⁄4" x 11⁄4"

Fiberglass

3

⁄8" Deck

3

⁄8"

3 ⁄16 "

or 2 o

f 1⁄4"

Fiberglass

Cabintop
beam
11⁄4" x 11⁄4"

Rubrail

5 ⁄8" x 13 ⁄8"

Clamp

Planking

1⁄2" x 11⁄2"

1⁄2" strips

or 3⁄8" ply

All epoxy glued

1⁄2" x 2"

3 ⁄8"

A detail at the rail (above): Prins suggests we determine the final sheerline by
springing “that batten” around the outside of the right-side-up hull, which will
offer an honest perspective. The upper edges of the cabin trunk (above, right)
include a “brow” that will help define shape.
Polyurethane bedding
Epoxy fillet
or

Cockpit side 3⁄8"

Mushroom
type

Flush
type

Cockpit sole
3⁄8" ply

Fillet

Cockpit drain

Doubler 3⁄8" ply

Two hose clamps

Recessed drains (above) prevent puddling in the cockpit. A preliminary scale model
(above, right) displays the designer’s initial thoughts about the sailing rig and
steering gear. His final solutions appear in the drawings.

understands that some of us will
prefer glued plywood-lapstrake
planking. He has prepared drawings that show proposed plank
lines for a 3⁄8"-plywood glued-lap
hull. This will help preclude poorly
lined-off planking that might distress and embarrass builder and
designer alike.
Given her smooth and gentle
hull lines, Loon should go together
easily no matter the construction

method. The turn to the bilge seems
less firm than we might expect from
so shallow a boat, and there’s not an
abrupt curve in sight.
Prins’s extensive construction
drawings will reward close study,
as they explain the well-conceived
details more efficiently than can
words. You’ll note that he handles
the outboard-motor auxiliary in a
clever manner. The 4-hp engine
remains hidden whether running

or resting. When not needed, it
retracts completely within the
hull…no hydrodynamic drag under
sail and no unsightly appearance.
Given her 16" board-up draft,
1,900-lb empty weight, and long
straight keel, Loon will sit low and
live happily on a simple trailer…an
important consideration for many
sailors today. We can sleep aboard
whether afloat or on land. To those
who might comment on the lack of
space below, considering this boat’s
23' length, Prins explains: “I recommend you look at Loon as a 19-footer
with extended fine ends for performance and grace. By keeping her
relatively narrow and shallow she’ll
be lighter, less expensive, easier to
handle, and quick on her feet.”
Mike O’Brien is boat design editor for
WoodenBoat.
Plans and completed boats from designerbuilder Kees Prins; [email protected].
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LAUNCHINGS

T

hese pages, along with the Boat Launchings section
of www.­woodenboat.com, are dedicated to sharing
recently launched wooden boats built or restored by our
readers. If you’ve launched such a boat within the past
year, please write us at Launchings, WoodenBoat, P.O.
Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616 or email us at launchings@
woodenboat.com.
Please include the following information: (1) the
boat’s length and beam; (2) the name of its design class
or type; (3) the names of the designer, builder, owner,
and photographer; (4) your mailing address along with
an email address or phone number; (5) the port or place
of intended use; (6) date of launching; and (7) a few
sentences describing the construction or restoration. We
prefer digital jpeg images at 300 dpi. Please send no
more than five photographs and enclose a SASE if you
want anything returned.

Below— SOOK was built by Bruce Beglin of Windemere Boats
in Oxford, Maryland, for his twin nine-year-old grandsons,
Tyler and Tanner Beglin. A John Brooks (www.brooks
boatsdesigns.com) Ellen, her 12' hull is built from sapele
mahogany, white oak, and cedar. Tyler and Tanner live near
Cleveland, Ohio, and will use SOOK on local lakes. Bruce
can be reached at [email protected].

Bruce Beglin

Edited by Robin Jettinghoff

Peter M Leenhouts

Left—The students at the Northwest
School of Wooden Boatbuilding
launched a 26', 4-ton Forest Service
boat last August. Three classes of
students worked under Tim Lee on the
cedar-on-oak boat. Designed by H.C.
Hanson in 1957, the hull has a larch
keel, purpleheart stem, and white oak
transom. Her deckhouse and interior
are designed for comfortable cruising in
northern climes. For more information,
visit www.nwboatschool.org.

Above— GROWLER is a 15' × 40" transom-stern canoe designed
and built by Warren Jordan. She has the same hull shape as
Newt, an 11' canoe we reviewed in Small Boats 2011, but can
carry larger loads, including three passengers. She performs
well under paddle or oars, and her transom will hold a small
outboard. Plans are available at www.jordanwoodboats.com.

The Whitcomb Family

Warren Jordan

Below—Stu Whitcomb lived in Portland, Oregon, when
he started building his Core Sound 15. In June 2010,
he trailered the nearly complete 15' 2" LITTLE SHAVER
from Oregon to Lamoine, Maine, his summer residence.
It took him two more summers of work before he was
able to launch her completely finished at the 2012 Small
Reach Regatta in Lamoine. Plans are available at www.
bandbyachtdesigns.com.

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Tami Davidson

Below—Maynard Haslett and Denise Hylton launched their
new Sampan 30, SHANTY, in early February in Belfast,
Maine. Their friend, George Davis, designed and built the
30' × 9' 6" boat with their help. SHANTY, powered with a
15-hp outboard, is made from plywood, white oak, and stock
lumber. Contact them at [email protected].

Denise Hylton

Above—Starting from plans for Glen-L’s (www.glen-l.com)
Celerity design, Richard Hill of Hillsboro, Oregon, spent
10 years building CEAJAY. He built the 14' 6" hull from 1⁄2"
plywood and Douglas-fir, then coated it with epoxy and
fiberglass cloth. He launched CEAJAY last July, and plans to
cruise on Oregon’s waterways. Richard reports that with her
50-hp outboard, she really scoots.

Stephanie Letendre

Right— KYLE’S KANOE , a 16' Wabnaki
Canoe built by Robert Letendre of
Swansea, Massachusetts, was launched
last October. Her hull is strip-planked
western red cedar with maple rails and
oak thwarts. Robert will paddle in Lee’s
River and Mount Hope Bay. He relied
on Gil Gilpatrick’s book, Building a Strip
Canoe, for plans and instructions. That
book is available from The WoodenBoat
Store, www.woodenboatstore.com.

Terry Moran

Courtesy of Gannon & Benjamin

Below—Last summer Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway, of
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, launched two new centerboard
sloops of their Hazel 18 design. The 18' 3" × 6' 3" hulls were built
of 5⁄8" white cedar over oak frames, with marine plywood decks,
and silicon-bronze fastenings. Their 171 sq ft of sail can be
carried on either a marconi or gaff rig. Find out more at www.
gannonandbenjamin.com. 

Above—Terry Moran and his sons, Terry and Sean,
proudly launched their new sailing skiff, MOLLY B, last
June in San Diego, California. They bought plans for
the 12' × 2' 6" tack-and-tape Teal design from Dynamite
Payson. Payson explains how to build the Teal in his
book Instant Boats, available from The WoodenBoat
Store, www.woodenboatstore.com.

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LAUNCHINGS

Benjamin Barnhart

Below—Scott Craw, a retired marine engineer, researched
many boats before falling in love with the lines of the
Pygmy Wineglass wherry (www.pygmyboats.com). He spent
three months building the stitch-and-glue plywood boat.
Launched last summer, the 14' CATHY ANN will take Scott
rowing and fishing in the lakes and rivers near his home in
Marinette, Wisconsin. 

Jimmie Jessup

Scott Craw

Above—After graduating from the Northwest School of
Wooden Boatbuilding, Benjamin Barnhart is now building
boats in Berkeley, California. His latest launch is a 14' 6" skinon-frame kayak he designed. Inspired by Greenland and
Aleut kayaks, he built the 22-lb boat by eye from western red
cedar, Alaska yellow cedar, white oak, artificial sinew, and
ballistic nylon. Contact Ben at [email protected].

Above— Over 12 years, Jimmie Jessup built this 19' Fenwick
Williams catboat, CAT BE QUICK , using scrap alder from
a wood shutter plant, and plywood from a big-box store.
Jimmie increased the cabin length, allowing berths for
four below, along with a sink and porta-potti. Jimmie sails
near his home in Tracy, California. Plans are available at
www.thewoodenboatstore.com.

Carlotta Padua

Viveka Fox

Below—Pasquale Zottola, who runs the Cantiere Pasquale Zottola
Shipyard in Gaeta, Italy, designed and built MONTISOLA for
Fabrizio Padua of Rome. Pasquale spent six months on the
project, an Italy 23 design. She has an azobè keel, iroko
planking, and teak deck. Fabrizio will cruise on MONTISOLA
in the Gulf of Gaeta. Visit www.cantierezottola.com for more
information.

Above—This 14' solo tripper canoe, a Sylva design, weighs
just 35 lbs. Peter Macfarlane of Otter Creek Smallcraft in
Vergennes, Vermont, designed and built her last year from
western red cedar with cherry trim. This spring, he took her
on a solo through-paddle of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail,
a 740-mile route from New York to northern Maine. Find
out more about the canoe at www.ottercreeksmallcraft.com.

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...AND RELAUNCHINGS

Norm Ashley

Right—About 20 years ago, Norm
Ashley built this 13' 11" Daisy doublepaddle canoe designed by Tom Hill
(www.thomasjhillboatdesigns.com).
Later, Norm removed the sheerstrake
and built a deck and coaming around
the cockpit to keep the boat drier in
choppy water. This year, he gave DAISY
a complete renovation, repairing the
damage of 20 years’ use, plus stripping
and refinishing. Norm relaunched
DAISY this summer.

Courtesy of Gig Harbor BoatShop

Courtesy of Brooklin Boat Yard

Below—Under direction of Jaime Storkman and Bill Isaacs,
volunteers at the Gig Harbor BoatShop recently restored
PIROUETTE . She is Thunderbird hull No. 2, designed
by Ben Seaborn and built by Ed Hoppen in 1959, at the
BoatShop, located in Gig Harbor, Washington. The team
replaced the deckbeams and decking, keel timber, cockpit
floor, and more. Find out more at www.gigharborboatshop.
com.

Above—In 2010, VIXEN, a 33' Knud Reimers–designed
15-square-meter sloop, won the 1,000-mile Uffa Fox
Challenge race from Cowes, England, to Trosa, Sweden.
Knowing that, her new owner bought her sight unseen,
packed her into a container, and shipped her directly to
Brooklin Boat Yard (www.brooklinboatyard.com) for a refit.
The yard relaunched VIXEN last September.

Hints for taking good photos of your boat:

Courtesy of Grosse Pointe Yacht Club

1. Pictures need to be at 300 dpi or larger to be printed in the
magazine. Send no more than five unretouched jpgs. We also
accept transparencies and high-quality prints.
2. Clean the boat. Stow fenders and extraneous gear below.
Properly ship or stow oars, and give the sails a good harbor
furl if you’re at anchor.
3. Schedule the photo session for early, or late, in the day to
take advantage of low-angle sunlight. Avoid shooting at high
noon and on overcast days.
4. Be certain that the horizon appears level in your viewfinder.
5. Keep the background simple and/or scenic. On a flat page,
objects in the middle distance can appear to become part of
your boat. Take care that it doesn’t sprout trees, flagpoles,
smokestacks, or additional masts and crew members.

Above—Matthews Boat Company of Port Clinton, Ohio,
built this 42' Sedan Express Cruiser in 1948. Beverly and
Ross Stone have owned ONCE AGAIN for 11 years and just
finished an extensive restoration, their eighth such project.
Work included replacement of planks, frames, galley, head,
and more. They cruise out of Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

6. Take many photos, and send us no more than five. Include
some action shots and some of the boat at rest. Pictures in a
vertical format are also welcome.

We enjoy learning of your work—it affirms the vitality of the
wooden boat community. Unfortunately, a lack of space prevents our
publishing all the material submitted. If you wish to have your photos
returned, please include a SASE. 

November/December 2013 • 107

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REVIEW

PRODUCTS • BOOKS • VIDEOS • STUFF

The Prazi 
Beam Cutter
for Circular Saws  
by Greg Rössel

A

handheld worm-drive circular saw has a lot to
offer a small shop. It’s relatively heavy, stable,
and accurate, and packs a lot of punch—
often comparable to a tablesaw’s power. The tool
really shines when cross-cutting and ripping heavy
timbers, especially because there’s no need to set up
elaborate infeed and outfeed tables as there is with
a stationary saw. There’s also no wrestling unwieldy,
back-breaking lengths of potentially warped lumber
onto the table and holding it against the fence in
hopes of a straight cut.
Instead, you simply secure the stock on a benchtop
or sawhorses, lay out the cut line, and run the saw down
that. If the stock is too thick for the depth of the blade,
flip the stock over, lay out the cut line to match that on
the other side, and cut again. If there is still a bit more
wood between the matching saw kerfs, you can probably
cut through the remainder with a reciprocating saw with
a long blade. Flip the piece on its side, clean up the kerfs
with a handheld planer, and you are in business. It takes
a little time, but you still have all your fingers and you
don’t need to make an appointment with your chiropractor. Still, there are times when you do wish the cuts
could be done in a more efficient fashion.
Enter, the Prazi PR-7000 Beam Cutter. This rugged
chainsaw-bar accessory has a 12" cutting capacity and is
designed to attach to your circular saw in place of the
standard circular blade; the drive sprocket of the bar
is simply slid over the saw spindle of the machine and
bolted into place. The chainsaw bar extends through
the foot plate of the saw in the same way the ruler

blade extends out of a combination square. The bar
assembly is further secured to the frame with bolts. The
result is a very impressive (and somewhat daunting in
appearance) assembly. This is no lightweight piece of
equipment: When installed, my Skil 77 and Prazi cutter
combo weighed roughly 17 lbs.
Here are a few nuts-and-bolts observations about
the business part of the device: The chain is a special,
resharpenable ripping and cross-cutting, anti-kickback
one made for the tool by Oregon. It retails for $25. In
addition to the anti-kickback safety feature, the tool has
a kerf splitter on the trailing edge of the bar, similar to
what you might find on a tablesaw.
Prazi, the saw’s manufacturer, notes that as the beam

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cutter runs at roughly half the rpm of a conventional
chainsaw, it does not get as hot when cross-cutting, so
regular chainsaw lubricant is not needed. That said,
they do suggest spraying the bar and chain with silicone lubricant every 10 or 15 cuts. Additionally, if you
are ripping a distance of 10' or more, they recommend
spraying the bar every 2'.
The chain tension is easily adjusted by simply backing off a couple of Allen-head screws, moving a lever,
and retightening. This was necessary a few times early
on in the test cuts, and may have been due to normal
stretching of the new chain.
As with any chainsaw, the quality of the cut will be
dependent on the chain being properly sharpened, tensioned, and oiled. With these things properly tended,
how did the device work? Quite well, it turns out. For
the tests, the beam cutter was used on a 4"-thick dry
locust beam, an 8" pine beam, and a heavily creosotesaturated railroad tie, and all produced roughly equal
results. Interestingly, the heavy saw combination was
not as unwieldy as I would have thought; in fact, the
weight may help with stability.  The cut produced is
chainsaw-smooth, which means you must leave a bit
of stock to clean up with your edge tools. If a fence is
clamped or nailed to the stock, the saw tracks nicely,
producing a respectably straight cut. The results are
less good if the tool is used freehand following a line—
although probably straighter and squarer than one cut
done with a standard chainsaw.
As the device is attached to the saw in much the same
way the circular-saw blade was, the saw’s adjustable foot
plate allows you to cut angles from true square up to 45
degrees. In this orientation, the device worked well, cutting a straight bevel cut. The saw also did a good job of
cutting square lap joint notches without the overcut that
sometimes occurs when using a circular saw.
Potential marine uses of the Prazi Beam Cutter
include: tapering a spar, rough shaping of keel stock
or heavy deckbeams, fashioning scarf joints, and cutting shoring blocks. Other non-marine uses might
include post-and-beam construction, raised frame
garden bed fabrication, building industrial-strength
stair jacks (stringers), cutting window and door openings into Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), and rafter
pitch cuts.
Finally, a safety note: It is important to remember
that your formerly safe(ish) circular saw is a very different unit once the Beam Cutter is added to it. It is now
a chainsaw with an electric motor. The tool no longer
has a guard that covers the blade when you finish the
cut. Additionally, attention needs to be given to the
very long bar extending a considerable distance out of
the wood being cut, and ready to cut anything else it
encounters, be it a sawhorse, workbench, or you. With
that caveat, the Prazi works as advertised.
The PR-7000 worm-drive unit fits any 7 1⁄4" or 8 1⁄2" Bosch or
Skil worm-drive saw. Prazi also makes the PR-2700, which fits
90 percent of non-worm-drive circular saws. For details, contact
Prazi USA, 214 Rear South Meadows Rd., Plymouth, MA 02360;
800–262–0211; www.praziusa.com.

Voyaging Under
Power
Voyaging Under Power, Fourth edition, by Capt. Robert
P. Beebe. Revised by Denis D. Umstot. McGraw-Hill.
Hardcover, 448 pp., $44.95.

Reviewed by Jay Picotte

M

y initial reaction when asked to review a book
about cruising powerboats was very enthusiastic. The previous (windless) day had been spent
in a 24' sailboat with my 11-year-old son bucking the current along Vineyard Sound, watching our speed drop
down to 1 knot at times—with the feeble assistance of
a one-cylinder diesel auxiliary. We were also watching
countless powerboats zip by, seemingly unaffected by
the swift current. I was entertaining shameful thoughts
for a sailor: Maybe a cruising powerboat is a good idea.
As it turns out, Voyaging Under Power is not quite the
cruising guide for whiny sailors that I was ready for.
In fact, it is a thorough, practical, and academic text
designed to inform readers about the concept of traveling around the world aboard their own powerboats
and how to do it safely and efficiently. The first edition
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Woodenboat Review

was published in 1975, when global voyaging on small
motoryachts was relatively unheard of. The book was
immediately embraced among long-distance power
cruisers and has often been referred to as their bible.
Author Robert Beebe was born in 1909 and, like
many of us, was obsessed with boats from an early age.
His fascinating life as a sailor, naval aviator, aircraft carrier navigator, yacht designer, and writer is worthy of its
own book. Beebe’s ideas for voyaging under power first
came to him while serving in the South Pacific aboard
the USS SARATOGA during World War II. He was aware
that long-range cruisers had always been limited to the
“standard track,” avoiding the areas with little or no
wind. Considerable range under power would open
up new worlds to them. In his spare time onboard, he
sketched and doodled until he finally came up with a
design for a long, skinny, three-masted, motorsailing
schooner of 54'.
After the war, he was surprised and pleased to see
in The Rudder magazine that L. Francis Herreshoff
had the same ideas and almost simultaneously came
up with the 55' MARCO POLO —also a long, skinny, and
three-masted auxiliary schooner. For the August and
September 1946 issues of The Rudder, Beebe wrote an
article on “Postwar Pacific Cruising” in which he praised
Herreshoff’s design as being ideally suited. He zeroed
in on its ability under power by writing that it fulfills the
needs of an owner who “may dream of spending months
lying under the shade of a palm, watching sarong-clad
native girls dance for his amusement, but must limit his
cruise to a definite time and get back to the old grind,
where he may happily accumulate enough of the wherewithal to go cruising again.”
In 1962 Beebe designed for himself, and had built in
Singapore, PASSAGEMAKER , a 50' motorsailer that he
cruised extensively around the world. PASSAGEMAKER
is often used as an example throughout the book and
has served as inspiration for subsequent designs and
generations of voyagers, as well as for the magazine that
shares her name: PassageMaker, The Trawler and Ocean
Motorboat Magazine, the founder of which wrote the
foreword to the book.
Each edition of Voyaging Under Power has been
updated and expanded, including the views and contributions of others in the “Passagemaking” community.
The current edition, revised by Denis Umstot, is the
most expansive yet. A former professor of management
in the United States Air Force and at universities in the
United States and Hong Kong, Umstot is also a very
experienced voyager with two transatlantics and over
60,000 miles cruised aboard TEKA III, another Robert
Beebe–designed passagemaker.
Umstot engages a very long and impressive list of
contributors. For matters related to design, he has chosen a knowledgeable crew of boat owners, designers,
builders, and writers. On matters of cruising and seamanship, he enlists a group that’s similarly experienced
in weather, medicine, engineering, and navigating.
These writers offer expertise, varying (and sometimes
differing) points of view, and valuable accounts of voyaging experiences. Among the many contributors are
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Woodenboat Review

Linda and Steve Dashew, Dave Gerr, and Lin and Larry
Pardey.
This fourth edition is well thought out and
exhaustive in its scope, with chapters that present
everything from the historical background of power
voyaging with fascinating stories of the stout little
craft and brave voyagers who led the way, to modern
gyro-stabilization systems and the benefits and disadvantages of bow bulbs. There are timely and relevant topics and chapters that shed light on piracy and
high-risk destinations, health risks, satellite phones,
weather tools and forecasting, and the social dynamics of voyaging. But the substance of this book comes
from the comprehensive technical information, the
seamanship that is imparted, and the valuable information on various boats and their differences.
The technical information included amounts to
a crash course in the fundamentals of naval architecture. Displacement/length ratio, speed/length ratio,
prismatic coefficients, center of buoyancy, and stability
curves are all touched upon, but they’re explained in a
thoughtful, clear way for the layman—often with relatively simple charts, tables, diagrams, and real-world
examples. For example, in explaining righting forces
and the metacenter with an accompanying diagram,
Umstot writes, “The distance between the center of
gravity and the metacenter is designated as GM. This
distance is a measure of the amount of reserve stability
of the boat. It is possible for a boat owner to significantly
change the GM by adding such equipment as a heavyweight dinghy with a large outboard and fuel tanks.”
There’s a wealth of important information about the
preparation for and planning of voyages, and the ins
and outs of destinations around the world, and all of it
is presented by those who have experienced it. Prospective voyagers will be pleased to find chapters comparing
a number of current and past ocean-voyaging designs.
In addition to the numerous tables and diagrams,
Voyaging Under Power has five helpful appendices that
include a recommended bibliography and a method for
figuring a boat’s horsepower and range.
Despite the 38 years since first being published, Voyaging Under Power is up to date, and the current edition
is packed with information. In fact, it raises the question, “Is it too much?” For casual weekend boaters, perhaps. For everyone else, it’s not. The information will
be invaluable to serious offshore voyagers, and most of
it will be useful and instructive to coastal cruisers in
both sailboats and powerboats. It could also be a handy
reference for armchair voyagers, as well.
It does seem, however, after studying Appendix C,
that most of these “passagemaking” trawlers don’t go
much faster than my 24' sailboat. They too would be
frustratingly impeded by the strong current in Vineyard
Sound. For the next couple of years, when necessary, I’ll
just try to get up a little bit earlier to catch the tide. And
then I’ll start looking into power voyaging.
Jay Picotte is a lifelong sailor and powerboater. He is the former curator of the Museum of Yachting in his hometown of Newport, Rhode
Island.

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November/December 2013 • 111

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WOODENBOAT REVIEW

Statement required by the Act of August 12, 1970, Section
3685, Title 39, United States Code. Showing the ownership,
management, and circulation:
WoodenBoat is published bimonthly in January, March, May,
July, September, and November at 41 WoodenBoat Lane,
Brooklin, Maine 04616.
Number of issues published annually: six. Annual subscription
price: $32.00. The general business offices of the Publisher
are located at 41 WoodenBoat Lane, Brooklin, Maine 04616.
The names and addresses of the Publisher and Editor are:
Publisher, Carl Cramer, P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616;
Editor, Matthew P. Murphy, P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616.
The owner is WoodenBoat Publications, Incorporated,
P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616. The names and addresses
of stock-holders holding 1% or more of the total amount of
stock are: Jonathan A. Wilson, P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME
04616. The known bondholders, mortgagees, and other
security holders owning or holding 1% or more of the total
amount of bonds, mortgages, and other securities are: Bar
Harbor Bank and Trust, P.O. Box 400, Bar Harbor, ME 04609
and Peoples United Bank, P.O. Box 925, Bangor, ME 04402.
The average number of copies each issue during the
preceding 12 months are:
A) Total number of copies printed: . . . . . . . . . . . . .115,988
B) Paid circulation:
1) Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors,
and counter sales: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27,608
2) Mail subscriptions: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33,363
C) Total paid circulation:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60,971
D) Free distribution by mail, carrier, or other means:
sample, complimentary, and other free copies:. . . .2,429
E) Total distribution: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63,400
F) Copies not distributed:
Office use, left over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing
and returns from news agents: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52,588
G) Total: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115,988
The actual number of copies for single issue nearest filing
date are:
A) Total number of copies printed: . . . . . . . . . . . . .112,719
B) Paid circulation:
1) Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors,
and counter sales: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27,411
2) Mail subscriptions: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33,053
C) Total paid circulation:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60,464
D) Free distribution by mail, carrier, or other means:
sample, complimentary, and other free copies:. . . .2,698
E) Total distribution: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63,162
F) Copies not distributed:
Office use, left over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing
and returns from news agents: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49,557
G) Total: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112,719
I certify that the above statements made by me are correct
and complete.
Carl Cramer, Publisher
WoodenBoat Publications, Inc.

Deer Isle’s Undefeated
AMERICA’s Cup
Crews
Deer Isle’s Undefeated AMERICA’s Cup Crews, by Mark J.
Gabrielson. The History Press, 645 Meeting St., Suite
200, Charleston, SC 29403. Softcover, 176 pp., $19.99.

Reviewed by Roger Vaughan

A

mong the persistent problems plaguing the current AMERICA’s Cup are personal risk and
nationality. The risk emanates from the 72' catamarans. The boats foil near 50 knots at times, sailing
on the edge of control. One of them has flipped in practice, killing a crewman. Now the crews wear helmets,
body armor, and so much safety equipment they could
sink like ebony logs if their life jackets failed. Nationality has to do with the fact that most of the crewmen do
not hail from the country they are representing. Once
again, reading a bit of history proves there is little new
on AMERICA’s Cup waters.
Deer Isle’s Undefeated AMERICA’s Cup Crews, by Mark

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Woodenboat Review

J. Gabrielson, is an engaging, well-crafted book that
delves into the little-known story of two entire AMERICA’s Cup crews that hailed from Deer Isle, Maine, on
Penobscot Bay. Undefeated (my only real complaint with
the book is its cumbersome title) is a fascinating read
for anyone who is at all interested in the evolution of the
Cup, and also for those who have been bothered and
bewildered by the goings-on in San Francisco over the
past year. Undefeated is about AMERICA’s Cups X (1895)
and XI (1899), but some of the similarities with both AC
XXXIII (2010) and AC XXXIV (2013) are uncanny.
With salty clarity, Gabrielson begins by taking us
into the rugged world of crewing on the large, gaffrigged sloops that were the epitome of grand prix racing in the late 1800s. He quotes Cup historian Jerome
Brooks writing about a heavy-weather AMERICA’s Cup
race between defender VIGILANT (USA) pressing to
catch challenger Valkyrie (U.K.) in 1893:
On 124-foot Vigilant, trailing by 600 yards…up went
her spinnaker. Then her balloon tops’l was sent up in stops. Its
halyard jammed…a hand scrambled to the topmast head and
down its stay to release the fouled line. Two others went aloft,
one to the sky at the topmast head where he lashed the head and
tack of the working tops’l and prepared to send its halyard to
the deck. His partner, hanging onto the wind with his teeth,
hauled himself out on the gaff to help with the tops’l and bring
its sheet to deck.
Talk about personal risk. But in those days, scrambling aloft was simply part of sailing. Only in recent
years have we become obsessed with protecting ourselves from ourselves.
Until 1895, the 30 or more crew required for the
pulling and hauling on deck (and aloft) were often
Scandinavians, hence the term “Swedish Steam” that
was applied to the white-uniformed deck gangs. Then,
Gabrielson writes, famed helmsman Charlie Barr
returned from a race in Europe and told his syndicate
manager, C. Oliver Iselin (manager of five successful
American defenses), about the English crew that all
came from a seafaring town called Wivenhoe. The
hardscrabble blue-collar town up the River Colne in
Essex built, serviced, and stored yachts and provided
captains and crews. Iselin told Hank Haff, skipper or
tactician of four winning Cup defenders, about Wivenhoe. Haff went to see George Conant, a Deer Isle man
who had long sailed with him. Conant related his conversation with Haff to a reporter from the New York Sun
in 1899:
“Thirteen years ago when I was second mate on Mayflower
and we licked Galatea, Capt. Hank Haff he said, ‘This
beatin’ the British is alright, but I ain’t satisfied. Here these
races are for the America’s Cup. They’re sailed in American
boats built of American material by American working men
and sailed by American masters (and) by thunderation they
ought to be manned by American crews. Couldn’t we get a full
crew of Deer Islers?’ And I says, we could, Capt. Hank. And
he says, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Gabrielson paints a gritty portrait of Deer Isle in the
1700s and 1800s, where proud residents took their hard

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1-800-877-5284 (U.S. and Canada)
1-818-487-2084 (Overseas)
Internet: http://www.woodenboat.com

WoodenBoat is now
available in digital format.
Go to
www.woodenboat.com

TO CALL ABOUT YOUR SUBSCRIPTION:

If you have a question about your subscription, an address
change, or a missing or damaged issue, call Toll-Free,
Monday through Friday, 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., PT:

1-800-877-5284 (U.S. & CANADA)
1-818-487-2084 (Overseas)

TO CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS:
Either call 1-800-877-5284 or write to our subscription department (address below) AS SOON AS YOU KNOW YOUR NEW
ADDRESS. Please don’t depend on your post office to notify
us. Please give us your old address as well as your new when you
notify us, and the date your new address becomes effective.

TO CALL OUR EDITORIAL, ADVERTISING,
AND BOAT SCHOOL OFFICES:
Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., EST:
207-359-4651; FAX 207-359-8920

TO WRITE:
For subscriptions:

For anything else:

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Subscription Dept.
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<[email protected]>

OVERSEAS SUBSCRIPTION OFFICES:
Australia and New Zealand

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Boat Books
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Europe

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9216 ZH Oudega (Sm)
The Netherlands
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1 yr
2 yrs
3 yrs

Holland/
Germany
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United
Kingdom
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(CE tax included)

November/December 2013 • 113

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Woodenboat Review

Build and Sail the
Scamp Pocket Cruiser
with John Welsford and Howard Rice

March 31–April 11 & August 11–22, 2014

Photo Courtesy: Small Craft Advisor Magazine

at the Northwest Maritime Center
in Port Townsend, WA

Learn more about John Welsford and the Scamp in the
March/April 2012 issue of WoodenBoat. Howard Rice is the
famed small boat adventurer and Cape Horn solo sailor.
For more information or to register, please contact the School at
360-385-4948 or e-mail us at [email protected]
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is hosting
several short workshops in 2014. Check out our web site
for additional classes.

www.nwboatschool.org

/NWBoatSchool
/NorthwestMaritimeCenter

t Oval head brass canOe tacks
t ring thread silicOn brOnze nails
t cOpper clOut nails
t cOpper canOe nails
t brass escutcheOn pins

canadian tack and nail (2003) ltd.
431 Dundas St., Cambridge,
Ontario N1R 5R5 CANADA
Phone 519-622-0400
Fax 519-621-2098
www.canadiantackandnail.ca
E-mail [email protected]

life in stride. With no causeways, people traveled at low
tide. Access to the mainland was by boat. They farmed
and fished. Thanks to the coastal freight trade, many
men had become masters of handling large fore-andaft rigged sailing vessels. And they didn’t like the British. The suffering heaped upon them by the redcoats
during the Revolutionary War was still an open wound.
Both the talent and the motivation were in place on
Deer Isle. And as Gabrielson writes, “A fisherman’s life
is continued racing. It’s get out with your seines, make
your haul and scurry to port before the increased supply has lowered the price.”
Capt. Hank Haff set up camp in Deer Isle and selected
35 men for the campaign of 1895. Off they went to
Bristol, Rhode Island (at $35 a month plus $4 each for
every race won), to prepare DEFENDER to race against
Lord Dunraven’s VALKYRIE III. Little did those Maine
sailors know they were about to enter the most controversial match in Cup history. Gabrielson’s detailed
account of that match with its large, unruly spectator fleet; VALKYRIE’s costly foul at the start; the Deer
Islers’ heroic work aloft that saved DEFENDER’s mast;
Dunraven’s fury over having VALKYRIE’s win revoked
and awarded to DEFENDER—and his consequent accusation that DEFENDER cheated by surreptitiously adding ballast—is riveting. Provocatively, Gabrielson leaves
that latter accusation unresolved. He also has an observation for those who have long thought the AMERICA’s
Cup went commercial in 1980: “Lord Dunraven failed
to understand the nature of the contest he had entered.
He mistakenly believed that the 1895 AMERICA’s Cup
was a sporting contest among wealthy and largely amateur gentlemen. He was incorrect. What the AMERICA’s
Cup had become was a media event, in many respects a
precursor of 21st Century professional sports.”
Mark Gabrielson has added a lively gem to AMERICA’s Cup literature. The book is enhanced by a tasty
assortment of black-and-white photos from Mystic Seaport’s archives.
Sailing writer Roger Vaughan’s latest book is The Strenuous Life
of Harry Anderson, to be published by Mystic Seaport in November.

Books Received
Rough Passage to London: A Sea Captain’s Tale, by Robin
Lloyd. Published by Sheridan House, Inc., 145 Palisade
St., Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522; www.rowman.com. 342 pp.,
paperback, $24.95. ISBN: 978–1–57409–320–9. The
author is a descendant of Capt. Ely Morgan, and has combined extensive research with his family’s artifacts to craft this
fictional tale about his seafaring ancestor.
Broken Seas: True Tales of Extraordinary Seafaring Adventures, by Marlin Bree. Published by Marlor Press, 4304
Brigadoon Dr., St. Paul, MN 55126; www.marlinbree.
com. 212 pp., paperback, $15.95. ISBN: 978–1–892147–
09–2. A collection of remarkable tales of adventure, rescue,
and loss on the high seas.

114 • WoodenBoat 235

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Woodenboat Review

* Paul Elvstrøm Explains the Racing Rules of Sailing, by
Paul Elvstrøm. Published by International Marine–
McGraw-Hill, 90 Mechanic St., Camden, ME 04843;
www.internationalmarine.com. 240 pp., paperback,
$28. ISBN: 978–0–07–181073–9. This pocket-sized book
lists all of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF)
rules, then explains them while offering case histories of
past rulings; includes a waterproof cover that holds four
plastic sailboat models that can be used in protest hearings.
* Story of the Vikings Coloring Book, by A.G. Smith. Published by Dover Publications, 31 East 2nd St., Mineola, NY 11501, www.doverpublications.com. 48 pp.,
paperback, $5.99, ISBN: 978–0–486–49439–5. A
reprint of one of Dover’s many detailed and educational
coloring books, this edition is aligned with the Common
Core State Standards and a link to a Teacher’s Guide.

Yacht Sails
Rigging
BUILDERS OF HIGH-QUALITY HAND-FINISHED SAILS
Full-service sail and rigging loft
P.O. Box 71, Lincoln St., East Boothbay, Maine 04544
(207) 633-5071
Strong Saluting Cannons:
J Muller (4, 8,10 ga), 21 Inch
Strong (8,10), Sundancer (10 ga )
and Herreshoff (10ga). clockwise
from upper left.

Call or email us today to order
your saluting cannon.

The Gale of 1929: A True Story of Adventure on the High
Seas, by Gary Collins. Published by Flanker Press,
P.O. Box 2522, Station C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 6K1,
Canada. 268 pp., paperback, $19.95. ISBN: 978–
1–77117–309–4. On a November night in 1929, eleven
schooners left St. John’s, Newfoundland, headed for home,
and sailed directly into a hurricane.
* Reeds Knot Handbook, by Jim Whippy. Published
by Paradise Cay Publications, P.O. Box 29, Arcata,
CA 95518. 128 pp., softcover, $9.95. ISBN: 978–0–
939837–9–39. This book presents photographs and drawings of common knots, bends, and hitches, grouped in
color-coded sections; also includes a concise introduction to
the tools, terms, and materials needed by the marlinespike
sailor.
Flagship NIAGARA Ship’s Boats Manual, by Capt. Walter P. Rybka. Published by the U.S. Brig NIAGARA
Sailing Programs, Flagship NIAGARA League, Erie
Maritime Museum, 150 East Front St., Suite 100,
Erie, PA 16507; www.flagshipniagara.org.80 pp,
spiral-­bound, $15. The brig NIAGARA is a sail-training
vessel. This manual is issued to the students that train
aboard her.

203 283-1826
www.strongfirearms.com
[email protected]

DOMESTIC FASTENERS

C C FA S T E N E R S
ReliaBle Quality FaSteneRS

BOLTS – Our Silicon Bronze Carriage Bolts
and Slotted Flat Head Machine Bolts are
domestic made from 655 alloy, all full
body, cut thread, partially threaded for
that tight seal.

SCREWS – Our Silicon Bronze wood

screws are full body, cut thread for that
tight seal. Domestic made wood screws
are available.
Material:
Silicon Bronze 651, 655 Stainless 304, 316
Monel 400, K500
Brass
inconel 600, 625
Chrome Plated

T: 800–315–8808
T: 716–873–2640
F: 716–873–2651
Online Store: www.ccfasteners.com
Email: [email protected]

DVD
* Wood Sails Dreams: The Resurgence of Wooden Boats,
and the Search for a Moment of Grace under Sail.
Produced by John Stanton, Shouldered Oar Films,
www.shoulderedoarfilms.net. 56 minutes, wide­
screen, $19.95. WoodenBoat founder Jon Wilson narrates this beautifully produced documentary describing how
the culture of wooden boats—the so-called Wooden Boat
Revival—has grown and flourished since the 1970s.
* Available from The WoodenBoat Store,
www.woodenboatstore.com

…the World’s Finest Oars and Paddles, since 1858.
Handcrafted in Maine, used all over the world.
• Oars and Paddles
• Wooden Masts and Spars
• Bronze Rowing Hardware
• Adirondack Guide Boat Oars and Hardware
• Boat Hooks
• Wooden Flagpoles
• The Shaw & Tenney Whitehall

www.shawandtenney.com
PO Box 213, Orono, Maine 04473 – 800-240-4867
November/December 2013 • 115

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Vintage Boats
and&Services
KITS
PLANS

Reproductions of the finest
watercraft ever produced.

Traditional construction with modern materials.
Exact detailing in all aspects, steering wheels,
controls, instrumentation, etc. Small family shop
ensures superb quality control. No fluff, no dreams,
just beautiful, faithfully reproduced boats at an
attractive price. Many models from 20 to 30 feet.

ish ros

F
B
MaRiNE SERvicE

6 Newcomb Street, Queensbury, NY 12804
518–798–4769 • [email protected]
www.fishcustomboats.com

Now
taking
orders
for
delivery
in 2014

116 • WoodenBoat 235

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9/27/13 11:18 AM

Available: Ventnor K-Class Raceboat

Available: Miss Crude - Gold Cup Hisso V8

Available: Lockpat II - 1931 40’ Hacker Custom Runabout V12 Packard 2025 cu.in.

Available: 1996 GarWood 33’ Replica

Available: 1930 Hacker-Craft 30’ Triple Cockpit

Available: 1929 Chris-Craft Upswept

Available: Chris-Craft 26’ Special Racer

S

Available: 1932 GarWood 25’ Triple

ince 1971, we have offered complete restorations of vintage runabouts and new boat construction. We have been selected
by top boat collectors around the world to restore and maintain some of the most sought-after boats in existence. For
those interested in buying or selling rare and collectible runabouts and race boats, we now offer a brokerage service.

989-686-7353

Check our website for a complete list of vintage boats and engines

www.morinboats.com

[email protected]

Woodies Restorations
Restorers of Fine Vintage Watercraft

Antique and Classic Boat Restorations
Consultation, Sales and Service
On Beautiful Lake Cumberland
653 Lakeway Drive | Russell Springs, KY 42642

Home of the Building Memories Experience!
Custom Canvas and Vinyl Upholstery Solutions

www.woodiesrestorations.com
270-866-2628 (boat) | 270-866-3998 (vinyl)

November/December 2013 • 117

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BOATBROKERS
Own a Piece of History

“SHeila” 1905
The canoe-yawl that started the trend
of the small cruising yacht.
meticulously maintained for 36 years
under the custodianship of
michael Burn.
For DetaileD History and
Commentary see link:
www.woodenboat.com/1905-canoe-yawl

Information: michael Burn

(44) 07709 430889
[email protected]

length: 25'
Beam: 6' 9"
Draft: 3' 10"
location: suffolk, england
Price $39,950

T

L
L
L
B
D

w
118 • WoodenBoat 235

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9/26/13 12:46 PM

W-Class W.37
“She’s the one you’ve been waiting for.”

“RACE HORSE”
Spirit of Tradition Racer / Cruiser

The Spirit of the Future...The Soul of the Past ™
Designer: Stephens, Waring & White
Builder: Brooklin Boat Yard

LOA
LOD
LWL
Beam
Draft

43´– 6˝
37´–0˝
33´– 3˝
11´– 8˝
8´– 0˝

Displ.
SA
Power
SA/D
D/L

8,000 lbs.
886 sq. ft.
12 hp
38.7
85

Donald Tofias
Yacht Developer
W-Class
W
-Class Yacht Company
(401) 619 -1190

www.w-class.com

W-Class
W
-Class Yacht Company • One Washington Street
Newport, Rhode Island • (401
401)) 619-1190

WB235Brokers.indd 119

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BOATBROKERS

Metinic
Yacht
Brokers

David Jones Yacht Brokerage

Classic Wooden Boats
P.O. Box 898, Rockport, ME 04856
207-236-7048 Fax 207-230-0177 Email: [email protected]

www.davidjonesclassics.com

124 Horseshoe Cove Rd., Harborside, Maine 04642 • 207–326–4411
—Located at Seal Cove Boatyard—

GLORY

rob 35, cheoy Lee built, '63.
new Yanmar engine, nearly
new sails, good condition.
$39,500

CHARISMATIC

Dark harbor 17, good
condition, new mast
step/forefoot, new deck.
$14,000

PRIMA DONNA—1954 Sparkman & Stephens
Nevins-40 Yawl. Built by the famous Henry Nevins
yard, this keel/centerboard vessel is very well cared
for by Rockport Marine and offered for sale at
$110,000. Survey and details list available. (ME).

120 • WoodenBoat 235

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BOATBUILDERS
Rumery’s Boat Yard
Biddeford, Maine 04005
(207)282-0408
www.rumerys.com

Elegant & fast – no wake
Your choice of deck and cabin layout

Rumery’s 38

A full service boatyard
Heated storage, custom construction
Repairs & restoration of wooden &
composite boats to 60 feet

November/December 2013 • 121

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32' Noank Schooner Restoration

Beetle Cat® Boat Shop
Traditional wooden boat building and restoration
from skiffs to 50' power and sailboats.

Sole Builder of the Beetle Cat Boat

New 12' Onset Island Skiff

We offer

BOATBUILDERS

New Boats • Used Boats
• Storage • Parts
• repairs • Maintenance

Beetle, Inc.
3 Thatcher Lane
Wareham, MA 02571
Tel 508.295.8585
fax 508.295.8949
www.beetlecat.com

Celebrating 65 Years
Beetle Cat — Celebrating 91 Years

Celebrating 65 Years

Offering a full range of services since 1946.
Storage available for this winter.
Register your Crocker Design at

www.CrockersBoatYard.com
Manchester, Massachusetts



888-332-6004

122 • WoodenBoat 235

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Please Visit Our W
9/26/13 1:25 PM

!"#$%&'(#)*#'+,$-.&*$/".($
0$).)1('.23*4$5.667)3*819&,#:$;..:#)$9.&*$$
973<:3)=$$&(('#)*35#$('.='&6$

• Monhegan
Island Skiffs

$

!
r n ext se a so n
O r d er n o w f o

• Catspaw Dinghies
www.carpentersboatshop.org

207/677-2614
Building boats, Nurturing lives, Helping others

Boatbuilders

Give your wooden boat
the care she deserves
Our specialty is
wooden boat
construction,
restoration and repair.

• Peapods and Dories

D.N. Hylan & Associates

Traditional Boat, LLC

We are a full service
wooden boat yard.

Classic designs
rendered for the
twenty-first
century

Our reasonable rates
($38/hr) make it
all possible.
Recent Project:

Visit our website

You might discover that

Custom Design
&
Construction
is well within your reach

www.mainetraditionalboat.com
ABYC Certified Marine Systems

(207) 322-0157 Unity, Maine

BOATBUILDERS

DHylanBoats.com

Restoration of
56' Nimphius Schooner
Sadie G Thomas

New

Alerion Class Sloop

going through her sea trials
in Chatham. She was delivered
to Nantucket for the 2013 season.

First Light Center Console couples our

25 years of custom boat building experience with the
desire to offer a traditionally handsome vessel that is
strong, fast, quiet, and fuel efficient.

381 Enfield Main Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850 607.272.1581
www.cwbw.com
www.facebook.com/CayugaWoodenBoatworks

www.peaseboatworks.com

Marine Railway, Service & Repair, Custom Building
Chatham, MA • 508-945-7800 • [email protected]

November/December 2013 • 123

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On Portage Bay since 1927

Jensen
Motorboat Corp.

Seal Cove Boatyard, Inc.
BOX 99 / HARBORSIDE, MAINE 04642
TEL: 207-326-4422 / FAX 207-326-4411

1417 NE Boat St.
Seattle, WA 98105

You Will Find Us
Personable, Knowledgeable
and Skilled in a Broad
Range of Services

Same
Folks...It’s the
That’s Right,
Railway
She’s Off the

Phone: 206-632-7888

Boat.

BOATBUILDERS

e-mail: [email protected]










Hull & cabin repair, refit & restoration
electrical & systems repair & installation
Interior joinery & custom cabinetry
Mast & rigging installation & repair
Complete painting & varnish work
structural & finish woodworking
Fiberglass & gel coat repair
Welding & metal fabrication

DESPERATE LARK - Herreshoff, 1903.
In Our Care for Over 40 Years
E-mail: [email protected] • www.sealcoveboatyard.com

“ YAC H T I N G A S I T WA S I N T EN D ED TO B E ”

MATHIS

&

MCMILLEN

MATHIS YACHT BUILDING COMP
ANY, LLC
YACHT BUILDING
YACHTS, INC.
COMPANY, LLC
FRACTIONAL YACHT OWNERSHIP

CLASSIC WOODEN NEW BUILDS
CONTEMPORARY COMPOSITE HULLS
www.mathisyachts.com

RESTORATIONS & MANAGEMENT
www.woodenyachts.com

Photos: Alison Langley

Beaufort, SC (Main Office) • 843.524.8925
Newport, RI 401.846.5557 • [email protected]

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BOATBUILDERS

Welcome to
WoodenBoat’s Directory
of Boat Plans & Kits
www.woodenboat.com/boatplansandkits
Our newest web
service is FREE to
designers and readers
alike. If you are a
designer, you can
upload details of your plans
and kits. Simply go to the website noted above,
and follow the upload instructions at “Frequently
Asked Questions” on the left-hand side. You must
have full ownership of these plans and kits.

NEW on
WoodenBoat.com

Launchings Online
www.woodenboat.com/boat-launchings
Become a WoodenBoat.com community member today, for free.

We hope to include as many boats as possible, and
boats of all hull materials.
Another service for you,
from WoodenBoat.

PO Box 78 • Brooklin, ME 04616
207–359–4651

www.woodenboat.com
November/December 2013 • 125

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FREE E-Newsletter!
1. Go to www.woodenboat.com
2. Fill in and Click

Stay in touch
with ALL we do!

C UTTS & C ASE
S HIPYARD
a full-service boatyard

DESIGNERS & BUILDERS
OF
FINE WOODEN YACHTS
1927

BOATBUILDERS

SINCE

P.O. BOX 9
TOWN CREEK
OXFORD, MD 21654
410-226-5416

Restoration
and Preservation of
Antique and Classic
Wooden Boats
207.882.5038

www.cuttsandcase.com
[email protected]

edgecombboatworks.net

P

E N D L E T O

YACHT•YARD

N

Every Detail in a Custom Van Dam is
Handcrafted to be as Unique as its Owner.
~ Unlike Any Other ~
www.vandamboats.com

R e b u i l d e r s o f C l a s s i c Ya c h t s

525 Pendleton Point Rd. • Islesboro, ME 04848
(207) 734-6728 • www.pendletonyachtyard.com
www.quicksilvermaine.com

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H I S T O R I C

C R A F T S M A N S H I P

RESTORING AND CONSTRUCTING
HISTORIC AND CLASSIC WOODEN BOATS

www.tumblehomeboats.com
518.623.5050

BOATBUILDERS

6,000 Sq Ft Boatshop • Route 28, Southern Adirondacks

Don’t Be Afraid

To Put It In The Water

Handmade Small Boats by Nick Schade
www.WoodenKayaks.com

powered by

MP&G

LLC

Shaped by hand—
stronger and lighter for
better performance

WOOD BOATBUILDING
YACHT RESTORATION
AMORITA

RECENTLY COMPLETED
Cabin, rig and rudder work on
N.Y. 32 SALTY

NY-30

SallyAnne Santos

CURRENT PROJECTS
Restoration of
Buzzard’s Bay 25 MINK #733
Restoration of
Buzzard’s Bay 15 MARIBEE #731
Structural work on
Watch Hill 15 VIKING #885

929 FLANDERS ROAD, MYSTIC CT 06355

w w w. p l e a s a n t b a y b o a t a n d s p a r. c o m

TEL

860–572–7710

www.mpgboats.com

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KITS
KITS & PLANS
PLANS
Chesapeake Light Craft

1.

2.

4.

3.
5.

6.

Build one of our 90 award-winning boat kits, like PocketShip. More than 22,000 CLC boat kits sold since 1991!
1805 GeorGe Ave. AnnApolis, MArylAnd | 21401 | 410.267.0137 | clcboAts.coM

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S

am Devlin’s “Stitch-and-Glue” boat designs bring
together the beauty of wood and the durability of
composites. An already easy construction method is
made easier with the help of Devlin’s Wooden Boat
Building book and Wooden Boat Building video.

“Dunlin 22”

We offer a full line of plans: dinghies, daysailers,
pocket cruisers, motorsailers, powerboats 8-45 ft.

www.DevlinBoat.com
Devlin Designing Boatbuilders
3010 37th Ave., SW
Tumwater, WA 98512
Phone: (360) 866-0164

T37s Racing at Seattle Yacht Club
over 1800 T37s sailing today

www.modelsailboat.com

Tippecanoe Boats
the finest wooden model sailboats

Call for a Free Catalog:
www.pygmyboats.com | 360.385.6143

KITS & PLANS

The Wineglass
Wherry

November/December 2013 • 129

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Hollow wooden Stand Up

paddle BoardS

complete
custom hollow
wooden boards
commissioned

Kits from
7' to 12' long
and from
30" to 37" wide

“Wooden boards that will float anyone”

818–480–8717

www.BoScoBoardS.com

KITS & PLANS

www.woodenboatstore.com

Thirty-five pages of plans
included in this book!

Gifford Jackson’s 12’6” rugged daysailer has a
plethora of exceptionally detailed and interesting
drawings, including a two-part trailer for easy
launching. Measured metrically, she’s a v-bottomed
dagger-boarder, glued-lapstrake plywood hull,
with sawn frames.

WoodenBoat

BOOKS

Naskeag Rd, PO Box 78
Brooklin, Maine 04616

88 pages, hardcover
#325-135 $19.95
add $5.00 shipping in the US.

Call 1.800.273.7447

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FiberglassSupply.com

Materials:
Kits and Plans:
• Vacuum Bagging Supplies
• 11’ Hollow Wooden Stand Up
• Epoxies
Paddleboard, Kit Only

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• 18’ Hollow Wooden Unlimited

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MAS® Epoxies
• Surfboard Frame Kits for Strip
• Reinforcements
Plank Surfboard Building

Fiberglass Cloths
• And More!!!

Carbon Fiber
Check us out at:

Aramids
www.fiberglasssupply.com
• See our Full Catalog Online
Burlington, Washington - www.fiberglasssupply.com - Toll Free 877.493.5333 - Fax 360.757.8284

NUTSHELL PRAM
Thousands Built • Joel White Designed • 7’7” or 9’6” • Build from Plans or Kits

The WoodenBoat Store • PO Box 78 • Brooklin, ME 04616 • 1.800.273.7447

Order On-line: www.woodenboatstore.com

OUGHTRED
Skiff Kits for
St. Ayles Racing

scottishcoastalrowing.org

KITS & PLANS

The

Blue Hill, Maine

PRICING & ORDERING: [email protected]
1-207-460-1178 • www.cnc-marine-hewesco.com
November/December 2013 • 131

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RAFTINGS
AD
HEAD
NATURE’S
Self-Contained Composting Toilet
Better. By Design.
Welcome to

ISLAND FALLS CANOE

ear
eY
Fiv rranty
Wa

“Real Canoes, Built Right”
Experience the grace and beauty of a
custom-built wood and canvas canoe.

251-295-3043

www.islandfallscanoe.com
Made in USA

2 Scotland Bridge Road
York, Maine 03909

Celebrating 35 Years
of Boat Building & Restoration
207–351–7609 www.paulrollinsboatbuilder.com

Weekly Waterfront

VACATION RENTALS
Mid Coast & Down East, Maine
Several listings in WoodenBoat’s vicinity

(207) 374-3500

www.vacationcottages.com
[email protected]
PO Box 1600
Blue Hill, ME 04614

 US Coast Guard Approved
 Compact
 No Odor
 Self-Contained
 Urine Diverting
 Exceptional Holding Capacity
 All Stainless Steel Hardware

NaturesHead.net

Aurora
Sails &
Canvas
Full service sail and canvas loft. Outfitting your
boat both inside and out. Highest quality design,
workmanship and friendly service.
255 Molyneaux Road, Camden, ME 04843 • 207-230-0288

Commodore Telltale Compass
Our Commodore Telltale Compass
gives you an eye on the boat’s
heading, even from your bunk.

617–482–8460
See online at

www.robertwhite.com

Robert E. White Instruments, Inc.
Top Quality Weather & Nautical Instruments Since 1961

132 • WoodenBoat 235

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1–800–996–5655
Order online at

www.nauticalantiques.com
$300/issue

Drop anchor...
Join the group!

(with one-year (6×) contract)

Your Ad Here

(individually)

$350/issue
Email [email protected],
or call 207–359–7714

DON’T MISS
THE BOAT
Complement your print ad
with a listing in our Online
MarketPlace Classifieds!
Easy, Affordable, Effective!  
Contact Tina for details: 
[email protected]

www.woodenboat.com

November/December 2013 • 133

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CLASSIFIED

To place a Classified Ad: visit our website www.woodenboat.com; email [email protected];
or call our Classified Ad Manager at (207) 359–7714.

Deadline for the January/February issue: November 5, 2013

S.N. SMITH & SON, BOATWRIGHT/
timber framer. Annual maintenance,
restoration, and building to 45'. Our
goal is to make wooden boat ownership predictable and enjoyable. P.O.
Box 724, Eastham, MA 02642, 978–
290–3957, www.snsmithandson.com.
LOW ELL BOATS — Complete
wooden boat restoration services and
marine surveying. GARY LOWELL,
Greensboro, NC, 336 –274 – 0892.
NORTH BROOK LI N BOATS —
www.lowell.to/boats.
“Sunshine,” 10'6" or 12'6" dinghy/
yacht tenders. Cold-molded construcREPAIR, RESTORATION, STORAGE,
tion, AwlGrip finish. Rowing and
and Surveys. Low overhead and low
sailing models. Visit website for more
rates, 35 years experience. MICHAEL
information. w w w.northbrooklin
WARR BOATWORKS, Stonington,
boats.com, 207–610–9526.
ME, 207–367–2360.
HADDEN BOAT CO.—WOODEN
boat construction and repair to any
size; sail and power. 11 Tibbetts Lane,
Georgetown, ME 04548, 207–371–
2662.
MI A MI, FORT L AUDER DA L E,
FLORIDA KEYS—30+ years experience building, repairing, and restoring boats. Quality workmanship, with
composite construction expertise.
References. Call 305 – 634 – 4263,
305–498–1049. rmiller35@bellsouth.
net, www.millermarinesystems.com.

SAIL MAINE ABOARD MAINE’S
oldest windjammer, “Lewis R. French.“
Enjoy great sailing, lobsters, new
friends, and fresh air (no smoking).
Sailing from Camden, three-, four-,
and six-day cruises with only 22 guests,
May–October. Capt. Garth Wells, P.O.
Box 992 W, Camden, ME 04843. 800–
469–4635. www.schoonerfrench.com.

.

NAVTECH MARINE SURVEYORS’
Course—Surveying recreational/
commercial vessels. U.S. Surveyors
Association, Master Marine Surveyor
program. FL, 800–245–4425.

WoodenBoat
School

.
JR

DA

VINTAGE CRAFT BOATS, BUILT
by Classic Restoration and Supply—
All our runabouts are cold-molded,
using white oak for the framework,
and 1⁄2" African mahogany for the
planking, giving our boats low mainMCLAUGHL
tenance for years to come. Our models
AN
IN
I
M
include the 19' Custom (pictured),
EST.
1970
the 23' Custom, and the 25' Sportsman. All use chrome-plated bronze
CO
hardware, and period-correct gauges
RPORATIO N
and interiors. Show-quality restoraCustom Cold-Molded Boats and Yachts to 40' tions are also available, from run41 years of experience DMCBoats.CoM
abouts to cruisers, complete or
partial. 215–805–4933 or at www.
JOHN M. KARBOTT BOATBUILDING. vintagewatercraft.com.
Custom wooden boat building and
repair. Lobsterboat styles a speciality.
WoodenBoat School instructor. Member Massachusetts Marine Trades
Association. 789 Rocky Hill Rd, Plymouth, MA 02360. Phone/fax 508–
224 –3709, w w w.by-the-sea.com/
karbottboatbuilding.

APPRENTICESHOP of Nobleboro
—Branch of Scholarshipwrights of
Rockland, ME. Building 24' Hampton
boat, and writing a publication about
the boat. Accepting apprentices beginning Nov. 1, 2013. www.scholarship
wrights.org. Contact Lance Lee,
president, at lancelotrlee@gmail. com.
See WB No. 209, pg. 66.

One- and Two-week courses in
Boatbuilding, Seamanship, and
Related Crafts

.

SATTER’S RESTORATION—Traditional wooden canoes, and boats
restored. Quality woodwork, brightwork, repairs. Branchville, NJ, 973–
948–5242, www.sattersrestoration.
com.

THE DORY SHOP—Custom-built
small boats and Lunenburg dories
since 1917. Oars and paddles too.
Call 902– 640 –3005 or visit w w w.
doryshop.com.

June–September

* Off-site winter courses also offered *
P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616
207–359–4651 (Mon.–Fri.)

www.woodenboat.com

RATTY’S CELEBRATED QUOTATION
with original illustrations featured
on our shirts and bags. 301–589–9391,
www.MessingAbout.com.

134 • WoodenBoat 235

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CLASSIFIEDS

Jordan Wood Boats
541–867–3141

www.jordanwoodboats.com

COMPLETE PLANS FOR 60' Alden
design wooden schooner. $800. Call
781–337–1131.

Distinctive Boat Designs
Meticulously Developed and Drawn
For the Amateur Builder

The 23

rdAnnual

June 27-29, 2014 • Mystic, CT
www.thewoodenboatshow.com

CrADle BoAt
BABy tenDer

BeACh Cruiser
Footloose

JAMES WHAR R AM DESIGNS —
World-renowned, safe, seaworthy
catamarans, 14'–63' to self-build in
ply/epoxy/’glass, from plans that are
“a course in boatbuilding.” wharram@
wha r r a m.com, web shop: w w w.
wharram.com.
LEARN HOW TO BUILD your own
cedar-stripped boat. Plans for dinghies, canoes, row, sail, paddle, outboard. www.compumarine.com. AZ,
520–604–6700.

THE FINEST Wooden Pond Sailers.
Free brochure: 1–800–206 –0006.
www.modelsailboat.com.
ELEGANT SCALE MODELS. Individually handcrafted custom scale
model boats. JEAN PRECKEL, www.
preckelboats.com, 304–432–7202.

28 DESIGNS IN OUR $12 BRO chure—Boats 10–16'. S&H: $4 U.S.,
and Canada; $10 overseas. Ken Swan,
P.O. Box 6647, San Jose, CA 95150.
408–300–1903, www.swan boatdesign.
SMITHSONI AN INSTITUTION
com.
Plans from the National Watercraft
Collection, H.I. Chapelle drawings,
Historic American Merchant Marine
Survey, etc. Send $20 check to Smithsonian Institution for 250 -page
catalog to: Smithsonian Ship Plans,
ATKIN ILLUSTRATED CATALOG— P.O. Box 37012, NMAH-5004/MRC
135 pages, with more than 300 Atkin 628, Washington, DC 20013-7012.
designs. Famed Atkin double-enders, www.americanhistory.si.edu/csr/ship
rowing/sailing dinghies, houseboats, plan.htm.

REBUILT CHRIS-CRAFT 6-cylinder
engines: K, KL, KBL, KFL, KLC, M,
ML, MBL, MCL. Assorted V8s. Mitch
LaPointe’s, www.classicboat.com.
952–471–3300.

and more. $15 U.S. and Canada ($22
US for overseas orders). Payment:
U.S. dollars payable through a U.S.
bank. ATKIN BOAT PLANS, P.O.
Box 3005WB, Noroton, CT 06820.
[email protected], www.atkinboat
plans.com.

HERCULES ENGINE PARTS
Model M, ML, MBL, K, KL

HERCANO PROPULSION, LLC

CATALOG OF 40 SIMPLE PLYWOOD
boats, $4. JIM MICHALAK, 118 E.
Randle, Lebanon, IL 62254. www.
jimsboats.com.

Business Hours: M-F 8:30-4:30 EST
Phone: 740-745-1475
Fax: 740-745-2475

K ERMATH MODEL B —Serial
#11404. Complete, unrestored, looks
good. It appears to be a low-time
engine. Offers. 907–374–2914.

NATIONAL ONE-DESIGN PARTS—
Original wood spars, other components, bronze deck hardware: Free.
Dacron sails: $100. All excellent. Tel/
fax 401–647–5354.

SUPPLIES AND HARDWARE FOR
building a boat or outfitting an existing one. Competitive prices, friendly
service. Glen-L Marine, 888–700–
5007. www.Glen-L.com/WBC (online
catalogs).
BOAT KITS—PLANS—PATTERNS.
World’s best selection of 200+ designs
on our web site. Boatbuilding supplies—easy-to-use 50/50 epoxy resins/
glues, fasteners, and much more.
Free supplies catalog. Clark Craft,
716–873–2640, www.clarkcraft.com.

GEODESIC AIROLITE DESIGNS—
Arrow 14. Double-blade canoe that
thinks it’s a kayak. For one or two.
Monfort Associates. 207–882–5504,
www.gaboats.com.
November/December 2013 •

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CLASSIFIEDS

H AV E TOOLS W ILL TR AV EL .
Wooden boat builder will build,
rebuild, or repair your project on
site or in my shop. $20/hour. VT,
802–365–7823.

EXPERIENCED BOATBUILDER/
restorer/carpenter and professional
wooden boat finisher needed for
boatshop located in the Adirondack
mountains of northern NY. Tumblehome Boatshop focuses on the highend restoration, and new construction,
of historic wooden boats. The boatbuilder/restorer/carpenter position
requires knowledge of basic boatbuilding techniques (traditional and
modern) and an interest in learning.
The right fit is more important than
years of experience. The ideal candidate for the finisher position will
have experience in brushing and
spray application, and will have some
woodworking skills as well. Full-time,
permanent positions. Competitive
salary and benefits. 6,000 square-foot
boatshop full of interesting projects!
Send your resume to reuben@tumble
homeboats.com or by mail to Tumblehome Boatshop, 684 State Rt. 28,
Warrensburg, NY 12885.

COTTAGE NEAR WOODENBOAT
School—There is a lot less snow in
the summer. One-bedroom cottage,
suitable for two, $425/week. BrookCLASSIC BOATING MAGAZINE—The lin, ME. Contact todderichardson@
most popular and complete publica- gmail.com.
tion on antique and classic boats.
Subscription $28, Canada $36 USD,
overseas $78. Samples $5, Canada
$7.50, overseas $12.50. CLASSIC BOATING, 280-D Lac La Belle Dr., Oconomowoc, WI 53066. 262–567–4800.

The magazine for those working in
design, construction, and repair.

THOMSON WOOD SPARS—Maker
of fine wood products. Masts, booms,
clubs, gaffs, custom furniture, and
woodworking. 508–317–3944, thom
[email protected].

Subscriptions:

WANTED: Experienced Marine Industry

AD SALES REPRESENTATIVE
for Professional BoatBuilder
and WoodenBoat
magazines sales territory. 
Sell the company’s print,
digital, and web products
with established customers
to expand and develop new
relationships and business
for the company.
This is a full-time position
working from your office location. Base with
commissions and benefits provided.
Please email your resume and industry references
to [email protected] or visit
Professional BoatBuilder’s Booth at the upcoming
IBEX conference for further information.
WoodenBoat Publications (Professional BoatBuilder and
WoodenBoat ) is an equal opportunity employer.

NORTHSHORE WOOD AND BOATS
—Traditional woodworking for the
discriminating owner. Custom moldings, turnings, cabinetry, and furniture. Complete interior/exterior wood
refinishing. Mobile service available.
Southport, NC, 919–697–1273.

One year (6 issues) $35.95 (US)
Canada: $52 (US funds) (airmail)
Overseas: $68 (US funds) (airmail)

Patty Hutchinson
P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616-0078
207–359–4651 • Fax: 207–359–8920

www.proboat.com

W W W.DA BBLER SA ILS.COM—
Tr aditional small-craft sails. P.O.
Box 235, Wicomico Church, VA,
22 579. Ph/f a x 8 0 4 – 5 8 0 – 8723,
[email protected].

SHAW & TENNEY, Orono, Maine—
Traditionally handcrafted spruce
masts and spars since 1858. 1–800–
240–4867, www.shawandtenney.com.

DOUGLAS FOWLER SAILMAKER—
Highest-quality, full-seam curved
sails since 1977. Traditional sails a
specialty. White, colors, and Egyptian
Dacron in stock. 1182 East Shore Dr.,
Ithaca, NY 14850. 607–277–0041.
MAINE BOAT SHOP ON 14 ACRES—
All three-phase stationary machines.
Good well, steam boiler, greenhouse.
Storage for at least 12 boats. Surveyed.
Good opportunity for co-op. Owner
financing a possibility. For more info,
[email protected].

DETAILS OF CLASSIC BOAT CONSTRUCTION by Larry Pardey—“Highly
recommended,” Lloyd’s List U.K.
Xmas special $39.95, w w w.landl
pardey.com. Also available as a Kindle eBook.
THE PERFECT CARIBBEAN home—
120' of oceanfront facing sunset.
Private dock with boatlift. More info:
www.tarponhouse.blog spot.com, or
contact: [email protected].

FINELY CRAFTED WOODEN SPARS;
hollow or solid. Any type of construction. ELK SPARS, 577 Norway Drive,
Bar Harbor, ME, 04609, 207–288–
9045.

LeTONK INOIS. ALL-NATUR AL
varnish. Centuries-old formula. LongJASPER & BAILEY SAILMAKERS. lasting, beautiful finish. Extremely
Established 1972. Offshore, one- user-friendly. American Rope & Tar,
design, and traditional sails. Sail 877–965–1800 or tarsmell.com.
repairs, recuts, conversions, washing
and storage. Used-sail brokers. 64 BLOX YGEN SAV ES LEFTOV ER
Halsey St., P.O. Box 852, Newport, Finishes. Heavy, inert gas. Patented
RI 02840; 401–847–8796. www.jasper system. w w w.bloxygen.com, 888 –
andbailey.com.
810–8311.

136 • WoodenBoat 235

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CLASSIFIEDS
TRADITIONAL BOAT SUPPLIES
for traditional boats. Take a look at
www.tradboats.com.
FOR SALE OR? ALL SUITABLE for
a gaff-rigged vessel of 20-40 tons—
Sails: Nat S. Wilson, Duradon;
Anchors: C.Q.R. 75#, and 40 Kedge;
Dinghies: pram and skiff (C.P. Kunhardt); four large, brass Perko oil
lamps; Compass: Ritchie Power Damp,
stl. vessel. All in very good condition,
some almost new. G.W. Earle, 905–
776–0507 evenings, 6-9 EST.
Composite fasteners for:
Strip Planking
Cold Molding
Fiberglass Layup
Foam Core Joining
Vacuum Infusion
RTM

STAPLES  NAILS  BRADS
 Completely non-metal
 No need to remove
 Sawable, sandable, planeable, stainable
 No galvanic corrosion/electrolysis
 Bonds with thermoset resins

www.raptornails.com [email protected]
P (512) 255-8525
F (512) 255-8709

MODERN MANILA. New Leoflex-X.
The latest rope technology. Looks
great, works hard. American Rope
& Tar, 1–877–965–1800 or tarsmell.
com.

CANVAS FOR DECKS and CANOES.
Natural, untreated. No. 10, 15-oz.,
96", $20/yard; 84", 16.75/yard, 72",
$13.75/yard; 60", $10.75/yard. Minimum 5 yards, prepaid only. Fabric
Works, 148 Pine St., Waltham, MA
02453, 781–642–8558.
SUNBRELLA/MARINE FABRICS—
Supplies for canvas-work, and boat
HAVEN 121⁄2 complete high-quality interiors. FR EE catalog. Beacon
bronze hardware sets. See our display Fabric & Notions, www.beaconfabric.
ad elsewhere in the issue. For our free com, 800–713–8157.
catalog, contact us at J.M. Reineck &
Son, 781–925–3312, JMRandSon@
aol.com.
COPPER FASTENERS and riveting
tools, Norwegian and English boat
nails, roves/rivets, rose and flathead,
clench, threaded, decoration, and
more. 50+ sizes and types, 3⁄8" to 6".
Your leading source since 1987. FAERING DESIGN, Dept. W, P.O. Box 322,
East Middlebury, VT 05740, 1–800–
505 –8692, [email protected],
www.faeringdesigninc.com.

CUT COPPER CLENCH NAILS for
boat builders, rectangular shank.
CANOE HARDWARE: 1⁄2", 11⁄16", 7⁄8" Made by the Gundalow Company,
3
canoe tacks; ⁄8" oval brass stembands; with original machines at Strawbery
clenching irons; 3⁄16" bronze carriage Banke. 603–433–9505.
bolts; canoe plans; clear white cedar.
Catalog $1. NORTHWOODS CANOE
CO., 336 Range Rd., Atkinson, ME
04426. Order, phone 888–564–2710,
fax 207–564–3667.

TARRED HEMP MARLINE. Several
styles; hanks, balls, spools. American
Rope & Tar, 1– 877–965 –1800 or
tarsmell.com.

SOF T COT TON FENDER S and
classic knotwork. For catalog, send
SASE to: THE K NOTTED LINE,
9908 168th Ave. N.E., Redmond, WA
98052-3122, call 425–885–2457. www.
theknottedline.com.

STARS AND STRIPES PENNANTS—
Authentic historical design exquisitely
handcrafted in the most durable
fabrics. 4', 6', 8' and 12' sizes in stock,
other sizes and designs by custom
order. Custom design and fabrication
is our specialty. Also in stock, all sizes
U.S., state, foreign, historical, marine,
and decorative flags, banners, pennants, and accessories. 77 Forest St.,
New Bedford, MA 02740. 508–996–
6006, www.brewerbanner.com.

THE ORIGINAL SINCE 2001. The
smallest composting toilet in the
world! EOS, P.O. Box 5, Mount Vernon, OH 43050. www.airheadtoilet.
com, 740–392–3642.

STOCKHOLM TAR. Genuine kilnburnt pine tar. It’s the Real Stuff.
American Rope & Tar, 1–877–965–
EPOXY-PLUS MARINE EPOXY, $69/ 1800 or tarsmell.com.
gal. with hardener; Epoxy Glue and
Putty. Premium products at direct
pricing. No-blush, flexible, easy-to-use
1:1 mix. Free Catalog. Clark Craft,
716–873–2640, www.clarkcraft.com.
E XC E P T ION A L BRON Z E a nd
Chrome Hardware—Windshield
brackets; navigational lighting; Tufnol
and ash blocks; fastenings, roves, and
rivets; repair, building, and kit materials; oars, paddles, and rowing accessories; decals, apparel, and traditional
giftware. www.tendercraftboats.com.
BRONZE CAM CLEAT with plastic Toll-free phone: 800–588–4682.
ball bearings and 11⁄2" fastening center distance. BRONZE WING -TIP CLASSICBOATCONNECTION.COM—
NAVIGATION LIGHTS with glass Your one-stop source for all your
globe. Side mount, stern and steam- classic boat restoration needs. Call
ing. For our free catalog, contact us 507–344 – 8024, or e-mail mail@
at J.M. Reineck & Son, 781–925–3312, classicboatconnection.com for free
catalog.
[email protected].

T H IS 20' C H R IS - C R A F T WA S
stripped in 4 man-hours. Environmentally friendly paint stripper. For
more information, call 800–726–4319.
E-mail us at [email protected], or
visit our web site, www.starten.com.
VACUUM-BAGGING SUPPLIES—
Fiberglass cloth, epoxy resins, waterROPE FOR OLD SHIPS—Spunflex b a s ed L PU p a i nt s , a nd more.
(previously Roblon). Durable, U.V. Technical support and fast service.
treated, acid and alkali resistant. www.fiberglasssupply.com or toll free:
Check www.shipsofwood.com.
877–493–5333.
November/December 2013 •

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CLASSIFIEDS
ATLANTIC WHITE CEDAR—Wide
12"–16", canoe strips, 2"x stock teak,
new or reclaimed; utility fencing.
203–245–1781 or armsters@yahoo.
com.

BANTAM AIR HAMMER

Boat Riveting Kit
Designed for
Copper Rivets
■ Cuts Riveting Time up to 70%
■ Superior Pneumatic


800-521-2282

www.superiorpneumatic.com

THE BROOKLIN INN—Year-round
lodging, fine dining, Irish Pub. Modern interpretations of classic Maine
dishes. Always organic/local. Winter
Getaway: $155/DO, dinner, breakfast,
room, November–May. Summer rate:
$125/DO (plus dinner). brooklininn.
com, ME, 207–359–2777.

THREE-SPINDLE CLAMP—DON’T
let your reach exceed your grasp!
Large, three-spindle clamp solves
many work-holding problems. 5" •
161⁄2"capacity. Custom sizes available.
Call 970–433–6032, or email jpwood
[email protected].

FeatherBow

NEW

®

Magnetic
Featherbow
Mag-Featherbow $41.95
FeatherBow® $29.95
FeatherBow® Jr. $17.95

Build your own Strip Built Boat
FeatherBow.com • (860) 209-5786

MACHINERY AND KEEL—Shipbuilding machinery: shipsaw, -L.
Power 36"; table saw-16" Tannewitz;
thickness planer-24" Oliver Model
299: $8,500. Keel timber: purpleheart,
12 • 12 • 50, aged: $5,900. All f.o.b.
Bradshaw, MD 21087. Allen C. Rawl,
LLC, [email protected].

BL ACK LOCUST LUMBER and
found curves. Cut to your specifications. Band-sawn. 4/4, 6/4, 8/4, and
bigger. ablacklocustconnection.com,
413–624–0242.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—Unique and
friendly. Clean, and comfortable
one-bedroom apartment in suburban
Sydney, close to harbor, city, and all
amenities. Tastefully decorated, modern kitchen, bathroom and sitting
room. Minimum four days. Email
Kerry at [email protected],
or phone +61–2–9555–1494.

PLANKING STOCK IN LENGTHS
TO 32'—angelique, silver balli, wana,
angelique timbers. Call for quotes.
Gannon and Benjamin, 508–693–
4658.
WWW.DIAMONDTEAK.COM—True
teak wood. Planing, sanding available. Quarter-sawn teak for decking;
tongue-and-groove; veneer; custom
work. Also mahogany and Spanish
cedar. Highest quality. We ship worldwide. 215–453–2196, info@diamond
teak.com.

The Rolling

Owl

WANTED—INFORMATION ABOUT
wooden sailboats made and designed
by John Trumpy. Please call 540–
687–9770.
ORIGINAL HERRESHOFF RIGGING
blocks for shop project— 1⁄2" blocks
(measure the opening between side
shells) single, and double sheaves;
also 3⁄8" blocks with single sheaves.
Contact [email protected]
or through www.mpgboats.com. Please
send photo.
A CALL FOR HELP—TO RECOVER
our nautical history for Brooklin,
Sedgwick, and Sargentville, ME.
Between 1800 and 1900, over 140
sailing vessels were built in Brooklin,
Sedgwick and Sargentville that sailed
all over the Atlantic and Pacific. Most
of this history has vanished over time.
This notice is a plea to those who have
records, logs, stories, dusty trunks of
nautical information, ship portraits,
half models, and hand-me-down stories that can be gathered by the Brooklin Keeping Society, and be put into
an attractive, readable book to honor
this lost heritage before it has faded
away. We need your help! Please call
or write the Brooklin Keeping Society,
PO Box 43, Brooklin, ME 04616. Phone
207–359–8880, or e-mail us at brook
[email protected].

TEAK LUMBER FROM $7.50/bf,
and teak decking from $0.99/lf. Call
ASI, 800–677–1614 or e-mail your
requirements to rogerstevens@asi
hardwood.com.

TE A K , M A HOGA N Y, PA DAUK ,
purpleheart, white oak, teak decking,
starboard. Complete molding millLOVE YOUR BACK!
work facilities. Marine ply wood.
Ergonomic stools handcrafted
Custom swim platforms. SOUTH
in Maine 207-367-6555
JERSEY LUMBERMAN’S INC., 6268
GeoffreyWarnerStudio.com
Holly St., Mays Landing, NJ 08330.
609–965–1411. www.sjlumbermans.
BOULTER PLY WOOD —Marine com.
plywood 4' • 8' to 16', 5' • 10' to 20'
— 1⁄8" to 1" okoume, sapele, meranti, CLEAR WESTERN RED CEDAR—
1
teak, ash, khaya, teak and holly, teak Sawn and planed to ⁄8" • 2" • 12'–14'
and rubber. Lumber—Sitka spruce, long. 705–728–3458.
teak, mahogany, green oak, ash,
cypress, fir, Spanish and red cedar, BOAT QUALIT Y FLITCH-SAWN
teak decking—lengths up to 20'. 4/4 Vermont white cedar, up to 18'.
Milling services. Nationwide delivery. Peter Kitonis, Box 5, Elmore, VT
05657, 802–888–4807.
www.boulterplywood.com,
888–4BOULTER.
in Cherry
& Walnut

FREE Classified
Writing guide

“Wood Sawn for Better Boatbuilders”

Tips on writing a ‘Boats for Sale’ ad,
and how to prepare for questions
from potential buyers. For a copy,
call Wendy, 207–359–7714 or email
[email protected].

White Oak • Atlantic White Cedar • Cypress
Longleaf Yellow Pine • Sitka Spruce
401-253-8247 NewportNauticalTimbers.com

PUZZLE JOINT JIG—SAVE TIME
and energy, do the “Puzzle Joint”
with any handheld router. Fast and
easy. Similar to a dovetail jig. $75.00
+ shipping, guaranteed. Call at 805–
207–7448, or email to fishbonesupply@
gmail.com, www.fishbonesupply.com.

RARE WOODS—Ebony, boxwood,
rosewood, satinwood, tulipwood,
boatbuilding woods, +120 others.
207–364–1073, info@rarewoodsusa.
com, www.rarewoodsusa.com.

20' CELEBRITY SLOOP, 1955, WITH
trailer—Hull #478, cold-molded
mahogany, centerboard. Sailed for
SLOW-GROWING, OLD-GROWTH 35 years, good original condition,
white oak (Quercus alba), up to 50' many extras. $5,000. Salem, MA,
long and 42" wide. Longleaf pine 978–744–4324.
(Pinus pilustrus) out to 50' long. Oldgrowth white pine, 22'–28'. Black RESTORABLE 1966?, 29' CHRISlocust, American elm, and larch. Craft Sea Skiff wooden boat and
NEW ENGLAND NAVAL TIMBERS, trailer. Motor out, but goes with it.
CT, 860–480–3402.
$1,000. 802–888–4807,

138 • WoodenBoat 235

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9/26/13 12:44 PM

CLASSIFIEDS
“FROG,” HERRESHOFF 121⁄2 —Built
in 2007 by Artisan Boatworks in
Rockport, ME. Builder maintained.
Check “Frog” on builder’s website
for photos (www.artisanboatworks.
com). Can be seen in Boothbay Harbor, ME. Asking $44,000 with sail/
cockpit covers, and trailer. Contact
Ed Riley, 207–415–4282.

CHUCK PAINE’S BEST DESIGN
ever—The Paine 14 is beautiful, fast,
classy, heavily ballasted, and valuable.
More info at www.chuckpaine.com.

2012, 16' ARISTOCRAFT TORPEDO
—Custom-built, all options. A ll
mahogany construction. 2013 F-70
4-cyl Yamaha, under warranty till
02/25/17. 12-gallon fiberglass fuel
tank, full electronics and monitoring
instruments from Yamaha. Depthsounder, new aluminum trailer, full
boat cover. 50+ mph; meter: 1 hour.
Over $25,000 invested. Asking price:
$19,950. Alan Vordermeier, 954 –
566–1661.

“SUVA,” 1925 STAYSAIL SCHOONER
designed by Ted Geary. A gorgeous
and sound classic yacht. Burmese
teak. $159,000. Financing available.
Port Townsend, 360–643–3840. See
specs w w w.schoonerforsale.com.
Email [email protected].

1940 CLASSIC CHRIS-CRAFT 26'—
Utility-style, partial cabin, Chevy V6
185-hp. Winter indoor storage. One
owner. Four out of 300 Green and
Whites left. $45,000. NY, 518–321–
2080.

OW N A TRUE CL A SSIC! Atkin
original 1931 “Tally Ho!” 100% modernized. Call Stephanie, 340–228–
1066.

B O L G E R W H A L E WA T C H E R
sharpie “Utilis.” 29' • 6.5' • 10.5".
See Boats with an Open Mind by Philip
C. Bolger. Hull professionally built.
Fiberglass in epoxy over fir ply, old
growth vg fir stringers and frames.
Standing-lug yawl rig, Manchester
sails. Water ballast. Four 6' 9" berths
with custom cushions. Opening windows. Custom canvas. Includes trailer.
EC. Always stored inside. Simple,
com for t able, f a st , a nd st rong.
Launched 2009. $17,500. 614–208–
9308 for more pics and information.

55' ALDEN MOTORSAILER, Hodgdon Bros. 1961—Twin Ford Lehmans,
4'10" draft, 15' beam. Mahogany on
oak, bronze fastened. Well main171⁄ 2' GR E AV ETTE RUNA BOUT tained, gorgeous interior. $159,000.
from 1950s—Has been restored com- [email protected].
pletely. 4 -cyl F&R engine. Three
hours from Detroit in Canada. Selling due to health issues. Less than
half of restoration. Boat, motor, trailer.
$19,995. Call 705–789–4843.

2008 NOVAK 29' PICNIC FISHERman—350-hp Cummins 4.2QSD. Go
to w w w.seaislandboatworks.com,
click on past boats, and scroll down
to Novak29'. Restored woodie trade
considered. $107,500. Jeff Novak,
843–729–8245.
HERRESHOFF 12 1⁄ 2 , #1089, built
1928. Professionally sheathed to the
waterline. Harding sails in good
condition. $8,500. 207–367–2360,
[email protected].

“A NA N DA ,” 45' PI LOT HOUSE
Ketch—Charles Davies designed,
1979. Professionally owned, upgraded,
and maintained. More pictures at
peaseboatworks.com. $89,000. kells.
[email protected].

RHODES 24, 35' ON DECK—Beam
8', draft 51⁄2'. Mahogany on oak with
teak decks. Built Mystic, CT 1949,
and extensively rebuilt by present
owner the last 10 years. A fast thoroughbred. Four-time winner at Foxy’s
Wooden Boat Regatta. Hull #1 in her
class, and one of two left. Cruise the
Caribbean this winter, and New England this summer! Serious offers near
$80,000. Plans, pictures: yankee_
[email protected].

16' WHITEHALL—Double-planked
on oak. Built 1979. New spritsail, new
trailer, and new boat cover. Immaculate. John Gardner design. Seattle.
DOWNEAST LAUNCH DESIGNED
$9,000. [email protected].
by Jesse Lowell in 2001—27' with
swim platform, 8' beam. Alaska cedar
and red oak construction with varnished teak deck. Steyr 144-hp diesel
engine with approximately 300 hours
use. Full canvas cover. Superb condition. Located Freeport, ME. $60,000.
Contact Terry Collins, 202–669–0376,
[email protected].
1941 R ICH A R DSON 31' DECKhouse cruiser—Yanmar turbo diesel,
model 4JH3-TE. Survey and photos
available. Boathouse-kept in Jamestown, RI. $28,000. Call Don, 401–
423–0220. Photo: 9/21/2013.

CLASSIC R ANGELEY LAKES 17'
Guideboat, RKL 1981—Cedar-strip
epoxy, brass fittings, wineglass transom. Beautiful. Oars, 6-hp outboard,
trailer. Asking $6,000. NS, 902–531–
2340, [email protected].

LACK OF STORAGE SPACE FORCES
sale of 10' Lawton yacht tender—
Cedar on oak, carvel, copper/bronze
fastened, proper details, fine condition. Reasonably priced $2,600.
Located in Marshfield, MA. 781–
834–2979.

36' MAYS CRAFT, 1998, BUILT BY
Mayea Boat and Aeroplane Works—
All wood/epoxy. A modern classic.
Mercury power, low hours, and in
exceptional condition. See more at
www.galatiyachts.com, and call Rob
at 248–881–7124.
November/December 2013 •

WBClass235-final.indd 139

139

9/26/13 11:18 AM

CLASSIFIEDS
HERRESHOFF 121⁄2 SLOOP, 1945—
Professionally restored, well maintained. Hull #2015. Harding sails
and cockpit cover. $18,500. Pictures
available: 617–698–7124. n882_1971@
hotmail.com.

PULSIFER HAMPTON 2001—Bristol
condition with low hours, plus custom
trailer. Designed and handcrafted in 65' LOA GA FF-R IGGED PINK Y
Maine. See details at www.Boatingin schooner, 1967, “La Revenante”—
Longleaf pine on oak. Extensive refit
Maine.com or call 207–899–0909.
2005–2010. New sails and running
rigging. 90 -hp diesel. Historical
appearance. Lying Kingston, Ontario,
Canada. $95,000 CDN. antiquebike
[email protected], 819–647–5544.

16' LOWELL BOAT SHOP SAILboat—Traditionally built 1987, a
classic in excellent condition. Trailer,
Shaw & Tenney oars, full set of sails,
90cc Mercury Sailpower outboard,
full custom canvas cover. $8,000. MA,
[email protected].

GRENFELL EXPRESS CRUISER—
Mahogany lapstrake, 1967. 32' • 11'6",
teak decks, refit 2007. Hull: wood,
bottom caulked. $16,500. Call cell:
604–892–4844.

“EUPHRATES,” 1949 MATTHEWS
40' classic motoryacht—Beautiful
10-year restoration. Available for
purchase in Newport Beach, CA.
$125,000. Would consider 50/50
partnership. Bob Hersh, PrimeTime
Yachts, 949–675–0583, 949–278–6764,
[email protected].

1957 CHRIS-CRAFT 18' SEA SKIFF
lapstrake utility—New cushions,
folding top and side curtains. Original 95-hp K engine, runs strong.
Hull in excellent condition, and ready
to go, with custom cover, and tandem
trailer. $9,000. 905 –727–8671 or
[email protected].

2004, 26' SEABIRD YAWL with 10-hp
Yanmar diesel—Excellent condition,
with trailer. Stored inside at Eric Dow
Boat Shop, Brooklin, ME. $10,000
negotiable. Call 201–569–3787.

192 8 L A K E U N ION “ DR E A M boat”—Restored to excellent condition (mechanical and structural).
86-hp Isuzu (400 hrs). Garman nav.
plotter. VHF radio. New wiring/
fixtures/water system throughout.
This rare, classic yacht is the true
Dreamboat from Lake Union Dry
Dock; a beautiful part of history.
Motivated seller asking $67,000.
Details at www.oursunshineboats. “OHNESORGE,” 34' BLUEWATER
capable cutter—Designed by Bud
com. Call Bill, 206–445–2099.
McIntosh, built 1980 by Jeff Fogman.
Cedar planks, white oak frames fastened with copper rivets and bronze
bolts; lead keel. Vetus 25-hp, 3-cyl,
FWC diesel. Surveyed in 2008, in very
good condition, ready for the water.
$29,500. Location, York, ME. Contact
Aaron Jasper: jasperandbailey@
verizon.net, 401–847–8796. Link:
http://woodencutter.blogspot.com/.
2 0 01, 3 8' C U T T E R , G EORG E
Buehler design—(See “Launchings”
WB No.175). Complete, ready to go
anywhere. Hull is three layers 1⁄2" ply.
Chart plotter, autopilot, 30-hp Yanmar,
new dodger, roller reef, fisherman
and plow anchors, and much more.
Sleeps four. Looking to downsize.
$30,000. 207–596–0786. (see www.
georgebuehler.com/Juna.html).
“CORLAER” IS A 35' SPARKMAN
& Stephens-designed Pilot Sloop—
Built in 1956, she has mahogany
planking over oak frames, and Sitkaspruce spars. She is in great shape
with new engine, and maintenance
work has already been done. She is
ready to launch, and sail. Currently
in indoor storage at www.Ballentines
BoatShop.com. $85,000. Amy_bbs@
cape.com.

“DOLPHIN” IS A 43' CHRIS-CRAFT
Constellation, built 1965—She’s in
beautiful turn-key condition, always
well maintained. Bottom and topsides
redone, July 2012. Many upgrades,
including full electronics, and Kahlenberg air horns. Ship’s generator needs
to be rebuilt. $25,000 or best offer.
732–295–2072, bob@woodenboatsnj.
com.

DARK HARBOR 17, 1914 —Completely restored, 26' gaff-rigged knockabout sloop, $19,500. mainetraditional LUDERS 16, RECENT RENOVATION
boat.com, 207–322–0157, traditional —New deck, new sails, AwlGrip flag
[email protected].
blue hull 2013; original wooden spar;
custom bronze, removable engine
48' HEAD BOAT, 34 PASSENGER— mount; 6 -hp Mercury four-stroke
Cedar on oak, riveted, heavily framed, engine; B&G speed and depth; new
6-71GM. New wet exhaust and fuel autohelm tiller, autopilot. Sleek, fast, 1908 RICE BROS. 27' LAUNCH. See
tanks. COI. $38,000 or best offer. and beautiful. $19,500. Jim, 914–213– picture at www.farrinsboatshop.com,
207–442–7616 or 207–443–5764.
or call 207–563–5510.
1028 or [email protected].

UNFINISHED, PROFESSIONALLY
built 35.5' ‘express’ cruiser—Hull,
bulkheads, frames, and cabin sides
completed. Approximately 95% of
all materials; various foundry parts;
including machinery and running
gear available; with engineering data
and drawings included. Not a project
for amateurs. For detailed information, 859–266–6903, seacoyacht@
yahoo.com.
ROZINANTE—L. FR ANCIS Herreshoff ’s design No. 98, 28' lightd isplacement ca noe - y awl. New
traditional construction by professional shop. Please call for details,
and specifications. 860–535–0332,
www.stoningtonboatworks.com.

140 • WoodenBoat 235

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CLASSIFIEDS
“MIGHTY SPARROW”—1977 WINER
Malone 13' Bahamian dinghy. New
frames and planking. Spanish cedar
laid deck. Sunrise sails, main and
jib; trailer. Bradenton, FL. $7,000 or
best offer. Bob Pitt, 941–704–2074,
[email protected].

1964 AAGE NIELSEN, 41' CENTERboard Yawl—Mahogany over oak
frames, lead keel, bronze rivet and
screw fastened. Currently in Maine,
contact for viewing. Visit www.ballentinesboatshop.com, or contact
Amy at 508–563–2800.

THE WEST POINT SKIFF—Three
models: 16', 18', and 20'. See our
website www.westpointskiff.com,for
more info. 207–389–2468.

1953, 27' SHEPHERD—Completely
rebuilt in 2006. Chrysler M47Ss,
freshwater cooled, bronze-rubber
impeller water pumps, electronic
ignition. Low hours since rebuild.
Varnish stripped, recoated, 15 coats
hi-gloss. Hardware rechromed. Bimini
top enclosure, isinglass panels. Full
boat storage cover. Jupiter, FL ,
$118,750. Doug, 954 –303 – 4349,
[email protected], www.photobucket.
com/babalu_photoshoot.

30' ELDRED-COOPER CUSTOM
runabout, 2009—White cedar planking, varnished teak trim, V-berth
forward with a Porta-Potti, four-cycle
Yanmar diesel. Very well built and
maintained. $185,000, Ballentine’s
Boat Shop, MA, [email protected],
508–563–2800.

ROYA L LOW ELL 30' Wooden
Lobster Yacht—Cedar on oak, bronze
fastened. Available at present stage
of completion or with option for
completion. $75,000. Traditional
Boat, LLC, 207–322– 0157, w w w.
mainetraditionalboat.com.

“ARGONAUT II,” EDSON SCHOCK
73' canoe stern—Built in 1922 for a
Canadian logging company. Very
heavily built with extensive upgrades.
Sleeps nine, two heads, one shower.
In Seattle, in freshwater, has Jones
Act Exemption. http://argoleeb.wix.
com/argonaut-ii-for-sale. Call 206–
313–0223.

“BLUE GOOSE,” 28' CATBOAT—6'
bowsprit, 4' rudder, 12' beam, 4' draft.
Built 1928 by Brown, Taunton, MA,
with no centerboard, 6' headroom,
oak frames, cedar planking. Rebuilt
1992, Pease Brothers, Chatham. 50-hp
BMW diesel, new 1992. Fully found,
ready to sail. Beaufort, NC. $34,500.
Tom Harper, harpoon1@bellsouth.
net, 336–227–1153.

“MARY LORING,” A 39'10" 11-TON
double-headsail cutter was designed
in 1941 by Winthrop Warner, and
built in 1947 by Paul Luke in Boothbay, ME. The cabin’s coal burning
stove would enable the owner to sail
comfortably thru November. “Mary
Loring” is in Mamaroneck, NY. ML
is a joy to sail, and own. See web site:
http://stan14.purehost.com/

JOEL WHITE’S CATSPAW DINGHY
built in 2002—Cedar over white oak,
rivet and rove construction. Spruce
mast, sprit and sail. Mahogany seats.
Needs some new bottom planks and
caulking, and she’s good to go. Custom cover included. Trailer not
included. Great project for a WoodenBoat School grad who took the
Fundamentals or the Repair class.
Contact Glenn at tdc.glennm@gmail.
com or 603–431–2220 during a weekday.
Q UA L I T Y U N F I N I S H E D 3 4'
wooden sailboat (DiDi 34). Free to
someone willing to complete her;
but must pay transportation costs
from Oklahoma. Engine and building diary included. 405–620–3199,
[email protected].

Want Boats?
We’ve got more!

LUDERS 16, “GOD’S POCKET”—26'
LOA, 4' draft, excellent condition.
Originally 1950s Northeast Harbor
fleet #12. Mahogany hull completely
restored, fiberglassed, 2013. New keel
bolts. Spruce spars. Jib, genoa, 2010
main, boom tent, seat cushions, two
pipe berths. Located in Southwest
Harbor, ME. $20,000. 207–244–7697,
[email protected].

ROWBOAT: HANDCR AFTED BY
cabinet maker—All Florida wood.
Bronze fastened, and hardware. Shaw
& Tenney oars. $2,500. Palmetto, FL.
941–722–8485.

1963 CHEOY LEE LION YAWL—35',
teak hull. Many upgrades, great condition. Traditional, beautiful. Sail
away. 410–231–4154, Ben.Barker@
verizon.net. $21,500.

1929 CHRIS -CR AFT 26' TRIPLE
cockpit Gadabout—Original motor
rebuilt: A-70 225-hp, No. 250; original bottom; new trailer; excellent
condition; new wiring, nickel plating,
new leather interior. $175,000. Jim
Murdock, 860–582–0774, www.vin
tageboatrestoration.com.

Check out the
black-tabbed
BOATBROKERS
section in
this magazine...

And visit WoodenBoat’s
ONLINE CLASSIFIED
‘Boats for Sale’ listings at
woodenboat.com/boats-sale

November/December 2013 •

WBClass235-final.indd 141

141

9/26/13 11:19 AM

WoodenBoat Classified Order Form
Please circle the issue(s) in which you wish this ad to appear. Example Mar/Apr is one issue.
NOTE: Ads received after the deadline may be placed in the following issue
Issue Date — Mar/Apr May/June July/Aug Sept/Oct Nov/Dec
Jan/Feb
Deadline — Jan 7, ’13 Mar 5, ’13 May 6, ’13 Jul 8, ’13 Sept 5, ’13 Nov 5, ’13

♦ Boats advertised for sale must have wooden hulls.
♦ One boat per ad. Limit: One photo per ad.
♦ “BOATS FOR FREE” ads are FREE!
♦ All classified ads are prepaid.
TEXT: (20 word minimum or $55.00)

♦ Counted as one word = phone and fax number, email or web
address. All else: a word is a word. WoodenBoat does not use
abbreviations such as OBO, FWC, etc. Please spell out.

♦ Please print clearly—WoodenBoat is not responsible for
errors due to illegible copy.

Suggested Category ____________________________

1_______________________ 2_________________________ 3__________________________ 4________________________
5_______________________ 6_________________________ 7__________________________ 8________________________
9_______________________ 10________________________ 11________________________ 12________________________
13______________________ 14________________________ 15________________________ 16________________________
17______________________ 18________________________ 19________________________ 20________________________
21______________________ 22________________________ 23________________________ 24________________________
25______________________ 26________________________ 27________________________ 28________________________
29______________________ 30________________________ 31________________________ 32________________________
33______________________ 34________________________ 35________________________ 36________________________
37______________________ 38________________________ 39________________________ 40________________________
41______________________ 42________________________

. . . . Attach sheet for additional words . . . .

Word Count ______ x $2.75 = $__________ + Photo (B&W/Color + $75) = $__________ = $__________Total
(20 words minimum = $55.00 /issue)

(Payment must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank).

Date ____________________
NAME ___________________________________________________________________________________
Address __________________________________________________________________________________
Telephone _______________________________

Email __________________________________________

PAYMENT METHOD
• Check • Money Order • MC / VISA / AMEX / DISCOVER # _____________________________ Exp. Date_________

Signature______________________________________________________________________

Rates expire November 5, 2013
142 • WoodenBoat 235

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Index to Advertisers
Adhesives & Coatings
Endurance Technologies. . . . . . .
Epifanes North America . . . . . . .
Interlux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
System Three Resins, Inc.. . . . . .
Tri-Texco inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
West System Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

www.masepoxies.com/challenge . 36
www.epifanes.com . . . . . . . Cover II
www.yachtpaint.com . . . . . Cover IV
www.systemthree.com . . . . . . . . . 45
www.tritex.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
www.westsystem.com . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Boatbuilders
Beetle, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Billings Diesel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Carpenter’s Boat Shop. . . . . . . . .
Cayuga Wooden Boatworks. . . . .
Choptank Boatworks. . . . . . . . . .
Clarion Boats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Crocker’s Boat Yard, Inc.. . . . . . .
Cutts & Case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
D.N. Hylan & Associates, Inc.. . .
Dutch Wharf Marina. . . . . . . . . .
Edgecomb Boat Works. . . . . . . . .
Fish Brothers Marine Service . . .
Guillemot Kayaks. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Haven Boatworks, LLC . . . . . . . .
Jensen MotorBoat Company. . . .
McMillen Yachts, Inc.. . . . . . . . . .
MP&G, L.L.C.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Northwoods Canoe . . . . . . . . . . .
Pease Boatworks. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Pendleton Yacht Yard. . . . . . . . . .
Pleasant Bay Boat & Spar Co.. . .
...........................
Reuben Smith’s Tumblehome
Boatshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rumery’s Boat Yard. . . . . . . . . . .
Seal Cove Boatyard . . . . . . . . . . .
Stonington Boat Works, LLC. . . .
Traditional Boat, LLC. . . . . . . . . .
Van Dam Custom Boats. . . . . . . .
Woodie’s Restorations. . . . . . . . .
Woodwind Yachts. . . . . . . . . . . . .

www.beetlecat.com . . . . . . . . . . 122
www.billingsmarine.com . . . . . . 121
www.carpentersboatshop.org . . 123
www.cwbw.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
www.choptankboatworks.com . . 127
www.clarionboats.com . . . . . . . . 125
www.crockersboatyard.com . . . . 122
www.cuttsandcase.com . . . . . . . 126
www.dhylanboats.com . . . . . . . . 123
www.dutchwharf.com . . . . . . . . 122
www.edgecombboatworks.net . . 126
www.fishcustomboats.com . . . . . 116
www.woodenkayaks.com . . . . . . 127
www.havenboatworks.com . . . . 127
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
www.woodenyachts.com . . . . . . 124
www.mpgboats.com . . . . . . . . . . 127
www.woodencanoes.com . . . . . . 126
www.peaseboatworks.com . . . . . 123
www.pendletonyachtyard.com . 126
www.pleasantbayboatandspar.com . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
www.tumblehomeboats.com . . .
www.rumerys.com . . . . . . . . . . .
www.sealcoveboatyard.com . . . .
www.stoningtonboatworks.com . .
www.mainetraditionalboat.com . .
www.vandamboats.com . . . . . . .
www.woodiesrestorations.com .
www.woodwindyachts.com . . . .

127
121
124
127
123
126
117
124

www.brooklinboatyard.com . . .
www.concordiaboats.com . . . . .
www.davidjonesclassics.com . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
www.morinboats.com . . . . . . . .

118
120
120
120
117

Brokers
Brooklin Boat Yard. . . . . . . . . . . .
Concordia Yacht Sales. . . . . . . . .
David Jones Yacht Broker . . . . . .
Metinic Yacht Brokers. . . . . . . . .
Morin Boats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Shannon Yachts/
Schulz Boat Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
S/V Sheila . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
...........................
W-Class Yacht Company, LLC. . .

www.elco50-witch.com . . . . . . . . 120
www.woodenboat.com/
1905-canoe-yawl . . . . . . . . . . . 118
www.w-class.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Events
BoatBuilding & Rowing
Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ocean Reef Club. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sail Antigua Classics. . . . . . . . . . .
The WoodenBoat Show. . . . . . . .

www.woodenboat.com/barc . . . . 17
www.oceanreef.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
www.woodenboat.com . . . . . . . . . 24
www.thewoodenboatshow.com . . . 4

hardware & accessories
Atlas Metal Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.atlasmetal.com . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Barkley Sound Oar & Paddle Ltd.. . www.barkleysoundoar.com . . . . . . . 90
Canadian Tack and Nail . . . . . . . www.canadiantackandnail.ca . . 114
CC Fasteners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ccfasteners.com . . . . . . . . . 115
Hamilton Marine. . . . . . . . . . . . . www.hamiltonmarine.com . . . . . 27
J.M. Reineck & Son . . . . . . . . . . . www.bronzeblocks.com . . . . . . . . 36
R&W Traditional Rigging &
Outfitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.rwrope.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Red Hill Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.supergrit.com . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Shaw & Tenney. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Superior Chrome Plating . . . . . .
Top Notch Fasteners . . . . . . . . . .
U.S. Bells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
West Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wooden Boat Chandlery. . . . . . .

www.shawandtenney.com . . . . . 115
www.justchromeit.com . . . . . . . . 89
www.tnfasteners.com . . . . . . . . . . 91
www.usbells.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
www.westmarine.com . . . . Cover III
www.shop.woodenboat.org . . . . . 49

Kits & Plans
Arch Davis Design . . . . . . . . . . . . www.archdavisdesigns.com . . . . 130
Bosco Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.boscoboards.com . . . . . . . 130
Chesapeake Light Craft, LLC . . . www.clcboats.com . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Devlin Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.devlinboat.com . . . . . . . . . 129
Directory of Boat Kits & Plans. . . www.woodenboat.com . . . . . . . . 125
Fiberglass Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.fiberglasssupply.com . . . . . 131
Francois Vivier Architecte Naval . www.vivierboats.com . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Glen-L-Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.glen-l.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Hewes & Co.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.cnc-marine-hewesco.com . 131
Marisol Skiff/WoodenBoat Store. . . www.woodenboatstore.com . . . . . 130
Noah’s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.noahsmarine.com . . . . . . . 129
Nutshell Pram/WoodenBoat Store. . www.woodenboatstore.com . . . . . . 131
Parker Marine Enterprises . . . . . www.parker-marine.com . . . . . . 130
Pygmy Boats Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.pygmyboats.com . . . . . . . . 129
Tippecanoe Boats, Ltd.. . . . . . . . www.modelsailboat.com . . . . . . 129
Waters Dancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.watersdancing.com . . . . . . 131

Prints & Publications
Calendar of Wooden Boats . . . . . . .
Dorade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Getting Started In Boats . . . . . . . . .
Small Boats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wood, Wind & Water. . . . . . . . . . .
WoodenBoat E-Newsletter . . . . . . .
WoodenBoat Subscription. . . . . . .

www.woodenboatstore.com . . .28-29
www.doradehistory.com . . . . . . . 44
www.woodenboat.com . . . . . . . . . 17
www.woodenboat.com . . . . . . . . . 20
www.annetconverse.com . . . . . . . 91
www.woodenboat.com . . . . . . . . 126
www.woodenboat.com . . . . . . . . . 32

Sails
E.S. Bohndell & Co.. . . . . . . . . . .
Gambell & Hunter. . . . . . . . . . . .
Nathaniel S. Wilson, Sailmaker. .
Sailrite Enterprises. . . . . . . . . . . .
Sperry Sails, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
www.gambellandhunter.net . . . . 48
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
www.sailrite.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
www.sperrysails.com . . . . . . . . . . 75

Schools & Associations
Antique & Classic Boat Society. .
The Apprenticeshop . . . . . . . . . .
Center for Wooden Boats . . . . . .
Great Lakes Boat Building
School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
HCC METC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
International Yacht Restoration
School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Northwest School of Wooden
Boatbuilding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Westlawn Institute of Marine
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
WoodenBoat School . . . . . . . . . .

www.acbs.org . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 116
www.apprenticeshop.org . . . . . . . 48
www.cwb.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
www.glbbs.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
tech.honolulu.hawaii.edu/marr . . 89
www.iyrs.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
www.nwboatschool.org . . . 111, 114
www.westlawn.edu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
www.woodenboat.com . . . . . . . . . 30

Tools
Lee Valley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.leevalley.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Shelter Institute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.shelterinstitute.com . . . . . . 44

Miscellaneous
American Cruise Lines . . . . . . . . www.americancruiselines.com . . . 7
Beta Marine US Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . www.betamarinenc.com . . . . . . . 37
First Harbor Company. . . . . . . . . www.firstharborcompany.com . . 22
Gallus Lamp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.galluslamp.com . . . . . . . . . 110
The Graphix Garage . . . . . . . . . . www.thegraphixgarage.com . . . 116
Half-Hull Classics. . . . . . . . . . . . . www.halfhull.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
J.J. Best Banc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.jjbest.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Robert H. Eddy and Associates . www.yachtmodels.com . . . . . . . . . 90
Strong Fire Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.strongfirearms.com . . . . . . 115
WoodenBoat Store . . . . . . . . . . . www.woodenboatstore.com . . . 10-15
November/December 2013 •

WBClass235-finalwIndex.indd 143

143

9/27/13 9:50 AM

PEGASUS

courtesy of artisan boatworks (both)

A “Downeast 42” power cruiser

PEGASUS

Particulars
LOA
LWL

PEGASUS is now lying in Rockport, Maine, under a cover of shrink-wrap. She is

seeking a new owner willing to exert the considerable effort needed to return
her to a fine coastal cruising yacht.

42' 2"
39' 10"
Beam
12' 8"
Draft
3' 5"
Power
Twin 6-V53 GM diesels
Doc. No.
508681
Designed by Dwight S. Simpson & Assoc.
Built by Frank L. Sample & Son, Inc.,
Boothbay Harbor, ME, 1963

by Maynard Bray

C

ontemporary advertisements inYachting magazine
in the 1960s claim that these standardized cruisers, of which Sample has built several both as 42and 36-footers, were “Built in Maine to ‘Take It.’” Given
the extensive commercial work of both designer and
builder, it’s likely that wasn’t just an idle boast. PEGASUS,
like her sisters, has a double-planked, bronze-fastened,
mahogany hull, with fiberglassed plywood decks. She
has a fully enclosed deckhouse and twin diesels in a cavernous engine space beneath the cabin sole, and still has
all of her original bronze hardware and running gear,
including a 24V Ideal anchor windlass. The below-deck
layout and cabinetry are more reminiscent of the era’s
cruising sailboats than of the typical power cruiser, and
it’s clear that Frank Sample and his crew took particular
pride in her construction. She bears no resemblance at
all to modern motor homes, and the visibility through
the large windows of her pilothouse is spectacular.
Depending on the new owner’s intended use, one might
choose to eliminate the flying bridge as well as the radar
mast to give her a sleeker look.
PEGASUS has the pedigree and promise of becoming a first-class yacht—one that’s large enough for
extended coastal cruising, yet small enough for casual
day use.
The rebuild will be substantial, but would take considerably less money than building new.  Other than
her classic design, the bronze hardware is of particular

value, as it is all accounted for. The majority of it is no
longer available.  
She will require a significant rebuild, although her
backbone and mahogany planking appear to be in good
condition, as does her varnished mahogany interior.
Although the boat has not been thoroughly surveyed,
at the very least she will require complete refinishing of
every surface inside and out, and a complete mechanical and electrical updating (although the engines are
worth rebuilding).  Structurally, she will at least need
refastening and recaulking below the waterline, a new
aft deck, new cabinsides and windshield, a bunch of
new frames back aft (which is typical for a boat of this
age and type), a few new planks, and several sections
of new rails.
This deep-water sailor’s boat was built for Ralph Williams, who kept her summers at the entrance to The
Basin in Vinalhaven, Maine. Later, having fallen on
hard times under different ownership, PEGASUS was
recently saved from the chainsaw and now, we hope,
awaits a rebirth.
Maynard Bray is WoodenBoat’s technical editor.
For more information or to arrange an inspection, contact Alec
Brainerd, Artisan Boatworks, 410 Main St., Rockport, ME 04856;
[email protected]; 207–236–4231 or 207–542–0372.
Send candidates for Save a Classic to Maynard Bray, WoodenBoat,
P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616.

144 • WoodenBoat 235

SAC235_FINAL-05.indd 144

9/24/13 2:25 PM

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9/25/13 3:14 PM

5392_AD_Sikkens_Woodnboat_a1_Layout 1 29/08/2013 14:02 Page 1

We’ve spent
years perfecting
our long-lasting
wood finishes.
So then why do they
have millions of tiny
holes in them?
We know, just the mere mention of holes around a boat
is enough to send a shiver down any old salt’s spine.
Still, holes happen to have a very useful place topside.
Here’s why: because wood is porous, it holds moisture.
And typical wood finishes trap moisture resulting in
surfaces that can crack and flake. Pretty unsightly stuff.
To fix the problem, our Sikkens chemists designed a
wood finish with millions of tiny holes, or pores, in it.
So moisture can escape. Which means a much longer
lasting finish. They also made sure the application
process was fast and easy. After all, who needs to
spend time painting when you can be out boating?
But that’s just part of the story. Cetol® was also
designed to bring out the natural beauty and
characteristics of your wood while protecting it
from damaging UV rays – rays that can potentially
cause color degradation. Just a few coats
promise solid protection all season long. Hardly
the same story a typical wood finish would tell.
Cetol is also flexible. Which is kind of a big
deal when you consider that wood constantly
expands and contracts. Again, fewer chances
of flaking or cracking. And there are four
different colors to choose from including our
new color Cetol Marine Natural Teak with
Next Wave™ Technology. Imagine, a longlasting wood-finishing product that’s a
cinch to apply. It’s kind of a woodfinishing breakthrough.

Visit our website for more
information: yachtpaint.com
Sikkens®, Cetol® the AkzoNobel logo and all product
names mentioned are trademarks of, or licensed to,
AkzoNobel. © AkzoNobel 2013.

interlux235.indd 4

Enjoy the Simplicity
MARINE WOOD CARE PRODUCTS

9/25/13 3:13 PM

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