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April 1, 2000 Issue
April 15, 2000 Issue
April 1, 2000 Issue
A Great Year for Boatbuilding at Lowell's Boat Shop - (Amesbury, Massachusetts)
By Mike Browne
Here at Lowell's we have enjoyed a very active 1999. Ten new boats have been built, and fourteen more are on order. One of this year's boats, a 16' "Old Style" skiff, won "Best Hand-Powered Boat" at the Boston Antique and Classic Boat Show in September. Peter Gibb built this boat for a private order using a pattern that hasn't been built since early this century. Designed originally as a working skiff, it has straighter, cleaner lines and a more classic look than many more modem, rounder, beamier designs.
Another new boat that Peter took great pride building is "the perfect boat" a 17' Salisbury skiff built all in mahogany and finished with varnish. It's a boat "out of my childhood", says the collector who ordered this beauty.
The boat that brought the greatest pleasure to our shop builders, however, was the Salisbury Point skiff with sailing rig ordered as a surprise birthday present and built this spring for Steve Powell of Enfield, New Hampshire. Steve, it seems, had many times visited the boat shop and dreamed of someday owning a Lowell's boat. His wife, Becky, and other family members decided it would be the perfect 50th birthday present and ordered the boat earlier in the year. Under the ruse of driving to a garden tour in Newburyport this summer, they "happened" to drive past the shop, where Steve was shocked to see a beautiful new sailing skiff decorated with a big "Happy 50th Steve!" sign. What a surprise!
Builder Peter Gibb put a number of special touches on this birthday boat, including inlay in the tiller and special carvings. The Powells had ordered the boat unfinished and were going to finish up the painting together at home. They'll first sail and row on Mascoma Lake, but Steve is already looking forward to sailing The Surprise along the coast of Maine next summer.
After a lot of planning and a lot more work by a lot of people, the Boat Shop's Livery of rowing boats opened this summer. For the first time, the general public could find out what it's like to row a wooden skiff or dory in the beautiful waters near the shop.
The idea was born well over a year ago when I sought a way to share the pleasure of rowing a Lowell's boat with a wider group of people, but the obstacles seemed insurmountable. The shop didn't have enough boats on hand for the public to use, and even if the boats were available, there was no safe, convenient way to get people in and out on the water. In addition were issues of supervision, safety, other equipment, and administrative concerns.
I enlisted the help of the Boat Shop Trust, lined up the problems, and went after solutions. The biggest initial expense would be the cost of building new floats for accessing the Livery boats in the water. The Trust pledged a grant to purchase the building materials and raised the funds through a special "Rotten Dock Fund" appeal. Trust members joined with other volunteers in April to build the floats.
At the same time, I had been working with Trust members and the Newburyport Maritime Society to work through complicated issues of administration and safety. With the support of the Society's Board, the project was cleared to open.
The Livery boats came from a number of sources. Three came from adult boat building classes, three from the Turning Point classes, three from Nock Middle School classes, and one from an Amesbury Middle School class. In addition, the Livery needed life jackets and oars. A big issue was the need for a chase boat with outboard motor in case someone got into trouble on the water. Like a stroke of fortune came a skiff with 30hp outboard donated by Charley Johnson.
On Memorial Day weekend it all came together, and the Livery opened to public and members. Boats available for individual or group rowing include the 12' Merrimack rowing skiff, the 15' Salisbury Point skiff, 17' Atlantic skiffs, and the 19' and 20' Banks dories. The cost was $12/hour for the general public, and rowing club memberships were available for $ 100 for individuals or $175 for families. The Livery was open Thursdays and Fridays from 3 to 6pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 3pm. New rowers were taught how to row, and the chase boat was always present in case someone got caught by the current and needed help getting back. Peter Ivancic joined the operation as Livery Supervisor for the season. With his expertise in emergency response and water skills, the Shop feels lucky to have found him. This fall Alan Salich took over when Peter resumed other duties.
One of the benefits of the Livery is the joy of people discovering what it's like to row a boat really designed for rowing, unlike aluminum skiffs, inflatables, and fiberglass dinghies. For being heavier and more stable, Lowell's boats are safer, track better, and generally are more comfortable out on the water as well as a lot easier on the eyes.
What lies ahead for the Livery? We are already looking forward to this season, planning for a longer season with more hours open for rowing. I also have hopes for expanded programming, including weekly rowing classes for kids, guided trips for kids and adults, nature-watching trips, and other special events. Lowell's Boat Shop, 459 Main St., Amesbury, MA 01913
April 15, 2000
Wedge And Glue Kayak Construction
By Mississippi Bob BrownI have built several boats now with the stitch and glue technique and I like this system very much. One recent creation of mine is a sea kayak for small people. I got a lady friend to build the prototype for herself. I assisted her where needed to expedite the job. When we tested the boat I realized that it had too much V in the bottom. Another boat was in order.
I am running out of friends willing to build my creations so I decided that I would build the new test model myself. I will have a boat that my grandchildren will be able to use.
This boat is just shy of 15' with a 22" beam, strictly a low volume boat. I liked the way the first one paddled but the deep V gave me trouble getting it off and on shore with my 170 lbs onboard. This next boat was to be a flat bottomed version.
I dug out the template for the #1 boat and made two sides exactly like the original and glued and nailed on the sheer clamps. I made the two deck beams on the same jig. So far we have the same boat right? I wire tied the two ends and built a temporary form for the center and tacked it in place.
I set this bottomless boat on the shop floor and didn't like what I saw. Way to much rocker. I played with other center shapes but it still fell short of what I wanted. I either got to much rocker or to little flare. Back to square one.
I disassembled what I had and got out my fairing baton and redrew the bottom line, the chine, and began over by resawing the bottom of the side panels. This time, like magic, it all came together. I liked what I saw so I set this assembly on top of a 16' piece of plywood blocked up the ends and drew a line around the boat. This was the bottom shape. I next removed the bottom panel and sawed it out about 3/4" proud.
I have found that some of my earlier wire tied boats tended to get undesirable humps ' I wanted to avoid this problem so I didn't wire tie the bottom to the sides. I simply lay it on the shop floor and began blocking up the ends. I also wedged the bottom up to the sides so that they just touched all over.
When I was completely pleased with the shape of things, I filled an empty caulking tube full of an epoxy wood flour mix and did my fillet, followed immediately with the taping, then set it aside to cure.
I got back to work on this boat a few days latter. When I set the boat upside down on some horses it appeared to be fair. I sawed off most of the excess bottom and finished trimming with a block plane. I had what looked like a long narrow skiff but the shape was fair.
I radiused the comers with a belt sander then gave the entire hull a quick sanding and glassed the outside. I used 6 oz glass and MAS Epoxy. I had one of the fairest boats that I've ever built and it was very, very easy.
The remainder of the construction was typical stitch and glue. I glassed the inside in the cockpit area only but epoxied the whole interior a second coat then epoxied and nailed on the deck. The deck got two coats of MAS. The bottom also got a second coat. The boat was now pretty smooth all over. I built a coaming and was ready for paint. A little Helmsman Varnish on the deck and some Brightsides on the sides and bottom and the boat was ready for testing.
Now I began to worry about this flat bottomed boat. Would it have enough stability? My worry proved unfounded, the narrow bottom and flare did the job. The boat has very comfortable stability both initial and final.
I found the boat a bit tight entering and had to lay my #8s over a bit pointing my toes outward but it is still very liveable boat, even for a guy my size, for a boat designed for children or very small adults like my lady friend.
Reshaping the sides and flattening the bottom did remove much of the internal space, it is, in effect, a much smaller boat than its predecessor. One blessing from the changes was that the coaming is now a couple inches lower, This will be a real blessing for kids who paddle it. Getting in and out of this kayak is a snap despite its tightness. The boat sits solidly on the ground as I enter and attach my spray skirt. It is easy to float the boat after I am in. I have found that with a decent beach I can paddle hard toward the beach and lean way back just before landing and I can step out onto dry land.
A couple months have passed since I first paddled this boat. I have paddled it a lot and have really decided that I have a pretty good boat. I think that this one is good enough that I will share the plans when I get them drawn. Sometimes drawing up the plan after building the boat is harder than the building was. I will get it done in time and you readers will be the first to know.
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