Sarum Boats

Latest Pictures

2012-02-10T19:49:00.001-05:00

Boats and tables in Ruger Art Wing atrium

Stand-up paddle board, almost ready for deck

Work is progessing nicely. Only a few more ribs to steam, and we will have all the boats off the forms inside of a week. While we finish at up, we will also mill and soak the ash inwales, before we trim them to fit inside the boats. Soom we'll turn to shaping the thwarts.

Stringers are on the Forms

2012-01-16T19:56:00.003-05:00

All of the stringers have been laid on the forms and tied on with twine. Today I demonstrated for the students how to steam and bend the ribs and then lash them in place.

First rib clamped in place

Meanwhile, Rob Feeney's stand-up paddleboard is coming along well. The entire hull and bulkheads are together, and we are almost ready to weld all the seams.

SUP

2012-01-06T17:03:00.000-05:00

Stringers soaking.

Two of five low-seat canoes in progress.

Rob Feeney's Stand-Up Paddleboard

Frame of the Greenland Kayak

The new season is almost here.....

2011-11-05T15:50:00.000-04:00

Coracle Project Almost Over.

2011-09-09T15:09:00.001-04:00

The steel coracle is finished!

http://www.steelcoracle.wordpress.com/

Video of the launching to follow shortly...

NFCT (Northern Forest Canoe Trail) First Leg

2011-08-11T22:42:00.006-04:00

Day Three

It rained again, overnight. All the clothes we left out to dry were wetter than before, but otherwise we were dry and rested. I heard something rustling around outside during the night, but nothing was disturbed. (By the way, last evening our two cans of beer cooling in the lake got a rise out of the duck population. Apparently they were attracted by the shiny cans, and kept swimming over to investigate).

Unfortunately, the day began with a portage. First, since we were across the outlet of the lake from the carry, we had to pack and load the boats only to paddle 50 yards to the opposite shore, where we pulled our packs out again and loaded up for a 1.3 mile carry. The terrain was good, all on dirt road, but carries are getting old. Then, we re-entered the Racquette River for the mile to Buttermilk Falls, where we had a .1 mile carry around the falls. Since this was so short, be made two trips, first with the packs and then the boats. It was also rough and steep ground, so this made better sense. I picked off one geocache by the falls.We spent some time taking in the falls and getting some pictures, then got back on the water for another half mile in a quiet, but rock-studded section of river. Our last portage (.6 miles) was perhaps the most arduous, as the trail was uneven, with rocks, roots and mud and the occasional boardwalk, which sometimes proved slippery.

At the end of this last portage, all that remained between us and Long Lake village was a short section of quiet river and 4 miles on the southern end of Long Lake. As we entered the lake, I noticed that I seemed to be taking on more water than could be accounted for by 'paddle drip'. I pulled over at Moose Island, and sure enough, I'd finally done it! After years of bumps and scrapes, I'd finally worn a BB-sized hole in the canvas of my boat. I dried it off and applied a patch of Gorilla brand duct tape. Five minutes later I was on
my way again, good as new.

We pulled into the DEC boat ramp about 1:00 pm, just under 48 hours after we left Old Forge. Not bad for a couple of old guys. A young fellow from Paul Smith's College approached us to ask where we were from and where our boats had been; his survey was related to aquatic invasive species. We chatted for a bit, .then took our time loading up for the trip home. Lunch at the Long Lake diner was well-deserved

NFCT (Northern Forest Canoe Trail) First Leg

2011-08-11T10:33:00.008-04:00

Day Two

Approaching beaver dam

It had stopped raining by dawn, but was overcast and damp-ish. We shook off the wet tent as much as possible and packed up. A short paddle took us under the bridge into Seventh Lake and to the inlet on the north-west corner of Eighth Lake. Here we started the first long carry, through the Eighth Lake State Campground. It would have been a mile, had we beached were the NFCT map indicated and gone straight north through the state campsite, but by going up the inlet and using a side road we saved about .4 miles (I’ve been using the measuring function in Google Earth to check distances).

The next carry was the longest: 1.25 miles (though it seemed longer). It ends with a long boardwalk through the marsh surrounding the stream and a dock at its terminus. Here we dropped our packs and loaded the boats again.

A word about our method of carries might be in order here. Folks with traditional canoes, when confronted with a portage will carry the canoes first, and make a second trip back for their supplies. Some people use little two-wheeled carts, which are compact enough to carry in a canoe or even stow in or on a kayak. On most – but not all – of our portages, this would have worked fine, as they were fairly smooth-surfaced. Our strategy, with our lightweight boats, was to pack light, and carry everything in one trip. I made yoke for the canoe Randy was using, and used the two halves of my break-apart paddle, lashed between the thwarts to perform the same function. I used my large hiking pack and clipped an old Boy Scout canvas pack to the front with the food and cook gear (sort of like wearing a sandwich-sign. It worked well enough, though if I do it again I will try to trim my pack weight even more.

Clearing a sluice in a beaver dam

Brown’s Tract Inlet, the stream we now entered, winds circuitously a couple of miles to Racquette Lake. We crossed four beaver dams, plus one half begun and apparently abandoned, on our way to the lake. Twice we had to step out of our boats onto the dam and re-enter downstream. On the other dams we could remove a few sticks and create a sluice through which it was possible to run (with a little scraping) the canoes. The waterway was so crooked, that it was long after we could see a church and power lines in the village of Racquette Lake that we reached the big open waters of the lake.

I was afraid we might have difficulty here, as Racquette is a big lake, and notoriously windy, but it was tame compared to our first day’s paddle. This was a long stretch – seven miles to the next stop and carry. Much of the shoreline is privately owned land, so we ate our lunch floating in the boats, shifting around to try and rest our backsides. From the northern outlet, there is a half-mile carry to Forked Lake, and then a 3.5 mile stretch to the Forked Lake State Campsite. This is a nice campground. All the sites, which are roomy and have their own privies, are ranges down the south and eastern shore of the lake and even across its North

Bay, some only accessible by boat from the camp center.

At this point, the weather was fine, and it was still early (6:00 pm?). We pitched our tent to air out, hung our wet gear and went to work on dinner.

Forked Lake site #3

Trip Album

2011-08-09T16:56:00.001-04:00

NFCT (Northern Forest Canoe Trail) First Leg

2011-08-09T15:26:00.012-04:00

Old Forge NY to Long Lake NY

Day One

My brother Randy and I just finished the first leg of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. We left Lakeville at 6:00 am on Saturday morning, arriving in Long Lake about 10:00 am. After an early lunch in the diner, we drove down to the D.E.C. boat ramp to wait for our shuttle ride to Old Forge. We left the car in the Long Lake parking lot, so we could easily head for home when the trip was over.

There was another group — two men and their sons — getting picked up who had just done the trip were about to start. These were the only other ‘through paddlers’ we saw this trip and it turned out they were from Torrington, CT, and knew some of the same people as Randy.

We got dropped off at Old Forge and were on the water by 1:30 pm. on Saturday. From Old Forge Pond, it’s about a mile down to First Lake (of eight) on what is known as the Fulton Chain. As we started across the lake, I was amazed at how rough the water was. Many large motor craft, going in all directions, created seas not unlike what I’ve seen off Gloucester, MA in my kayak. Our little skin-on-frame canoes, handled it all quite well, even when we took some splashes right over the bow. First, Second and Third Lakes are almost continuous open water until a narrow channel leads into Fourth Lake which is the biggest, though it was much more sedate.

Packing up for our first portage.

Along about dinnertime, we pulled into Inlet, NY — a nice little village with a boat dock/boardwalk running the length of the east side of town along the channel leading to Fifth Lake. This lake is short, barely more than a pond, and at its end, was our first carry or ‘portáge.’ The carry is only .6 miles, but with loading, carrying and reloading took about an hour. We paddled down Sixth Lake until we found a campsite on the north shore. Just as we were getting ready to make camp, it started to rain, so we quickly pitched the tent, made a hasty dinner on the Jetboil ™, and hunkered down in the tent to eat. Dinner was augmented by a can of Boddingtons Pub Ale apiece. (Pay no attention to the Beer Advocate website slam – when cold, it's good stuff) The rain didn't let up, so that was the end of our day and we made ourselves as comfy as possible.

Visit to Manzanita, Oregon

2011-07-30T14:19:00.001-04:00

While on a family vacation in Oregon, I realized we were next door to Cape Falcon Kayak, so I went over to check them out. On a Thursday, a class of six were coating the skins of their kayaks. We watched for a while and admired the boats.

Greenland-style kayak

Skin-on-frame Adirondack Guide Boat

Owner/teacher Brian Shultz applying polyurethane 'goop'.

Boats turned to coat decks.

Summer paddle

2011-07-03T21:25:00.000-04:00

Leisurely paddle on the Housy with Maia and Rachel.

This little inlet off the main stream was a still-water pond covered with green vegetation (duck weed?). It looked like the boats were sitting on a grassy clearing.

FIRE-POND LAUNCHING

2011-06-04T15:51:00.001-04:00

Jesse Langer '11(Jimmy Skiff) and Will Powers '11 (skin-boat)

BOAT LAUNCHNG

2011-05-31T20:24:00.002-04:00

Charlie Shugrue

Chesapeake LT 17

Enjoying the sun

Lawlor Coe in his sea kayak

Spencer Karls

Rev. Lewis in his sailboat

Jimmy Skiff, built by Jesse Langer '11

2011-05-31T13:39:00.004-04:00

CLC Jimmy Skiff

This turned out to be almost a harder job to paint than to build. I went together very quickly (we worked within the school schedule of 4 x 45 minutes plus 1 x 75 minute block. We learned, first and foremost, that if you are nor going to do a carefully neat job with the epoxy fillets, you'd better be resigned to a lot of rasping and sanding in tight places.

Nevertheless, it came out looking pretty good and is a nice little boat. This is a 'stitch-and-glue' kit from Chesapeake Light Craft.

The boat behind is, of course, one of our skin-on-frame boats with a silver-grey acid dye, coated with the Skinboat Store's 2-part polyurethane and ash rub rails.

and now for something completely different....

2011-05-29T09:34:00.001-04:00

Man performs canoe 'dance'.
Click here

Down to the wire

2011-05-24T08:35:00.004-04:00

These photos are only slightly out of date, but things are moving quickly. The white boat (for now) is fully skinned, and waiting for dye and shrinking. The skiff is right-side-up and fully painted -awaiting oarlocks. The kayak is rigged with deck lines and hatch straps.

Looks like all the boats will be ready for launching on the 31st of May.

2011-04-28T19:51:00.002-04:00

This weekend, I am heading to the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Waitsfield, VT.

I’ll be helping to build a willow ribbed canoe with Hilary Russell, who got me started building skin-on-frame canoes. This boat will look much like our boats, but instead of having steamed cedar ribs, it will be ribbed with willow rods. Also, in keeping with Yestermorrow’s ethos, this will be made with ‘greener’ sustainable materials: a 12’ board; forty willow rods for the ribs; water-based glue; tarred cotton twine for lashing; some scrap wood, and a length of cotton canvas. By applying both Celtic and Native American methods and designs, we will produce a 10½’ by 27” wide double paddle canoe weighing about 18 pounds.

Mid-April

2011-04-16T15:20:00.000-04:00

The 'Jimmy Skiff - prepping for painting

Three stages on the canoes: inwale installed, thwarts in, and frame varnished

Cockpit combing glued on, with lots of clamps

March Break

2011-03-10T13:30:00.002-05:00

Where things stand now:

Will Powers' and Charlie Shugrue's boats.

Spencer karl's canoe

Lawlor Coe's sea kayak

Jesse Langer's 'Jimmy Skiff'

2011-02-22T10:07:00.000-05:00

Jesse Langer's 'Jimmy Skiff'

Spencer Karl's skin-on-frame canoe.

Makin' Progress

2011-01-27T18:53:00.000-05:00

Jesse Langer's Jimmy Skiff

You can't have too many clamps!

Most of the ribs in Spencer Karls skin-on-frame canoe.

Lawlor Coe's sea kayak

Putting the sharp bend in the bow/stern ribs.

Progress update

2011-01-21T17:38:00.002-05:00

In the 'epoxy room', work is well under way on the Jimmy Skiff and the Chesapeake 17LT sea kayak.

Out in the open space of the art studios, the three skin-on-frame canoes are getting their ribs steamed and lashed in place.

The New Season Begins

2010-12-07T21:01:00.002-05:00

Three skin-on-frame canoes,one stitch and glue kayak and one skiff.

Moulds set up for the skin-on-frame canoes

The parts of the Jimmy Skiff, from Chesapeake Light Craft

Glue-up of the 'puzzle-joints' on the Chesapeake LT17

'Puzzle-joint'

Late October Paddle

2010-10-24T22:06:00.004-04:00

My 'regular route'. From the river access near Bartholomew's Cobble, north through the little riffle under the 7A railroad bridge and up to my geocache under Rte 7. Dropped some frames trying to capture the trip upstream; it was pretty shaky.

Early evening paddle on fast moving flood waters

2010-10-03T20:49:00.001-04:00

The Housatonic is in full flood again. Maybe not spring conditions, but plenty of water is going over the dam.
I paddled up to the Hollenbeck from the dam parking lot and up the Hollenbeck as far as the railroad bridge at Point of Rocks Road. Cool trip. I had to maneuver around a few strainers -probably could not have done it had the water not been so high. 'Accompanied' a good part of the way by the Great Blue Heron; also spotted a Kingfisher.

Ironbridge Coracle Launch

2010-09-09T23:56:00.000-04:00

Close to home...

2010-09-06T12:36:00.000-04:00

..and closer to the opening of school.

Mudge Pond is in Sharon, CT and is popular with fishermen. The 'path' from the boat ramp at the south end is a clear passage through the water lilies.

The more I use my skin-on-frame canoe, the more I appreciate its convenience. Its like a pocket knife. I can pull it out when I need it, and be on the water in the time it takes to drive to the shore.

Parker River, Newburyport, MA

2010-08-31T09:04:00.000-04:00

While visiting family in Gloucester last week, I got out on the Parker River. This winds through a salt water marsh, as far as the ocean, though I didn't get that far.

Whale Watch

2010-08-22T08:26:00.001-04:00

Not strictly boat-building, but very cool! These are from Maia's photos of the cruise.

The boat sailed out of Gloucester, MA, but these shots were taken within sight of Provincetown, over the Stellwagen Bank.

Todays trip

2010-08-06T20:51:00.000-04:00

7 or 8 miles on the Housatonic, starting (and finishing) at the Falls Village power dam. Saw one Heron, and a bunch of day-trippers from Clarke Outdoors.

How I spent my summer vacation...

2010-06-16T21:42:00.003-04:00

This is what I'll be doing this summer, with the help of a grant from the Connecticut Commission on Tourism and Culture.

STЄЄL CΘRACLЄ

The nest is empty.....

2010-06-01T11:07:00.000-04:00

Final Exam

2010-05-26T18:33:00.001-04:00

Here are some photos from the launching and of finished or nearly finished boats.

2010-05-25T10:03:00.002-04:00

2010-05-23T11:48:00.002-04:00

2010-05-17T21:03:00.002-04:00

2010-05-15T20:38:00.004-04:00

Its coming down to the wire. No doubt we will be able to finish the boats; what is up in the air is whether we can get them all varnished/painted completely. We are looking at May 26 as our 'exam', or launching.

2010-05-06T20:49:00.000-04:00

The Sassafras is pretty much 'done' - except for sanding, sanding, sanding, priming ,painting and varnishing.

Richard's sea kayak is nearing completion, as well. Trimming the cockpit and opening up the deck hatches is all that remains.

Doubler on the bow of the Eastport Pram.

Gunwales on the Chester Yawl.

2010-05-05T08:50:00.000-04:00

Extra-long kayak paddles for the low-seat canoes:

Quick paddle on Twin Lakes

2010-04-30T16:57:00.001-04:00

A free 'long block'. Plenty of time to paddle from the boathouse to the north end of the lake and into the inlet that leads up to Taconic. Four Canada geese, one heron, six painted turtles.

Windy, windy....

2010-04-29T21:18:00.002-04:00

Planned to get out on the lake today, but it was way too windy. Even the sailing team cancelled practice. So, instead, I borrowed a plastic kayak from my neighbor, and explored the brook behind my house, in Salisbury.

More Pictures

2010-04-24T17:37:00.004-04:00

Oiled (Waterlox) frame, ready for skinning, when dry.

WJ Wood's Sassafras canoe.

WJ Woods canoe seat.

Gunwales being glued on Gabe Antoni's Pram.

Damn Beavers !!

2010-04-19T18:37:00.000-04:00

My plan to make a willow-rod coracle this spring is in jeopardy. Went out to the pond with the dog on Sunday, to check the 30 saplings I had bundled and submerged in the pond. My friend the beaver had dragged them out and helped himself to a free lunch! He did not just nibble the ends; he chewed 20 of them clean in half. Sigh.....

New Photos

2010-04-19T10:28:00.001-04:00

Housatonic paddle

2010-04-10T07:22:00.004-04:00

We don't just build boats; sometimes we get a chance to get out and paddle. This is the boat launch on Rannapo Road in Ashley Falls, MA. On Easter morning, the water was very high and a big trout was hanging out in the shallows. I paddled downriver to the end of the Konkapot River, and up it as far as I could before getting stopped by strainers.

This poor canoe seems to be buried in the silt on the Konkapot, or this may simply be its broken-off bow.

New boat

2010-04-03T10:21:00.005-04:00

Gabe Antoni just started an Eastport Pram, and already it is recognizably a boat. This took one week of classes, at 45 minutes a pop. To his credit, Gabe has spent a lot of his free time wiring it together to be this far along so quickly.

April Fools?

2010-04-03T08:15:00.003-04:00

http://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/canoes/dugout.html

I came across this link on the Indigenous Boats blog. It was announced on April 1st.

Picture update

2010-03-03T11:29:00.015-05:00

As we leave for spring break, this is where things stand.

WJ Woods, 'Sassafras' canoe

Richard Mellish and Peter Tocci, sea kayaks

Cameron Fitch, Chester Yawl

Matt Mulvaney, skin-on-frame canoe

Skin Boats off the forms this morning

2010-02-10T11:09:00.002-05:00

Milestone

2010-01-26T09:18:00.009-05:00

Wow: from flat to boat in one day! It was a lot of work prepping the strakes and wiring them together, but once the ends are pulled together its a big step. Still some tweaking to do with fit at the ends and tightening the wires, but it feels like a major step, at this point.

Meanwhile, the kayaks are coming along, below.

And the Chester Yawl is still being wired.

The first ribs are going in on the skin-boats. The smell of steamed cedar is everywhere.

They are beginning to look like boats!

2010-01-16T11:23:00.007-05:00

Last week the skin-on-frame boats were not much more than gunwales and breasthooks on the moulds. This week, the stringers go on, and they begin to look like something. Its a sort of milestone in the process. the next big one being the steam-bending of all the ribs.

On the kit side, we have gone from this:

To this:

The Sassafras is being wired together, while the Chester Yawl has all its strakes together and tweaked, and is ready for wiring to commence.

2009-12-07T11:40:00.007-05:00

We are now one week into the winter trimester. Things have started to settle down and I feel a little less scattered. The skins boats have their gunwales and breast-hooks together, and we are milling the stringers. The shops band-saw ‘went south’ just when we need it, but when the new one is up and running, we will cut out the knees and stems and rip the cedar rib stock.

A finished Chester Yawl

On the kit side, we are gluing the scarfs for the panels/strakes of the boats and the shears and rubs so we have all our full-length pieces before we start stitching things together. These photos are from the Chesapeake Light Craft website. (I assume they won't mind me using them, as I'm giving them free advertising).

This is the Chester Yawl being stitched together.

Sassafras pair

The new Boat Building year begins...

2009-11-28T20:09:00.005-05:00

Kits from Chesapeake Light Craft .
We'll also be building six skin-on-frame canoes. Whew!

Sea Kayak

Sassafras (looks like the skin-on-frame boats, yes?)

Chester Yawl

2009-10-26T20:23:00.003-04:00

Today was so beautiful; I took a trip down the Housatonic, from Ashley Falls at Rannapo Road, to the dam and Great Falls in Falls Village. Left the car at the falls, and Amy dropped me off at the start of my run. The river was moving pretty fast, and I did nearly nine miles in one hour and forty minutes.

Just after I put into the water I spotted a Great Blue Heron. He stood on the far bank as I paddled by. The big excitement of the run was the old, failed dam in Canaan (I believe it is called the Hefter Dam). I’d been through this before in a kayak, but never in my skin-on-frame boat. Today there was a two foot tall standing wave that tossed the bow pretty high. I got through upright, but took on 3 inches of water, so I pulled over to the bank to empty out.

The rest of the trip was beautiful but uneventful. The water going over the falls was pretty spectacular.

Whoa!

2009-09-08T14:07:00.001-04:00

2009-08-29T12:23:00.009-04:00

Well, we tried. We waited for the rain to stop on Wednesday, and by the time we got on the water it was late. We paddled for a half hour, and realized that at our pace, we would not make the island campground until late, so we returned to Old Forge and extended our hotel stay.

On Thursday morning we put in further down the chain and spent some time paddling around 4th lake, including the narrow passage (above) into 3rd lake. Then back to Old Forge and the water park.

Friday we spent some time at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake. They have lots of boats here, from Wee Lassies (by Henry Rushton) the ancestor of our skin-on-frame canoes, to Adirondack Guide Boats, one of which was being built in the shop on the premises.

When I was a kid, I thought the guideboat was just a canoe with oars, but it is so much more. In this photo, despite the no-flash limitations at the museum, you can see the dramatic shear of the gunwale, the flare of the sides and the pivoting yoke that allows the boat to be portaged easily. What you can't see is the precise fitting and many nails that make the boat sturdy, yet light.

Here is a link to Cape Falcon Kayaks with steps in building a skin-on-frame guideboat.
Below: a canoe rigged for sail, and a metal, bolt-together boat made to be transported in a car.

Off to the Adirondacks

2009-08-26T08:01:00.002-04:00

Heading out to do the first four lakes of the Fulton Chain, the start of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.

Guilder Pond

2009-08-19T11:22:00.006-04:00

For my birthday, my wife gave me a book entitled Water Trails of Western Massachusetts, by Charles W.G. Smith and published by Appalachian Mountain Club Books.

In it is described this modest trip to Guilder Pond on the shoulder of Mt Everett in Mt Washington, Massachusetts. I had visited here many times as a boy, but had not been back for ages. It is a beautiful spot. I was also lucky enough to be joined by the fellow below, though I had to be stealthy to get anywhere near him.

August Paddling

2009-08-15T19:40:00.005-04:00

Haven't been out much this summer, but today I did a section of the Housatonic, from the old covered bridge in Sheffield north to the Green River and back . Had to work for it, against a strong current in places, but the return trip was speedy. Seven plus miles round trip. Saw one snow white egret and a Great Blue Heron.

Slide show in left column.

One more photo - graduation day

2009-05-29T13:53:00.003-04:00

Wrap-up

2009-05-28T12:44:00.004-04:00

The tally for this year is four skin-on-frame canoes, one Oxford shell and two Grain surfboards. The surfboards were a new addition to our repertoire, and were challenging, as described in the previous season's posts. The canoes were a bit different this year, making use of an 'acid dye' and 2-part polyurethane from the Skin Boat School in Anacortes, WA. The consensus is that we like the new look, and I'm sure the skin will be more durable than our previous water-based coating.

End of School Year

2009-05-27T11:29:00.004-04:00

Nothing but pictures

2009-05-07T19:19:00.001-04:00

2009-04-29T06:29:00.004-04:00

Glassing of the first surfboard - laminate coat and 'hot coat' done on the top. Now we have to turn it over and do the underside.

2009-04-27T13:56:00.003-04:00

This is the cover photo from Woodenboat #191 (July/August 2006). The article is about camp-cruising in the Sea of Cortez, Baja California, but also about this cool skin-on-frame sailboat, which is very much like the boats we build. See also http://www.capefalconkayak.com/

Working, working....

2009-04-24T14:30:00.000-04:00

Update

2009-04-20T18:02:00.005-04:00

Dan Biega is attaching the cockpit combing on his shell. Then we will begin installing the Pantidosi Rowing wing.

Here is a close-up of the blocking for the surfboard leash cup and the vent plug. These boards being hollow, and tightly constructed, need a vent to accommodate pressure changes due to the weather.

Below we see Derek's board beginning to take its final shape. Once this is done, the entire board gets fibreglassed.

Surfboards moving along

2009-04-03T12:09:00.003-04:00

Jon Guay is catching up, by doing more than one row of strips per day. Meanwhile, Derek Sweet is adding blocking for the fin box(2), leash, vent plug(3) and along the frames(1) to increase gluing surface.

Instant Boat

2009-04-03T12:06:00.003-04:00

Faculty member Ken Stone made use of the boat room over the spring break to nearly complete this small rowboat.

Current Photos

2009-03-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

March Break

2009-03-06T14:55:00.002-05:00

Skin-on-frame Canoes
As we head of for march vacation, here is how things stand. 2/4 skin boats have the inwales glued in, and the other two are nearly there. We still need to: finish and install the thwarts; fabricate and drill the gunwale rub-rails; trim flush the ribs and breasthooks; apply waterlox to the entire frame. Then it will be time to skin the boats, a major milestone!

Then an acid dye for those who what color and polyurethane over the shrunk skin.

There will still be some small items to attend to: seat cushion; floor boards; bronze rubs at the bow and stern. I hope we will have time to make some paddles.

Oxford Shell
Aft deck is on, the shears are nearly all shaped to take the fore deck. We are in good shape, time-wise.

Surfboards
Definitely the most demanding of the projects, though after we make one or two it should fell easier.

Current pictures to follow shortly.

Updates

2009-02-20T11:57:00.007-05:00

Surfboards

Derek's board is now ready to have the rails shaved and sanded fair and the 'lands' created. This is the surface to which the top of the board - already glued up - will be attached. To get to this point, he had to build up the rails with a series of coved strips, first very naroow to turn the curve of the rail, and then a bit wider on th less curved sections.

Oxford Shell

Dan is making good progress; we will be shaping the 'shear clamps' to fit the decks next.

Skin-on-frame Canoes

A sweet-looking crop of canoes - everything is going smoothly. Almost all ribs in, boats are already off the forms.

Boatbuilding / Surfboards

2009-01-31T21:38:00.004-05:00

More reasons why the surfboard is more complex to build than a boat: in addition to the rocker table we already created, we will also need a 'planning bench' to set the board on edge in, in order to plane and shape the rails. The appendix of the manual illustrates this; I build in a short time the one above, of 2 2x12' and 2 2x6s (with some leftovers). The space between the horizontal members has a bottom and can be used to stow tools, etc.

2009-01-14T14:27:00.002-05:00

Here's where we are on the 14th of January. Keel stringer is on, breasthooks in. Now its ime to rip all the stringers, and we should be steaming ribs soon.

Surfboards!??

2009-01-06T18:16:00.010-05:00

Still waiting for John's kit, but making progress on Derek's - they can switch jobs, builder and assistant, down the line. They work well together. Bottom and top planks are assembled, and frame is nearly fit together. Next step is to glue frame to bottom on 'rocker table' Photos soon. After we do this once, I expect the second one will go quickly.

Chief Sarum overlooks the progress on board number one.

Something completely different?

2009-01-06T17:56:00.003-05:00

A Skin-on-Frame car? Thanks to Chris Hansell (who built a skin-on-frame canoe last year) for sharing this video with me:

Skin-on-frame 'recovery' kayak almost done

2008-08-20T20:16:00.007-04:00

Paddle is almost finished - just a bit of sanding and oiling to do.

Put the last of the two -part poly on the deck today. All that remains is to add at least one set of deck lines.

I'm excited to try this out this weekend!

Last Days of Summer

2008-08-13T21:02:00.014-04:00

With summer coming to a close - as indicated by an email from our Dean of Faculty, including schedules for the opening of school - I'm trying to put the finishing touches on my 9'-6" 'recovery kayak'.

After getting home from Bhutan, between climbing, geocaching and biking, I oiled the frame - two coats of Waterlox tung-oil finish. I was nervous about sewing on the canvas, having never done this before, but it turned out to be not that hard. Some pushpins or staples around the gunwales helped hold things tight, and the sewing went pretty smoothly. I did re-do the stern, as after one go I thought I really understood the technique, and could do a better job - which I did. I followed the sewing method from the Robert Morris book, Building Skin-on-Frame Boats. Morris runs Brewery Creek Small Boat Shop, in Vancouver http://brewerycreek.ca/ , and offers boatbuilding classes.

Shrinking was greatly facilitated by information I got from http://www.skinboats.com/ . I will make use of this when we do the skin canoes. I got onto their website while looking for 2-part polyurethane as noted in Building the Greenland Kayak : A Manual for Its Construction and Use by Christopher Cunningham.

Note the iron - this worked very well, getting rid of all of the wrinkles seen in these photos.

This photo shows how the skin is sewn to the cockpit rim. This is the only attachment of the rim to the boat. I have some ash floor-boards for the cockpit, but may just try a piece of foam or a crazy-creek chair pad for starters, until I see how things work.

The blunt end of this, versus the point of the traditional Greenland boat, made the front seam a little less elegant, but not bad.

This morning, I nearly finished roughing out the Greenland-style paddle, and I have a tuitsog (sprayskirt) pattern ready to make a prototype. Hopefully I will coat the hull tomorrow. Again, the http://www.skinboats.com/ website has been a great source of information and instruction.

As with every boat I build, I see things that I would do differently next time, and probably will learn more when I actually paddle this one. As someone quipped to me recently; boats are like potato chips; bet you can't build just one!

2008-05-29T14:21:00.002-04:00

2008-05-29T08:43:00.005-04:00

Launch day - video to follow

2008-05-28T20:10:00.007-04:00

Here we are heading down to the lake. This was the most nerve-racking part for me, as the trailer was made for longer boats, but these looked rock steady. The 'official' launching was not very. After a quick set of instructions to the two groups of guys, we all just got on the water and tried out our boats.

A bit of comic relief ensued when we discovered that Phil Brady's rigging was in backwards. If you look close at the photo below, you will see his feet pointing toward the bow of the boat - not good for rowing. This was easily fixed, and it seemed like a good time was had by all as people started to get used to their boats.

Alex Bartell

The new boathouse

2008-05-27T18:09:00.001-04:00

This is it! The boats are done, and we will transport them down to the lake tomorrow morning.
Everybody gets a chance to try them out, show them off, etc.

2008-05-26T08:26:00.003-04:00

We will do some final finishing touches later today (Memorial Day) and the launching is on Wednesday.

2008-05-17T20:58:00.003-04:00

2008-05-13T09:07:00.001-04:00

Oxford Shells: with one final coat of epoxy on Phil Brady's boat, all the shells will be 'done'. Now comes sanding and varnishing /painting.

Skin-on-frame boats: the two 'older' boats have paint on them, we just need to build up coats, then attach the rubs. It is unclear whether we will have time to do paddles.

Chris Ross's boat is getting the thwarts today, and we will spray the frame with polyurethane, to speed up the process.

2008-05-08T18:52:00.002-04:00

2008-05-05T19:29:00.007-04:00

This is where the Recovery Kayak is so far. The cockpit rim is finished and drilled. The stringers are soaking overnight. Two short deck stringers will span between the masik (deck beam) and the bow. On the bottom, there will be two chine stringers - more or less round - and two slightly smaller ones to keep the skin from hitting the ribs on the sharper curve of the sides.

After that, the only things left to do are oil the frame and skin it, which is a process I have NOT done before and involves sewing the skin in place .

With luck, I might have this done in time to test when the boys test their own boats, during the school's exam week, but that's not a priority.

The yellow object in the kayak is a float bladder, made of heat-sealable fabric, but modeled after a skin bladder as might be used by native Amerindians.

Skinning starts

2008-05-01T19:16:00.003-04:00

Skinning is underway. Anyone who has ever stretched an artist's canvas would have a clear understanding of how this proceeds. We start amidships with a few staples on each side, then work toward each end, alternating sides and pulling the canvas down and diagonally toward the ends as we go.

At the bow, the fabric has to be slit and overlapped on the stem and knee. All the cutting of the nylon canvas is done with a hot knife (we use an old woodburning tool with a sharp edge, and it works great), so the fabric won't fray.

Oxford Shells

2008-05-01T19:01:00.005-04:00

In a perfect world, all of these would proceed at the same pace, and we would have 4 identical boats, and would all be doing the same steps at the same time, which would probably be more efficient.

But things are what they are, so two boats are getting their cockpit trim and bow wash today, while two are having the mounts for the Pantidosi Row Wing installed. In any case, we are well on target to finish them all before school is out. Coming up: lots of sanding and varnishing. We will have to either move the boats out or thoroughly clean the work room.

'Rudolf'

Recovery Kayak

2008-05-01T18:53:00.004-04:00

The Recovery kayak cockpit rim is completely glued up. In retrospect, since I almost had to laminate this one layer at a time, it might have been just as easy to make a longer steam box and make the rim by steam-bending. I have the form, for future projects, at least. This is six layers of .1 inch ash, 1.5 inches wide (so the rim is nearly .75 inches thick) with an additional .5 inch rim two layers thick.

The piece above is the assembly that started out as in the photo below:

Stats

2008-04-30T14:22:00.011-04:00

I was doing a tally of the boats built by Salisbury Students since we began the program, and was a little surprised by the numbers:

30 boats, all together, plus 5 I've built myself.

Skin-on-frame Canoes

2008-04-26T20:10:00.004-04:00

The frames are finished and coated. We will now be working on floorboards, a cushion seat, and when the frames are completely dry will be skinning the boats.

Chris Ross started at the beginning of the spring term, but by having the stringers and gunwales pre-milled, and the strong-back set up for him, we are making great progress. He is also a great worker, doing some tasks on his own time.

We added the 'makers marks' today. We got these, by the way from http://www.makers-marks.co.uk/ . They were very reasonable, even for small batches, and add a nice touch to the finished boat.

Oxford Shells

2008-04-26T20:06:00.003-04:00

All four boats are decked. On two, the cockpit rim and deck wash are on, and we are beginning to prepare the mounts for the Pantidosi Row Wing.

2008-04-18T07:10:00.004-04:00

4/17 Rear decks are on the last two shells. The other two have are nearly 'built'. (See photo) Just a bit of fairing and filleting with the wood-flour mix and they will be ready for a final coat of unthickened epoxy.

2008-04-11T20:46:00.005-04:00

Two Oxford shells have both decks on. We are still installing the skegs on the other two.

We used just four screws for alignment, then used duct tape / packing tape to hold the decks down. The only down-side to this, that I can see, is that if you have a lot of overhanging material, the tape tends to make the deck 'hump up' or take a smaller radius than it should. We solved this by pre-trimming most of the excess plywood, thus reducing the possible leverage on the edges.

2008-04-11T20:41:00.004-04:00

The sail rig is moderately successful. It needs some tweaking. I found I had to move the pivot point down from the thwart to the floorboards, and amidships a bit. The lashing of the sail to the spars needs rethinking, so the whole rig stays in place better. Since the boat has no keel, and tends to turn into the wind without the sail, steering is problematic. With a good wind, I can drag the double-blade on the appropriate side to keep her straight. I'll keep working on it.

Now for something not completely different

2008-04-09T11:22:00.003-04:00

Sails for canoes.

Working from the book Canoe rig : the Essence and the Art : Sailpower for Antique and Traditional Canoes, by Todd E. Bradshaw, I am trying out a simple sail rig for the skin-on-frame canoes. Any sailor will quickly see that this will only work downwind, but it is light and easy to put together, so I'm going to test it soon.

I may have to come up with something more elegant than the zip-ties holding the 'anchor' block, but until I see how this works, I want something I can remove easily. The ends of the spars are not actually attached, but simply rest in oversized, round-edged holes. I suppose I could also lash the end eyelet to the thwart, but I want to see if this works, first.

Skin-on-Frame Canoes (2)

2008-04-04T08:55:00.005-04:00

This is where we are on the 4th of April. The boat which is furthest along is ready (note to self: double check everything) for sealing. The first boat I ever made was coated with water-based polyurethane, but since the student projects have a different rhythm, with lots of drying time, we've use Waterlox tung oil, with good success. Two coat of the 'regular' formula and then a top coat of their more heavy bodied marine formula. This last takes a long time to dry, so while it is doing so, we make the floor boards and seat cushion and start on our paddles.

Below is a detail of the breast-hook, with the rubrails in place (though they will come off again to varnish and to skin the boat.

Below: the thwart attachment below the gunwales - also shows the lashing of rib to stringer.

Stitch and Glue Oxford Shells (2)

2008-04-02T21:57:00.003-04:00

4/3 While we have about a week spread between the two 'sections' of guys doing this kit, we are still in good shape schedule-wise. The guys furthest along will be decking next week.

4/9 All the hulls are 'glassed' now. I feel like we have turned a big corner, and the hardest work is behind us.

The photo just above shows the aft hatch opening and the aft deck attached.

Stitch and Glue Oxford Shells (1)

2008-04-01T12:07:00.007-04:00

Four boys are building Chesapeake Light Craft's Oxford shell. As of April 1, the students furthest along have installed the slotted block for the skeg, and will soon be putting on the decks.

Today we finished shaping and sealing the blocks that will hold the skeg. Then we glued the scarph joint on the bow deck. Tomorrow we'll trim the bulkheads and plane the sheerclamps in preparation for attaching the decks.