Boy Scout Boat Building

Boy Scout Boat Building By ZACK CINEK The Daily Journal
Updated: 04/20/2009 12:00:02 AM PDT

Boat will accompany scouts on future adventures. Hands, 12 of them, and six boys, were at a north Ukiah Main Street building working to finish a wooden boat that they have been working on as a Boy Scout's project Saturday.
When the boat is finished, the boys will hopefully be able to teach other area children how to make the same wooden kit boat, ringleader of the project, Dusty Dillion said.

The boat building kit is designed to take the shape of a boat during the first hours of its construction.

"It is like a boat on noon the first day," Dillion said. Dillion belongs to the Lost Coast Traditional Small Craft Association which produces a kit for building the boat.

The Small Craft Association, Dillion said, has also placed 10 "Building the Weekend Skiff" books as included in the kit into libraries.

Supported by a stand on each end, boy scouts and their adult counter parts worked side by side to smooth up rough edges and fasten new pieces of wood.
Some tightened wood screws, others used carpentry tools to take off rough edges and to cut off excess material. Bending straight pieces of wood to follow the boat's contour took a special touch.

"Wood does not bend well under tension," Dillion said. "It breaks."

The floor of the North Main Street building donated by Dick Seltzer had black and white checkered flooring like that of a high-end workshop.

Donuts and soda were available as refreshments to keep the crew going that had arrived at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

"That was the first spark of enthusiasm when the donuts came out last week," Tom Force said. Last weekend, the group had worked until about 5 p.m., but the first hours of construction were busy.

Force said it is part of the project's psychology for the project to resemble a boat by noon on day one.

"The enthusiasm slowly became contagious and that will see the project through easy," Force said. "This is the first time we have actually built one from scratch with kids."

"Just cut those in half and we can put some sandpaper on them," Brian Cahill said. Cahill, unit commissioner of the Boy Scouts, was waiting for batteries to charge so he could halve a block of wood to make sanding blocks.

Presiding over the work Saturday were assistant scout masters Antonio Rodriguez and Larry Thompson in addition to Dillion, Cahill and Force.

Force said that the scouts here have a motto of "scouting is outing," and they take trips to places like Point Reyes and Mt. Lassen, for example. "This boat will join them," said Force.

The boat coming to life Saturday was a first for the scouts of Troop 75, but it is one of many built from similar kits. Developed in part at the University of Pennsylvania, about 2,000 have been built.

"The boat can be made to row, sail or power," Dillion said.

It is likely Lake Mendocino, if there is anything left of it, will be the first water that the scout's boat will see.

On the Internet: http://www.tsca.net/LostCoast/

 

Tangier Island and the Way of the Watermen

In the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, a culture struggles to survive as aquatic life becomes scarce By Kenneth R. Fletcher, Smithsonian.com,

Tangier Island is an isolated patch of Virginia marshland in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, just south of the Maryland line. For centuries the island has been a community of watermen, the Chesapeake term for people who harvest the crabs, oysters and fish in the bay.

"Tangier is a living history. We've been doing this hundreds of years," says James Eskridge, the mayor of Tangier. "We are really not that far from D.C. or Richmond, but you can come here and step back in time."

Houses line narrow streets that follow patches of high ground in the town of Tangier, population 535. With no bridge to the mainland, supplies and people arrive on the daily mail boat from Crisfield, Maryland, 12 miles away. Most people get around the 3-mile-long island by foot, golf cart or bicycle.

Residents speak with an accent so distinctive that after a quick listen they can easily tell if someone is from Tangier or another nearby harbor. And the island has its own vocabulary, prompting a resident to compile an extensive dictionary of local terms (including "mug-up" for hearty snack, "cunge" for deep cough). Conversations are peppered with expressions like "yorn" for yours and "onliest" for only.

Almost everyone on the island goes by a colorful nickname; favorites include Puge, Spanky, Foo-Foo, Hambone and Skrawnch. Locals call Mayor Eskridge "Ooker" after the sound he made as a boy when he imitated his pet rooster.

But Tangier's distinct culture is at risk as the Chesapeake's once bountiful aquatic life becomes scarce. The bay's oyster population collapsed in the 1980s and has yet to recover. Now crab levels have plummeted, from more than 800 million total crabs in the bay in the early 1990s, to around 200 million in recent years.

Tangier's woes are linked to the 17 million other people who live in the 200-mile-long bay's watershed, which encompasses parts of six states and the cities of Baltimore, Washington and Richmond. Runoff from farms, suburban lawns and urban areas pollutes the estuary. This smothers underwater grasses that provide crucial habitat to crabs and creates algae blooms that cause oxygen-depleted "dead zones.".

According to Bill Goldsborough, fisheries director at the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation controlling this pollution takes years of political will calling for tough measures. With crab numbers plummeting, "we had no other choice than to cut back on the harvest" he says.

Read More:

Tangier Island and the Way of the Watermen - Smithsonian Magazine

Newflash! For short time only, a chance to win a boat

Lowell's Boat Shop is part of Partners in Preservation.. From April 14 - May 17, 2009, taking vote to save their historic shop
http://www.lowellsboatshop.com/winaboat.html

Cast a vote for a chance to win a handcrafted Salisbury Point Skiff.. http://www.lowellsboatshop.com/salisburyskiff.html

Voting for Lowell’s Boat Shop is easy and free!

Two month trip in an Iain Oughtred Ness Yawl on the river Po, Italy

Saturday, April 18, 2009
The Ness Yawl on the Po River
Posted by Michael Bogoger (Doryman)

Doryman received a note from a compatriot in Italy recently about his voyage up the Po river, the longest river in Italy. This two month trip in an Iain Oughtred Ness Yawl is documented by Giacomo on his blog and it's a great story!

This is his note and a link to his site, well worth the visit:

"Congratulations for your blog and your work.
My name is Giacomo De Stefano and I rowed and sail for more than 1000 km the Po river, the Italian longest.
You can see more on my blog unaltropo.com"

Giacomo's Video Documentary of his trip:


Giacomo has a new project for next year. This man's heart is in the right place!---
"North Sea to Black Sea (by fair means)":

"We undertake the voyage without the pretense of trying to teach anything, but with the objective of shining a light on that which we’ve forgotten. “The river” is a metaphor for life, and the voyage is a way of clearing the useless superstructure
that weighs us down; that is, the false security of material possessions. We want
to experience, and to show others, the wonderful feeling of freedom that can be felt from being transported by the current and by using the strength of one’s own arms and the wind to move in harmony with nature."

“A journey can be a key to finding our real nature and leaving behind the heaviness
of unneeded things, of enjoying how we can give and receive,” says Giacomo. “True happiness doesn’t come from having things, but from having the knowledge of how to attract good things to us. Prosperity is really a way of living and thinking."

Giacomo's convictions:
"With the help of Roland Poltock as master shipwright, along with and some boys and girls from the local community for the disabled and school students, we will use only using only recycled wood. Electric power will be supplied by a local wind farm."

Giacomo has taken the challenge to transform the culture of consumerism and to cultivate the human spirit. A grand and worthy aspiration.  - Doryman

Giacomo's Blog
DoryMan's Blog

Sea Shanties Radio – Last.fm

http://www.last.fm/listen/globaltags/sea%20shanties

Sea shanties Radio on Last FM
Including Great Big Sea, Stan Rogers, Banana Boat, Ewan MacColl and more.

I've been looking for Sea Shanties to upload to the site for fun. I found this link to Sea Shanties radio.

I hope you enjoy as much as I. Yo ho ho... and a merry is this...

If you don't like the current song, hit the skip button >>I.

Carlotta - 1899 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter

The restoration of the 1899 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter "Carlotta" began in 2005. The interior was gutted, several new planks and frames were replaced, the mast spars and rigging cleaned up, and all hardware stripped from it's decks. About 3500 pounds of ballast was removed.

In 2006 - The companionway hatch and skylight are restored, a new mainboom is built and wood for a new deck and deckbeams is squirrelled-away. The old deck is removed and a new aft counter is constructed.

2007 - New deckbeams are shaped and installed with new knightheads, breasthook, and ruddertrunk. The gimballed table and companionway are restored and a new ceiling is installed.

2008 - Carlines, bulkheads, and a new cockpit are finished. The forward hatch is restored and covering boards and stanchions are fastened.

Most recently, this April 2009, the new deck is complete and the cover comes off. The deck was caulked with cotton and oakum and then payed with hot pitch.

 

 

The website created to honor "Carlotta", her history, and restoration can be found here: http://www.pilotcutter.ca/

 

 

Wooden boat-builder who builds “by eye”

Gail McGarva - wooden boat builder - 8 April 2008

Listen to the BBC Radio "Woman's Hour" interview with Gail McGarva - Real Player Required.

Wooden boat-builder who builds “by eye”

Gail McGarva is one of the few remaining wooden boat builders able to build “by eye”. Originally working as a qualified sign language interpreter, at aged 39, Gail decided to change career after living on a houseboat,. Repairing this and sailing it to the source of the Thames, she discovered her passion for boats. She trained at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis, building a replica of the oldest remaining Shetland boat of 1882 and was awarded the British Marine Federation Trainee of the Year in 2005. She went on an apprenticeship in Ireland, before returning to the Academy a year later to work as an assistant instructor and project leader. Gail was awarded membership of The British Wooden Boat Trade Association in 2008 and recently received a �13,500 award from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust to enable her to build “by eye” a boat of historical resonance to Dorset. She joins Sheila to discuss her specialist craft and change of career.

Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust

Link

North Carolina Maritime Museum Wooden Boat Show April 26 - May 2, 2009

Start:	Apr 26, '09
End:	May 2, '09
Location:	315 Front Street, Beaufort, NC 28516

For over 30 years the North Carolina Maritime Museum's Annual Wooden Boat Show has provided an exciting venue for owners and builders of wooden boats to come together to show and operate their boats. Workshops, demonstrations, launchings, races, and other educational programs have served to expand the public's awareness of the very special properties of wooden boats.

EVENTS
• Sailboat Rides
• Demonstrations
• Sailboat Rides
• Wooden Boat Displays
• National Boatbuilding Challenge
• Nautical Crafts Fair
• Antique Car Show
• Nautical Reenactors
• Family Activities
• Sailboat Races
• Boat Models
• Historic Vessels
• Special Programs & Speakers

AWARDS and JUDGING
People's Choice Award
We invite all visitors to vote for their favorite boat. Voting forms will be available at the Wooden Boat Show. The winner will receive the People's Choice award at the Boat Show dinner Saturday evening.

Judging
An expert panel of five judges will determine the winners of the show's awards in the following categories:
• Best Sail & Best Classic Sail
• Best Power & Best Classic Power
• Best Row & Best Classic Row
• Best Paddle & Best Classic Paddle
• Best Original Boat

Other Awards
We will present additional awards for the Oldest and the Newest Boats in the show, and to the winners of the Spritsail and the All-comers races. Members of the Carolina Maritime Model Society also will vote for the best model on show in their exhibition in the museum auditorium.

EXHIBITOR INFORMATION
We invite owners of wooden boats of any age as well as maritime related art, craft, or commercial product(s) to be exhibited. For information or an application to exhibit, contact the North Carolina Maritime Museum at 252-728-7317 or maritime@ncmail.net. Or download a registration form .

NATIONAL BOATBUILDING CHALLENGE
The concept is simple: Teams of two build the same 12 foot skiff design. They are graded on time of build, quality of workmanship, and speed on the water against each other. The current world record for building is 2:11:47. These are real boats!

Contact the museum for details.

NORTH CAROLINA MARITIME MUSEUM
BEAUFORT MUSEUM AND WATERCRAFT CENTER HOURS:
Weekdays: 9 AM-5 PM
Saturdays: 10 AM-5 PM
Sundays: 1 PM-5 PM

ADDRESS:
315 Front Street
Beaufort, NC 28516

E-MAIL: maritime@ncmail.net

PHONE: 252-728-7317

The small community of Cedarville has come together to keep boating history alive.

TV6 Contributor Jade Olds, Sault Ste. Marie
Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 4:33 p.m.

Great Lakes Boat Building School-Cedarville, Michigan -- A school that teaches the art of wooden boat building may sound more like something from the 1930s, but the Great Lakes Boat Building School opened in 2006. It was only four years ago that the facility was just an idea.
Today, it's fully operational, offering a nine month program during the school year and week-long workshops during the summer months. In addition to boating classes, students can also take general education course through North Central Michigan College, which may open the door for even more career choices.
"When I'm done here, I'd like to go work for someone for a couple of years, possibly go and start my own business," said student Jeremy Labore. "I think there's a lot of options open for students to do what you, as an individual, want to do with this."
The school focuses on giving their students a hands-on learning experience. This year's group of eight students has two instructors working closely with them in the classroom and the workshop.
"The most enjoyable part of the whole thing is seeing them going through the program and really grow," said executive director Dave Lesh. "If you look around here, what they start building on day one versus what they graduate building, it's pretty remarkable how much they've learned."
School officials hope to double enrollment for next year.  As for the impact on local commerce, the staff is working to conduct a study to show just how much the Great Lakes Boating School has affected Cedarville's local economy.

Great Lakes Boat Building School

CANAL PICTURES

I just finished up loading the pictures of the Trent-Severn water way.

CB

TRENT-SEVERN WATERWAY

The Trent-Severn Waterway runs from the north-east area of Lake Ontario
north west to the Georgian Bay area.
It includes some 44 locks running thru the most beautifull country you'll ever see.

NEW FOLDER

Hey Kruez,

How do I set up a new folder on "Wooden Boat Builder" to up load the Canal Pictures to?

Or would it be best to up load to my web site and store them there? Also, after following your suggestions and the info under "my account" I still do not get  a notice of new postings. Where do I go from here?

Thanks for your help,

CB

JEZEBEL II UPDATE

Today I just finished uploading the balance of the pictures showing the construction as of the end of 2008 for my Canal Boat. I think the last one is #312. I have taken a few pictures today that I will post as soon as possible that will be totally up to date.

CB

OFF TOPIC PICTURES

Yesterday I posted a note on the Schooner "IBIS" page by mistake. Today I deleted it to make things right.

Anyway, I will try again here. I have collected a series of some 30 pictures of the Trent-Severn and about 6 pictures of the Welland canal's in Canada. I would be glad to post them here on "Wooden Boat Builder" or on my own site if any one has the interest.

CB