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 Posted on February 26th,2013The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum has a great fleet and will be the better for adding the restored skipjack,ROSIE PARKS. I have blogged about her before and the museum does a nice job of tracking the update in its blog. I checked in on her while I was there. She’s coming along nicely.
See the “before”pictures in this post from 2007.  Posted on February 25th,2013It happens all too rarely,but I was able to cash in a Christmas gift an spend another great day with Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum‘s Apprentice for a Day program. The current boat is an enhanced reproduction (a reproduction with some more modern updates incorporated) of GHOST,a deadrise bateau from about 1920. I found her reincarnation with two rough side planks clamped on to molds and an oak stem. Her chine logs and transom were in place –check out that upsweep in the chines and the laminated keel –as were the initial stab at that most curious of Chesapeake boatbuilding creations,the chunk bow. Our first task was to fit the bottom-most port side plank (the bottom will be diagonally planked). » Continue reading Learning to plank –a great time as a CBMM Apprentice for a Day » Posted on July 14th,2012Here’s another image courtesy of of Facebook,this one on the WoodenBoat Facebook page:two lovely Friendship Sloops,with full sails set,racing (I believe) at one of last year’s Friendship Sloop Society events. Just amazing boats. Ultimate photo credit,I believe,goes to the Friendship Sloop Society,to which I need to pay more attention.
Posted on July 14th,2012I learned recently,via the Cheaspeake Maritime Museum Facebook stream,the the Apprentice for a Day program completed the North Shore Sailing Skiff I worked on for a day this spring. As expected,she came out quite well. She’s a nice design overall,and I hope I can take a few pulls in her at some point.
Posted on April 22nd,2012While at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum it is,of course,imperative that I cruise around and check out the fleet of boats there. There is a good deal going on with the museum’s collection of historically important working boats,and I thought I’d share a bit of that (for a fuller picture,follow the museum’s Chesapeake Bay Boats blog).
Elsewhere,the bugeye EMMA LOCKWOOD was up on the ways and a cute sharpie was getting some upkeep.
Category:Chesapeake Bay Maritime Mus.,Larger Traditional Boats |  Tags:bugeye,sharpie,skipjack |  One comment |  Trackback this Post Posted on April 22nd,2012
Excellent times Saturday as I took advantage of a Christmas gift of another day in the Apprentice for a Day program at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. I hadn’t been there since the passing of Dan Sutherland,who ran the program for the past few years and a much-missed genius. Happily the program has rallied to continue Dan’s final project,a North Shore Sailing Skiff,“Miss B”Model,and I was thrilled to get a chance to participate in building this nice-looking classic small rowing and sailing boat.
I confess I didn’t get to learn much about the boat. It was designed by Robert H. Baker and a version of it appeared in the very first issue of WoodenBoat. More recently,the hull,NELLIE,appeared as Miss November in WoodenBoat’s 2010 calendar (via Benjamin Mendlowitz,of course). CBMM’s blog has a bit of additional info. The boat had been fully planked and framed. The boat is going to be gorgeous. She will have a bright-finished Spanish cedar transom and I must call your attention to the black locust breasthook and quarter knees. My goodness,that breasthook is treasure.
So,on to the work I did. The morning had us refining the fit of the seats. As is often the case,this meant a good deal of subtle tweaking and nudging followed by an extensive effort to find the right spot to cut the mast partners into the forward seats (there are two mast positions and the center-line had gotten a bit murky when compared with the seats). I eventually was able to have at it with the drill press and a 3″hole saw. A little more clean-up and the seats got pulled again and spent the afternoon in the finishing room with another participant.
The afternoon was focused on figuring out the floorboards. The plans called for a single 3″plank running fore-and-aft about 5-6″off the center line. This seemed an odd choice and we decided,after extensive discussion and test-fitting,to add a second floorboard inboard of the designed ones. We milled the boards –barely –out of some sassafras and a spent the last part of the afternoon shaping and sanding these pieces. Satisfying as always. Posted on February 20th,2012
While I feel a great loss in his passing knowing the influence he had on me,I know that I am not alone in his wake. There are many amazing boats with his imprint on them out there and these will serve as wonderful monuments to him. Prayers for his friends and family and,of course,fair winds and following seas to you,Danny. Posted on October 29th,2011I came across this piece in the Stamford Advocate on the Philadelphia Wooden Boat Factory’s Boat,Build and Sail program. An excerpt:
Posted on October 3rd,2011Toward the end of the day Saturday,I happened to be on hand when John Harris,father of Chesapeake Light Craft,took a spin in one of the two cocktail class racers that were about. For those who don’t know,these boats are 8′plywood outboard boats that barely hold a single man. They go fast and have a devoted following. John was getting into the boat and setting of when one fo the other guys from CLC yelled out “John! Stop! You’re in the wrong boat! It has a MOTOR! [as John heads out] Uhhh…he’s gone to the dark side.”LOL. John came back after an out-and-back run looking somewhat exhilerated and more than mildly terrified. In the next three minutes I heard him say “the steering is really an art”no less than five times with his eyes the size of bulkhead ports. I wouldn’t be holding your breath for the CLC cocktail class kit. Posted on October 2nd,2011I wanted to get these pictures of the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival up right away;I’ll be adding captions soon. [UPDATE] Captions are now on there. I encourage you to browse through. There were some AMAZING AMAZING boats there. I’d highlight the sailing canoe SEVEN STARS,the Melonseeds,the sailing canoe in pictures 4 and 31,and,of course,the Coquina. | ||
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She is a longtime fixture in the museum’s collection but has not,as I understand it,seen the water in that time. Little is known,therefore,about her performance. She is just she of 16′LOA with a beam shy of 6′. In her day she carried a sprit rig with 146 square feet of sail.
Rather than planking the forward portion of the bottom,where planks could get twisted and tricky,the builders took a page from the dugout-builders of yore and carved pieces from solid stock. Arduous,but it did the trick.
Most significant is the restoration of the 
I suspect this is one of ROSIE PARKS’spars,in the making. Makes me feel bad about feeling sick of 16-siding AL DEMANY CHIMAN’s 3 spars.
I was incredibly distressed to see on