Chine bLog

Geez - it has been too long. Apologies to my loyal readers - yeah, you three - for keeping you hanging. Last weekend brought me back to Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's for another installment of the Apprentice for a Day program. And a great day it was.

The boat has come along a bit more since I was last back. Frames installed, a couple deck beams, centerboard trunk coming along, and preparation of deck knees. And deck knees were the task for the day.

As my regular readers know (you know who you three are), I am longer on boat building desire than I am on facilities and time to actually do it. Ergo, I blog... That all changed today, however, and will again three out of the next four weekends. Courtesy of a thoughtful Christmas gift from Mrs. Chine bLog, I am spending four days in the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's Apprentice for a Day program. This is the perfect deal for someone like me. I get to head out to St. Michaels, on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and spend a day in a working traditional boat shop guided by the museum's boatwright staff. It was great, needless to say.

Click on image to see lines drawing

The current project is a 17ish foot crabbing skiff, which looks like it will be a beautiful and solid boat. She is being built to lines taken off by Chapelle in his invaluable surveys of traditional American craft. I arrived to find the hull still upside-down, with planking in progress. One pair of fellow apprentices set to work on a day of fun with bevels, creating the forward bottom planking from cedar stock. I headed aft...