Chine bLog

Check this out: I am wandering around the shop at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and I see a long, old, wooden box. I assume it is battens and open it. Whoa - there's a name... Howard Chapelle! I am holding Howard Chapelle's personal batten box! Take a moment to reflect on the history of those strips...

I was pleased to be able to at least see a picture of the two-masted crabbing skiff I worked on last year during my Apprentice for a Day stint at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Here she is, and she is still for sale. A bargain at $10,500. This boat would be a wonderful, solid say-sailer / camp-cruiser with loads of character. If you are in the market, you really should take a look. To learn more, see my past posts on this boat: day 1, day 2, day 3, and day 4.

At the beginning of Howard Chapelle's seminal tome Boatbuilding, there is a 4-page introduction in which Chapelle goes through the entire building process at a 10,000' level. After talking through getting out molds, cutting the rabbet, and installing deck beams, Chapelle devotes the final paragraph to a subject that one must assume is of equal importance to the others: the "moaning chair." He writes:

In every amateur boatbuilder's shop there should be a "moaning chair"; this should be a comfortable seat from which the boat can be easily seen and in which the builder can sit, smoke, chew, drink, or swear as the moment demands.

I raise this, obviously, because I have had to spend some time in my own "moaning chair" of late, and since I don't smoke or chew and had already had my nightly beer, it was swearing that was the business of the day.

You will notice two things in this recent picture. On the good news front, I finally have attached the seats to one side panel unit and then attached the other side panel unit to the opposite sides of the seats and brought both sides together at the stem and stern post. In doing that, I should have been working with completed side panel units, chine log and sheer clamp attached. So what are those clamps doing along the sheer, you may ask? Therein lies a tale...

And so, it came, my last of four trips out to Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's Apprentice for a Day program. What a great experience it has been - I can't wait until life's other demands allow me time to head out there again.

The boat is coming along well. The frames and deck knees are all in and shaped, the forward deck beams are in, and the centerboard trunk is now snugly in place. Having worked on a number of these pieces over the last few weeks, I love seeing them in their rightful home.

So one more surprise was in store for me during my recent trip to Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. At lunch I mentioned Howard Chapelle, he of American Small Sailing Craft and other utter classics, since he lived in the area. One of the boatwrights responded that Mr. Chapelle had retired to the museum. And you know that nondescript desk I had walk by a few times - was his!

So here it is folks - Chapelle's desk. You are looking at a high alter of traditional small boat design. Think how much is preserved of traditional small craft from the man's hand. It was stunning to think about. And more stunning that it is in a museum and not shown off. Goodness, folks, this is an exhibit! Make this thing public!