The spring boat shows have come and gone, the on again off again spring is finally behind us, and the mad commissioning rush is finally nearing an end. The phrase I heard a lot during that period was “crazy busy.” The long and pleasant days of early summer have finally come to Chesapeake country. While that in itself is good news, even better news is that all the evidence points to another very good summer season for our region. Recreational boating is alive and well on the Chesapeake.
From Hollywood, MD, John Cook tells us that Eve, the five-log canoe he is building in his back yard, looks more and more like a boat every day. John has built up the topsides on the shaped logs by a combination of planking and a traditional technique known as “chunking,” where solid blocks of wood are shaped to create complex curves. The next step is construction and installation of the oak frames that will strengthen the hull and support the deck.
From South Baltimore, MD, Nate Baugher of Maritime Applied Physics reports the Sagamore water taxi number two, Cal’s Streak, has been completed. The boat was loaded on a flatbed trailer and towed across the Francis Scott Key Bridge to Anchor Bay Marina East in Dundalk, MD. She was launched without incident and completed her sea trials in Baltimore Harbor. She is already in service moving people from one side of the harbor to the other. The still to be named hull number three is nearing completion, and Nate says that he still hopes to have her join her sisters at work in the harbor by Preakness week.
From St. Michaels, MD, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum boatyard program manager Jenn Kuhn reports that work continues on the 25-foot draketail Pintail. Construction began mid-January 2016 through CBMM’s Apprentice for a Day (AFAD) public boatbuilding program. Pintail’s white oak duck walk, sapele coaming, sassafras oiled floorboards, marine plywood battery box, and mahogany seats have been constructed and installed by AFAD and Family Boat Shop participants. Her two-cylinder Yanmar diesel engine has been set in place awaiting the construction of the engine box, electronics panel, steering gear and systems hook up. She has multiple coats of Z-spar Captains varnish on the rails and Marshalls Cove white semi-gloss oil based paint on the top sides and decks. Pintail is available for purchase, with proceeds supporting the education, restoration, and exhibition programs of the non-profit museum. For more information about programs and the purchase of Pintail, contact Kuhn at (410) 745-4980 or [email protected]. See more photos of the project at bit.ly/CBMMPintail.
Charlie Wright from West Virginia has long had a dream of cruising the “Great Loop” down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and back up the East Coast. Four years ago, he found what he thought was the perfect boat for that trip sitting neglected on the back row of Herrington Harbour North Marina in Tracys Landing, MD. After four years of ripping out, rebuilding, repowering, repainting, and varnishing, much of which he did himself, his 1967 Bruno & Stillman, a brawny, twin-engine, green-hulled lobster boat yacht named YOLO, took to the water in late April. She is still not quite complete and will be moved to Annapolis to complete some engine and interior work. Charlie’s comment as he watched his dream being lowered into the water was “I sure have learned a lot!”
Rob Hardy at Composite Yacht in Trappe, MD, checks in. “Big things are happening at Composite Yacht. The hull mold is nearly complete for our all new Carolina Style 32 and 34. We are also in the fairing stage on the bottom of the all-new 46-foot hull that we hope will be a game changer. The first one will be a running plug, and we’ll pull a mold from it. This boat has an aggressive running bottom for rough water, while maintaining many of the attributes that we love about a Chesapeake Deadrise. She’s beamier and has more freeboard than most, so we’ll be able to get the engines below deck. A pleasing powder horn sheer, plenty of flare, and a little tumblehome make her nice to look at as well.
Although we’re very excited about the new 46, the CY46CB will remain in the lineup, because the Markley 46 (which we have the molds for) remains popular. We have one of our CY46CBs very close to being finished now. She has the nine-foot Charter Style Cabin and a 1050-hp C-18 Cat for power, and will spend most of her time offshore. Of course we’ve been very busy all year with a restoration of a 31 Bertram, full electronics replacement on a 55-foot Davis, as well as a number of paintjobs and fabrication projects. We hope to break ground on a new building this winter in order to accommodate an increasing demand. Things are hopping!”
From Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC) in Annapolis, Nancy Noyes brings us up to date. “CLC’s Annapolis workshop/classroom has been buzzing with activity with half a dozen spring session build-your-own-boat classes. In these classes, students work with a skilled boat builder instructor to take pre-cut kits of plywood pieces to complete kayaks or rowing boats in just five and a half days. Although the boats still require final finishing—sanding, paint, varnish, and rigging—the students take home hulls which are otherwise complete at the end of the class week. Students come from across the country as well as around the corner.
Annapolis Mayor Michael Pantelides participated in a class last fall, and movie star Kerry Bishe also has built her own boat in a CLC Annapolis class not long ago. The CLC calendar traditionally includes 30 or more of these build-your-own-boat classes. The spring session in Annapolis has wrapped up for 2017, but June brings the start of summer sessions at the legendary WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, ME; the Great Lakes Boat Building School in Cedarville, MI; the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle, WA; and other spots around the country before the start of fall boat building sessions from September through November back in Annapolis. New this year, two special two-week class sessions building the CLC Teardrop Camper have been added in June and August in Annapolis. For the full schedule, see clcboats.com/classes. Classes in CLC’s Annapolis workshop, along with other boat building projects in between class sessions, can be watched live on the shopcam, clcboats.com/shopcam.”
Geniene Nieves-Vigneri of Mathews Brothers Boat Works in Denton, MD, shares a busy spring with us. “We have been kept busy by launching 70-plus boats that were stored for the winter in our indoor facilities. Any requested repair work was completed first, and then began the commissioning and cleaning of the boats. Construction of the Eastport 32 continues with fitting the liner to the hull and installation of the deck, windshield, and hardtop. The second set of Educational Passages mini-sailboats have been produced and will be an ongoing project for us. We are also excited to offer kayak rental services at our Mathews Landing location in Denton. For more information on kayak rentals, please contact us at (410) 479-9720.”
Michael Hulme, Director of the University of Maryland Environmental Research Lab in Solomons, MD, reports that the University’s research vessel Rachel Carson was in Washburn’s Boat Yard in Solomons in late March for, as Mike puts it, “Her annual shave and a haircut.” In addition to routine annual maintenance the Carson’s Hamilton water jets were serviced and new Radar, VHFs, and GPS units were installed.
by Captain Rick Franke