mmd
10-21-2005, 11:41 PM
Well, it's Friday night follies time again, so I thought I'd regale y'all with a few pics of an odd boat. The picture below was taken inside one wing of the small boat storage shed at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax. There are some rather nice boats here, but a few odd ones, too. The bit of one in the foreground and that odd little white one in the background that sorta looks like it's upside-down have fascinated me for some time now.
http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/data/500/medium/small_creft_storage_shed_2.jpg
The picture below is of the one that is in the foreground of the picture above. It is a pedal-powered duck hunting boat, or "sneakbox" from an area of salt marshes and inlets just north-east of Halifax called Chezzetcook. The hull is strip-planked in a most lovely form, and the lightly-planked topsides are formed to provide a screen for the hunter. The boat is about eight feet long and three feet wide, and draws about eight inches of draft.
http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/data/500/medium/pedal-powered_duck_hunting_skiff_2.jpg
The hunter sits in the bottom of the sneakbox with his legs stretched out in front of him, hunkers down behind the deckhouse to hide from ol' Mr. Drake, and with his shotgun ready against the house coaming he works the hand-pedals to turn the wee prop (missing from the boat unfortunately) to sneak up on his quarry. I believe the rudder (also missing) was controlled by a push-pull lever mounted on the ammunition shelf on the stbd side of the interior.
http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/data/500/medium/pedal-powered_duck_hunting_skiff_2_interior.jpg
I'm not sure, but I believe that the boat was built sometime around 1910 to 1920.
Pretty cool, eh? :cool:
Edit to add: Oh, what the heck - here's the other wing of the small craft storage shed:
http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/data/500/medium/small_creft_storage_shed.jpg
[ 10-21-2005, 11:54 PM: Message edited by: mmd ]
http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/data/500/medium/small_creft_storage_shed_2.jpg
The picture below is of the one that is in the foreground of the picture above. It is a pedal-powered duck hunting boat, or "sneakbox" from an area of salt marshes and inlets just north-east of Halifax called Chezzetcook. The hull is strip-planked in a most lovely form, and the lightly-planked topsides are formed to provide a screen for the hunter. The boat is about eight feet long and three feet wide, and draws about eight inches of draft.
http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/data/500/medium/pedal-powered_duck_hunting_skiff_2.jpg
The hunter sits in the bottom of the sneakbox with his legs stretched out in front of him, hunkers down behind the deckhouse to hide from ol' Mr. Drake, and with his shotgun ready against the house coaming he works the hand-pedals to turn the wee prop (missing from the boat unfortunately) to sneak up on his quarry. I believe the rudder (also missing) was controlled by a push-pull lever mounted on the ammunition shelf on the stbd side of the interior.
http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/data/500/medium/pedal-powered_duck_hunting_skiff_2_interior.jpg
I'm not sure, but I believe that the boat was built sometime around 1910 to 1920.
Pretty cool, eh? :cool:
Edit to add: Oh, what the heck - here's the other wing of the small craft storage shed:
http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/data/500/medium/small_creft_storage_shed.jpg
[ 10-21-2005, 11:54 PM: Message edited by: mmd ]