Looking for info on a Carter 16

[pushpull]

Hello all. I am a new member and just recently acquired a small gaff rig sloop that was apparently built by Carter and originally started life in Long Island's Great South Bay. This will be my wife's and my first restore project, and we will be working with the fine folks at Wooden Boat Rescue Foundation, from which we acquired her. She doesn't have the plate any more but we were told Carter was the builder and that one of her former owners had rescued her from a trip to the dump at Mystic Seaport in the 80's. We'd be grateful for any speculation or info any of you might have. I'm not even sure which decade she may have been built. I'm sure as we get into the restoration in the coming months, I'll be a regular on the forum! Here is a link to a few photos:
http://www.pushpull.org/Carter16/

[Thorne]

Welcome to the Forum!

Get lots of "before" photos, I'm sure it will be beautiful when you are done. I also restored a solid-wood boat, and have been very pleased with the results.

Get some good measurements, as those along with more photos will be a help in getting an ID on the boat.

http://www.pushpull.org/Carter16/Carter8.jpg

[holzbt]

Your boat may well have been built in the 40's or 50's. Carter generally used cherry crooks for the stems and sawn white cedar for the frames, keel and planking in many of his later boats. In fact about the only hardwood would be the stem, trunk (C.B. and rudder.) headledges, and rudderpost. He also fastened the topsides with bronze screws but used galvanized common nails for the botom. Your boat looks very similar to a 17' sloop that I rebuilt in 1985 for someone.

[holzbt]

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/Carter%20Catboat%201960/IMG_0365.jpg
18' catboat built in 1960. The last boat built by G.F.Carter.

more pic's here http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/Carter%20Catboat%201960/

[pushpull]

Thanks Thorne! Will do!


Welcome to the Forum!

Get lots of "before" photos, I'm sure it will be beautiful when you are done. I also restored a solid-wood boat, and have been very pleased with the results.

Get some good measurements, as those along with more photos will be a help in getting an ID on the boat.

http://www.pushpull.org/Carter16/Carter8.jpg

[pushpull]

Great info Jim. Thanks so much. And a very nice offer on the plate. I'll do my part! Keep you posted.


Carter was a builder who had a shop in East Quogue, Long Island, building and renting small sloops and catboats like the one you have. The boats were similar in construction to those built by Gil Smith, Benjamin Hallock and other South Shore builders of the time. Iron fastened with sawn Hackmatack frames and cedar planking, they were fairly fast, wet boats built for the smaller bays of Eastern Long Island.

A visit to Long Island Maritime Museum will be very instructive, as they have several Carter boats as well as examples of the boats built by the other builders mentioned above.
http://www.limaritime.org/

That is a Carter, by the way, and if you restore her, I have a builders plate I'll give you.

[pushpull]

The boatwright at WBRF thought the decking was red cedar, but I think everything else is as you described. There is definitely some iron sickness going on in the c.b. trunk and the paired frames, not much else, but we'll see when I really get into the restore. Thanks for the info and link to your Carter!


Your boat may well have been built in the 40's or 50's. Carter generally used cherry crooks for the stems and sawn white cedar for the frames, keel and planking in many of his later boats. In fact about the only hardwood would be the stem, trunk (C.B. and rudder.) headledges, and rudderpost. He also fastened the topsides with bronze screws but used galvanized common nails for the botom. Your boat looks very similar to a 17' sloop that I rebuilt in 1985 for someone.

[holzbt]

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/Carter17sloop-1.jpg
17' G.F. Carter sloop after rebuild in 1985. Replaced keel, CB and rudder trunks, all bottom planking, toe rails, and coamings. Replaced rudder the next winter and the stem about 7-8 years ago.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/Carter17sloop2.jpg

[holzbt]

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/Carter17sloop5.jpg

[holzbt]

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/Carter17sloop4.jpg

[holzbt]

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/Carter17sloop3-1.jpg

[holzbt]

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/Carter17sloop8.jpg

[pushpull]

Thanks for posting the these pics of the Carter 17 you restored. Wow, from these pics, aside from the Marconi rig, I can't see any difference between this boat and ours. Would Carter have made the same boat in 16 and 17 foot? Seems unlikely to me. Maybe I need to measure ours again! Do you have more detailed photos of this boat?


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/Carter17sloop8.jpg

[holzbt]

I don't have any other photos. I had to dig around for these and scan them. Rumor has it that Carter often built two identical boats each winter. He's sell one and keep one to rent in his livery fleet. I've thought that the boat I worked on would be nicer with a gaff rig. I'm not sure if the marconi rig is original or not. Last time I spoke with the owner was several years ago. At that time he said he was giving the boat to his son in Maine, so I doubt that I could take any measurements for comparison.

[MickG]

Hi: I am pleased to see the photos of the Carter 16. several years ago, I purchased a sailboat with no idea of what is was and where it was built. The previous owner thought that it was made somewhere around New Yor City, perhaps on Long Island. I am sure, after looking at the photos, that what I have is a Cater 16. Thanks, MickG

[MickG]

Jim: I do haave sonme pictures; the only problem is finding them. I will look and let you know. BTW, what does SS Sloop stand for? Mick

[holzbt]

An SS sloop. SS could stand for South Shore,Small Sloop, Super Sloop, Small S (S was a class at the time.), and probably a few others. The old timers involved in the class don't know, take your pick.
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/SS%20Sloop/IMG_1521.jpg?t=1224546005


More pic's of SS sloops
http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/holzboat/SS%20Sloop/

[pushpull]

So I was in East Haddem this past weekend where the boat is currently stored and we measured it again and wouldn't you know it is 17' 2"! So, dunno what Carter originally called this boat but it is indeed 17 feet so probably identical to the one you restored a while ago.


I don't have any other photos. I had to dig around for these and scan them. Rumor has it that Carter often built two identical boats each winter. He's sell one and keep one to rent in his livery fleet. I've thought that the boat I worked on would be nicer with a gaff rig. I'm not sure if the marconi rig is original or not. Last time I spoke with the owner was several years ago. At that time he said he was giving the boat to his son in Maine, so I doubt that I could take any measurements for comparison.

[pushpull]

So the SS Sloop is a class of boats built by various yards in the GSB area? Was there a particular designer that this style boat is attributed to? -Paul


Might have been an SS Sloop, also, they're very similar in looks and construction and there's still some around.

Got a picture?

[holzbt]

The photo above is the new one built this year by Beecher Halsey III. Launched in time for the 4th of July race. The others are assorted SS's, not sure of the sail #'s. The last one in the album was built by Sam Newey in Brookhaven so should be numbered somewhere in the 20's. His boats were not competive with the Ben Hallock built boats and were rerigged as marconi sloops and raced as "M" class. It has had most of the frames replaced with laminated ones.

The LIMM built one several years ago named BARRY A. They trailered it out for the 4th of July race but did not launch it.