NC Maritime Museum (lotsa pics)

[Breakaway]

I'm in Morehead City this week, had an off afternoon, and spent it at the NC Maritime Museum. Cool place. They are building boats including a MacGregor canoe and a Cosine Wherry and crab skiff ( I think, couldnt verify that one). Well worth a visit. Here are some pics, and some questions. Enjoy

The Boatbuilding Shed:

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Some Core Sound/sharpie types at the docks:

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Some details, best as I could get; the floats are roped off, preventing close access.

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Inside the main building, they had a Harry Bruyan Daisy, complete with a rig and sail for raffle. They also had this 10 foot flattie, showing its dry old age with lots of daylight between the planks. Ineteresting, I didn't see any caulking bevels on either side planks, the cross-planked bottom planks, or at the chine? This boat also had full length, single -piece chine logs, rather than pieced up chines ( or no chines).

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Here we can see there are no plank bevels and single-piece chines:

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Ok, now here are some pics of a 20-foot deadrise, built with a "Chesapeake"-style log/chunk bow. But instead of cross-planked, the bottom was longitudinally-planked, and had frames and floors inside. And, like the flattie above, I could detect no caulking bevels. Is tight seam construction typical or atypical?

Also note this boat had no chine logs: the bottom was nailed directly to the sides. Here are transom and stem details

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And finally, since you can never have too many clamps, here is a shot of the clamp rack from the shop.













Kevin

[wdbeyer]

very cool pictures! thanks for posting them.

[johngsandusky]

Thanks Kevin. Lots of cross planked boats are built with caulking, swelling keeps them tight.

[Breakaway]

Lots of cross planked boats are built with caulking, swelling keeps them tight.

Hey John,

I know that from hanging out here . But the 20-footer was longitudinally planked, not cross-planked. I didnt think that method eschewed caulking. Also, I thought deadrise boats with the chunk bow were all cross-planked. I have never seen a reference to a longitudinally bottom-planked deadrise ( of course I'm no expert).

How's Wandering Star?

Kevin

[Eddiebou]

Yeah, Thanks for this post. My Katie-K-II is planked fore and aft with a chunked bow. Sho nuff.
Come to think of it, there is one detail I've never seen a reference to. There used to be little skiffs around that had a live well under the center thwart. This was for keeping busters (molting crabs) alive. All it entailed were holes drilled in the bottom planks, with a bulkhead on each side, and a hinged lid to keep the sun off. I might have missed it, but I don't recall reading a referrence to this type of crabbing skiff even in Chapelle's books.

[Breakaway]

My Katie-K-II is planked fore and aft with a chunked bow. Sho nuff.

Thanks for the clarification, Eddiebou. Now, let me ask are Katie-K-II's planks caulked, or tight seam?

There used to be little skiffs around that had a live well under the center thwart.

Our hosts offer plans for " Martha's Tender"-- a flattie skiff with a livewell-thwart as you describe.

Kevin

[Eddiebou]

Caulked. I googled "Martha's tender". No mention of this feature. I wonder why it's built like that? Sorry for the thread drift. It's 3:08 am, and I can't sleep.

[johngsandusky]

Sorry Kevin, I misunderstood your question. WS is repaired and painted, will launch monday.

[Breakaway]

WS is repaired and painted, will launch monday.

Woo-hoo!

Eddibou:

I googled "Martha's tender". No mention of this feature.

I gave the wrong reference. Instead of Martha's Tender I should have directed you to Asa Thompson's Skiff and the Yankee Tender. My bad. The new wesbsite doesnt give the description of the plans like the old one did. But you can see the livewell/thwart in the lines plans provided.

Kevin

[Eddiebou]

One of the things I love about old wooden workboats is the workmanship so often seen. Some of it is so crude by our modern standards. Rough surfaces, square (instead of rounded-over) edges, structural pieces that are simply butted and nailed, no bedding compound, scarfs with no epoxy or filler....But these features held up and did their job...It's really sort of encouraging. Who today would even think about just taking an old chunk of pine and chopping it to a boatlike shape, under the waterline and expect it to last? But it did.
We expect so much more of our stuff these days, like our houses and boats. But are we really smarter than our forefathers? I don't think so. They made do with less, and their stuff lasted for decades, even centuries. Don't get me started....More thread drift.

[Breakaway]

Eddie

I think part of that may be that they had better raw materials than us. Their chunk of pine was old growth; ours is farm raised for instance.

That said, I think your post points to the statement often heard on the WBF ( i cant remember who says it)-- " It ain't a piano"

kevin