Looking for a boat to restore...

[V. Kanthak]

I am hoping someone who is participating in this forum can help me out. I am looking for a boat to restore.

I am just about finished with building my second wooden boat. This project is the pram found in Chapter 2 of John Gardner’s Building Classic Small Craft. I now feel that I am ready to take on a restore project and I need to find a suitable boat.

I will be attending Wooden Boat School this summer and I hope to bring a Maine boat home (to Wisconsin) with me. My free time in Maine will be limited so I hope to have zeroed in on a likely candidate before hand. Below are some of the criteria that I am working with:

I will be driving, so anything that I bring home with me must fit on the roof racks on my station wagon. This means it must be less than 16 feet and 200 pounds. While I am flexible about hull shape, I am most interested in a row boat. It need not be rigged for sailing.

As for its condition, I am looking for a good project that will keep me busy for awhile. I measure my projects in years rather than months. So it can be in “somewhat” rough condition. I don’t mind replacing a frame (or two), a plank (or two) or even parts of the keel/stem. It is the sum of all repair that I am most interested in considering. I am looking for a boat that is worthy of a new lease on life and will serve as the focus of my learning experience.

Alternatively, I would be open to a small boat that comes with a trailer. As long as the trailer (and boat) are up for a 1300 mile drive and can comfortably be towed with my 1.4 liter Toyota engine. I would prefer that they both (boat and trailer that is) be in sufficiently good condition that parts will not blow off on the way home.

The price is negotiable and as you would expect dependent upon the condition of the boat.

If the readers here or anyone they know think that they might have a possible candidate, please contact me either by replying to this posting or writing me an email.

Vince Kanthak
Deerfield Wisconsin

[hikingchrs]

Hi Vince,
What class will you be attending? When is it?
I will be there last week in July and the 1st in Augest. My class is repairing wooden boats.

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

Size and time sounds to me you would be better off just building new. Find a John Gardner Small Craft to build and then you won't have to worry about car topping [img]smile.gif[/img]

Something like this should keep you busy for a while

[Venchka]

Originally posted by V. Kanthak:
...I will be driving, so anything that I bring home with me must fit on the roof racks on my station wagon. This means it must be less than 16 feet and 200 pounds. While I am flexible about hull shape, I am most interested in a row boat. It need not be rigged for sailing.

...Alternatively, I would be open to a small boat that comes with a trailer. As long as the trailer (and boat) are up for a 1300 mile drive and can comfortably be towed with my 1.4 liter Toyota engine. I would prefer that they both (boat and trailer that is) be in sufficiently good condition that parts will not blow off on the way home.

Vince Kanthak
Deerfield Wisconsin

Have you ever put anything on the roof of your wagon? I used to carry two 75 pound, 17' canoes (one was mine, the other belonged to a friend) on the roof of a 1972 Volvo sedan. It worked for 100 mile trips. Mileage was cut in half. Very scary in cross winds. I carried my canoe solo on the roof of an early '70s Toyota Corolla wagon. Shorter trips and even scarier in cross winds. Cartopping a 200 pound boat ain't easy. You'll need a few friends to get it on/off the roof.

Can you even get a trailer hitch for your wagon? Until you try it close to home, I wouldn't set off on a long trip with that size car/engine pulling a trailer or straping a boat to the roof.

That said, have you looked at our Host's Boats for Sale?

Boats for Sale

I have to go with Joe on this one. Either find a boat close to home that you can easily transport or thumb through Gardner's book some more for something to build. If you are after a pulling boat, there are several good ones in the book you own. Is that the combined edition with plans for 47 boats? Lots of good row boats in there. The double diagonal planked set in epoxy Rangely boat would make a good project. The construction is suitable for a trailer kept boat.

Back to the Gardner pram you are building...is that the 9'-6" (more or less) plywood pram that Gardner designed for his own use? Let us know how it works after you launch it. I would love to know how it handles a load. By the way, try cartopping it before you go looking for something larger. Drive it through a summer thunderstorm or let a few big trucks pass you in the highway.

I know I sound like Nervous Nellie, but small cars can get overloaded quickly.

Good luck!

ps: Look around for a wooden canoe perhaps. Lots of good small boats out there in need of TLC.

Wayne
In the Swamp.

[ 04-04-2005, 11:22 AM: Message edited by: Venchka ]

[hikingchrs]

Funny you say that about car topping last summer I carried my clc skerry and cheasepeak 17 on top of my bus back from WBSchool. when I got home my G/F helpme unload the skerry she could barley reach it on her tip toes just as we cleared the roof rack it rolled threw her across the yard... no damage to the skerry... none to g/f btw. I had planed on cartopping it all the time...I have since bought a trailer.
Chris

[V. Kanthak]

I really appreciate the comments that have been made today. To answer a few of the questions…

I will be at WB School for the first week of the Boat Repair class at the end of July. The timing of the second week of the class didn’t work out for me. Instead, I will be sailing on the Audacity in the Coastal Navigation class. I sailed on the Audacity last year and really liked it. Captain Max has a lot to teach!

As for car topping a boat. I have also carried two canoes on this car. It is not much fun but I believe it is doable. I am not sure that I want to do it however. The suggestion of driving around with my pram is a good one. I will have to do that.

I have no problem towing things with my wagon.. I have had a hitch on it for years and frequently carry pretty heavy loads. A small trailer with a relatively light boat would not be a problem. Probably easier that car topping a boat.

I am making the 11’ L/ Francis Herreshoff pram found in Gardner’s book. It is lapstrake construction using western red cedar. I am now waiting go warmer weather so that I can paint/varnish it. I hope to have it in the water in 6 weeks or so.

As for building a new boat… to be honest, the boat is not the goal that I reach for in tackling a project like building/restoring a boat. I enjoy learning and using the skills that are required to complete the project. I already have enough boats to fill my boating “needs”. I like the process of building a “living thing”.

The skills needed to build a new boat overlap with those needed to restore a boat. But they are not the same. I now feel that I would most benefit from learning how to restore a needy boat. I guess I love the process of learning… but then I am a teacher by trade.

I have checked out the boats for sail page on the WB site. I haven’t seen much that interests me there. Any boat that is worth advertising in the WB magazine is probably going to be a better boat than I want to by. I will keep checking it out… you never know.

Vince

[ 04-04-2005, 07:14 PM: Message edited by: V. Kanthak ]

[Venchka]

Shows what happens when I try to work from memory. The plywood pram is Chapter 3.

Holy cow, Batman! You're building the Pram of prams. Only the second I have ever found evidence of in the last 3-4 years. We need pictures! A whole boat load of pictures! Is this your first clinker boat? How hard was learning how to rivet? How did you mangage to get the 1/4" planking required? Resaw the red cedar? I got a million questions about this boat.

OK, check the Boats for Free. You missed a Weekender that our own Joe (CSOH) offered to a good home.

Wayne
In the Swamp.

[ 04-04-2005, 09:57 PM: Message edited by: Venchka ]

[Andreas Jordahl Rhude]

I just on Saturday got a 14 foot Thompson row/motor boat from Sheboygan and hauled her back to Minneapolis for restoration! Not a lot of work needed; new transom, maybe a portion of the spray rails, lots of stripping and refinishing. If I would have known earlier I would have let you get it (it was a freebee).

[yorgie]

Congratulations,the Herreshoff is indeed the pram deluxe.No one can dare patronise you with the offer of a plywood skiff.
Some words of advice from one who is restoring,be choosey and certain that the boat is worth a restoration.Mine has a nice shape to it but it's strip built and not all of it's problems were apparent.I've invested a fair bit of time into discovering that the stem was rotten and a section of the keel has become charcoal.You become attached to the boat and then don't want to become the one who has to put it down.

Good luck on finding your classic.

[preston]

I like the idea of restoring an oldie.
There're a lot of boats out there, neglected.
Should we be building more. or fixing up some of the old ones?

Of course, everyone gets to choose, but I'm all for restoring.
Bravo!

Preston

[rbgarr]

Some possible sources for used wood rowboats in the New England area are listed below. You have to subscribe in some cases.

http://www.unclehenrys.com A weekly Maine and New Hampshire 'swap sheet' with whole sections devoted to boats andequioment of all kinds.

The WantAdvertiser Try googling it- Like 'UH', above, but for Massachusetts.

http://www.by-the-sea.com See their 'Classifieds' section

Point East Magazine A Maine-based monthly also with classifieds. Least likely to have wood boats, however.

Try contacting the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine or the Rockland (Maine) Apprenticeshop. Also try the boatbuilders and boatyards advertising in WB. They may know of something somewhere.

Good luck!

[ 04-06-2005, 05:17 AM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[Roger Long]

How about this one?

Little Boat

My brother is planning to restore her but I'm pushing him to do it and he might be willing to forgo the pleasure.

[nutmeg2go]

I have an old rowboat which I have stored in Brooksville Maine, about 15 minutes from Wooden Boat. I had intended to restore her myself, but have acquired a couple of other projects and my wife has instructed me to reduce the fleet. I would be willing to let her go for what I paid for her.

[Thad Van Gilder]

When I did my Herreshoff pram I got 2/4 cedar from the local mill, dried it for a month, and milled it to 1/4 inch. The sheer strake was teak, which I resawed out of a 5/4 board.
keelson was philipine mahoghany taken from my old 37' Egg, Transoms were teak, quarter knees were chestnut knees from a crap pile, and the bow and stern transom knees were cut from an aromatic cedar tree going to the sawmill.

Riviting is easy, and I taught it in my boatbuilding class twice a year for three years.

[V. Kanthak]

I really appreciate the postings that have been made in reply to my post.

There is some real useful information for me to digest.

I have attached a picture of the pram to this post.

I used Western Red Cedar for the planking. Not my wood of choice but it is all I could find that fit the bill. I think it is to brittle for the job. Plus it was expensive. It only comes in 3/4 thickness. This made it to thin for me to resaw. So I ended up making a LOT of saw dust. Some of the planks had to be scarffed but that was no big deal. Just another step in the process.

The rest of the wood is a mixed bag. Mostly what I could find that was the right length and available. The thwarts and deck are cherry. Inwhales are hickory. Outwhales are cherry. The transoms are mahogany. The keel and frames are white oak. The knees are steam bent laminated white oak.

As for the riveting... it gets pretty easy by the time you have completed the 1450 rivets that need to be installed. I first took a couple of "plank like" boards and riveted them together. After about 20 practice rivets I moved on the real thing.

I am going to start researching boats in the area of Lakes Superior and Michigan. There is a tradition of boat building and perhaps I can find something closer to home. However, I will continue to research all options.

One last comment... You will notice that the inside of the hull is painted red. I wanted to prime the wood before putting in the frames. I was out of primer and only had red topside paint. So guess what I used.



[ 04-06-2005, 05:23 PM: Message edited by: V. Kanthak ]

[OEX]

Vince, find anything yet?

If not I may have a couple, three options. I run The Wooden Boat Rescue Foundation ( WBRF ) and I saw your post today. Please take a peak at the site and see if there is something for you.

That said, I have two 15 or so footers that might work.

1) Lyman 15.5 runabout. This one does not need much at all, almost all cosmetics and some hatch, seat replacement. Planks and frames are good, but maybe one or two need replacing. I have pix (from Tuesday) that I will post on the site ASAP. This boat sits in Essex CT and you could get it on the way to Maine with a bit out of the way. She would need to be trailered and there is a trailer with her, but I am not sure if it is free too.

2) I have a very interesting restoration and saving project that will go to a dedicated person. What is involved is the total restoration of the boat and the commitment/promise to revive the one-design. This is A Cape Cod Junior Sloop from 1930. She is 15 LOA 13'6" LWL, 4'10" beam and 0'6" draft. "Wood Tick" was built by the Cap Cod Shipbuilding Co. in Warham MA. She is an open lapstrake fractional sloop with a transom that could take a small outboard. She is also a fine rowing boat. What she needs I am not too clear on right now, but frames, deck, cosmetics and maybe a bit of keel work might be in order. The catch (good one) is that you need to give your word to accept the mission to revive the One-design "Junior Sloop." That means take her lines, get them to a good draft/marine arch., etc, record you restoration in text and pix (will be posted on the WBRF web site and maybe to Wooden Boat Mag.), bring her to events when she is finished, and see if you can get others to build more---she is the LAST ONE!

3) See the site for others---more are added each day.

Please drop me a note if you are interested in these---bioelf@mingspring.com

Please other people reading this, spread the word about WBRF. I see in the posts above that no one suggested Vince contact us---This tells me I need to get the word out about what we do here.

Cheers, Bruce

[V. Kanthak]

Hello Bruce,

Thank you for your reply. I checked out your website and thought that it was GREAT! What a wonderful mission! I hope you fair well at it!!!

I think that at this point, I am going to have to just check around at the different boatyards when I am in Maine this summer. I am concerned with getting a boat of any size home to Wisconsin. It is a long drive with a good size load. It may be beyond what I am able/willing to do. It is frustrating to see so many boats on the east coast and yet so few here.

If you ever run across one that is already in the Midwest I would appreciate hearing about it. I will check your site again to see what is new!

Vince Kanthak