Category: Preliminaries

Our barn had suffered some neglect over the years before we bought it. The foundation needed major work. The floors were not level and in places they were quite squishy underfoot. One corner of the barn’s sill lay directly on ledge, but the other supports were tenuous. At one time, one corner of the barn had been attached to a tree by a steel cable. I think that was done to keep the barn from toppling off its supports. More recently three posts resting on stones had been added along the long downhill side, but the stones were lying on dirt. Two of the posts showed signs of rot.

Ideally, a boat building floor should be level. But most importantly it should be stable over time. I anticipated that my boat would take several years to build, and if the building settled during construction, the shape of the boat would be changing as it’s being built. So before doing any building the barn’s foundation needed some serious work.

My neighbor Scot Smith gave me lots of advice about how to proceed, helped me at crucial times, and loaned me some tools I needed to do the work. I spent most of my August vacation in 2006 renewing the foundation.

The barn needed to be raised by about 5″ at one corner and lesser amounts at two others, and I needed to take the weight off the old foundation so old parts could be removed and replaced as needed. Scot provided me with a hydraulic jack and a supply of cribbing to raise and support the barn. Cribbing consists of stout pieces of lumber about 24″ long that can be stacked Lincoln-log style to provide stable temporary support while the new foundation pieces are set in place.

I have found a laser level to be an indispensable tool in boatbuilding. I used a laser level inside the barn to gauge how much I’d need to raise the corners of the barn. Not surprisingly, the highest corner was the one supported directly by ledge. The lowest corner was the opposite one. The long side farthest from the ledge was the place to start lifting the barn.

Because the jack I used has a relatively short throw, we built a crib below the foundation on which to place the jack, then started lifting. Another crib was built nearby to take the load and support the building after the jack was lowered from the first crib. Cribbing and jacking points were shifted as needed.

Scot advised me to add concrete supports under the new posts that I would install. We assumed that I could dig down until I hit ledge, then pour concrete supports that would be anchored to the ledge. I’d make the concrete forms using 10″ diameter cardboard “Quik-tube,” and before pouring in the cement I’d drill holes in the ledge and put in short pieces of rebar to help lock the concrete to the ledge.

So I dug down about 18″ for my first hole and indeed hit ledge. The ledge was uneven, so I had to scribe the Quik-tube and cut the bottom edge so it closely fit against the ledge to prevent the concrete from oozing out.

Before pouring cement, I made sure the top of the Quik-tube was level. Because I planned to secure the post to the support with steel brackets made for that purpose, I embedded an appropriate size stud in the wet concrete.

I made posts of the correct length from pressure-treated 6×6 lumber. The sills were 4×6’s, so I cut notches at the top of the posts so I could secure the overlapped parts with strong fasteners.

This process was repeated five times, for a total of six posts: three along the front of the barn and three along the back. Working at the back was more awkward because the back is close to a ledge and the sill is close to ground level. Sometimes I had to work under the barn for better access.

The end of the barn under the door has a stone foundation with no mortar. Although it was in pretty good shape, it needed to be higher to match the new level of the foundation. I decided to rebuild much of it and in the process get it in contact with ledge along most of its length. I have limited experience laying stones. And some of this work needed to be done from under the barn. Nevertheless, it came out looking and functioning very well.

The barn looked great on its new foundation, but for further stability the posts I’d installed needed diagonal bracing. (Scot’s chief concern was the ability of the barn to withstand strong wind gusts.) So I cut suitable pieces of 4×4 pressure-treated lumber to make braces for the six new posts.

The barn’s floor joists run between the long sides of the barn so they are about 11′ 6″ long and had no support except at their ends. Scot recommended that I add a central beam that would run parallel to the long sides of the barn and support the joists at their midpoints. We made up two 12′ sections for the beam by fastening 2x8s face to face to make two 12′ 4×8 beams that we’d support with a center post. One end of the beam would rest on the stone wall that supports the door end of the barn, and the opposite end would be supported by a short 6×6 post that rests on ledge.

The barn is very solid on its new foundation. The floor feels very stiff underfoot. I took careful measurements inside the barn and determined that the floor level varied by no more than 5/8″ around its perimeter—a big improvement over the 5″ variation before my work commenced!

By the end of my 2006 vacation, all that remained to be done was to install lattice work over the opening under the barn. That was accomplished in 2007. In 2008, I had the barn doors replaced and that end of the barn re-sided. In the meantime, construction of Justine was underway. More about that in future posts!

Minerva’s first few seasons in the water were spent in Muscongus Bay, in Maine’s midcoast. We were in the habit of renting a cottage in Waldoboro or Friendship each August, so vacations began with launching and ended with haul out onto a trailer. Minerva spent her off-season months under a cover at my mother- and father-in-law’s yard in Cumberland Foreside. Muscongus Bay is somewhat protected and offers many possible routes around islands, through channels, in addition to some open water. It’s a great place for a small daysailer!

In 2002 we purchased a second home in Georgetown, Maine near the village of Five Islands and with a limited view of Harmon’s Harbor. Through the generosity of two very good friends, we’ve been able to use their dock for water access to the harbor. We put in a mooring that we can see from our front porch, and Minerva had a new home port and a season in the water that typically went from July through August.

Harmon’s Harbor is fairly narrow and about 1 mile long, with a narrow entrance protected by ledge. The harbor exit takes you right out into the mouth of the Sheepscot River, which is virtually open ocean with depths approaching 200′ in places. It’s not unusual to encounter big swells outside of the harbor. At 14+ feet, Minerva is a small boat for significant swells. She also has no cockpit seats, so you are generally sitting on the rail if there is a good breeze. It can be a rough, wet ride! So once we had a taste of these more demanding conditions, I realized that having a larger boat would be prudent, allowing us to sail more safely and comfortably.

In my reading about boats and boatbuilding, I began to learn about America’s celebrated yacht designer/builder, Nathaniel G. Herreshoff. His career spanned more nearly 60 years, beginning in 1878 up to his death in 1938, and included design of five successful defenders of the America’s Cup between 1893 and 1920. The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company produced upwards of 1000 boats during Herreshoff’s lifetime. One particular model, designed in 1914 and known as the “12 1/2 footer” (that was its length on the waterline), became extremely popular and over 400 were manufactured. Naval architect Joel White, designer of the Nutshell pram and many other boats, drew up plans for a centerboard version of the 12 1/2 footer, known as the Haven 12 1/2, and this became a very popular boat for home builders.

Maynard Bray authored a book on building the Haven, which serves as a very detailed construction manual. The book includes scores of photographs showing details of a Haven being built by professional boatbuilder Eric Dow. I purchased a copy of this book and spent endless hours over several years studying it, wondering if I possessed the skills necessary to build such a complex and potentially beautiful traditional boat.

Like many boat designers in his day, Herreshoff carved wooden “half-models” to refine the shape of his hull designs. By making careful measurements of the half-model, the design could be scaled up to the size of the actual boat. Herreshoff likely used the same half-model to design four different-size boats, including the 12 1/2 footer (designed in 1914) and a larger daysailer, called the Fish (designed in 1916), with a waterline length of 16′.

Because the Haven 12 1/2 was so well received by builders, Joel White decided to draw plans for a centerboard version of Herreshoff’s Fish class, a design he named the Flatfish. Flatfish plans were offered for sale by the WoodenBoat Store. Could I possibly build a Flatfish? I began to think I just might be up to it.

Our home in Georgetown has a two-story barn that is 12′ x 30′, with a door on the narrow end. Likely it had formerly been used for boat building. Our house dates to 1852, but I believe the barn was built somewhat later. The stairs to the second level are at the rear, reducing the usable length of the barn by about 3′. I’d need space for a workbench, a band saw, and a planer/joiner. It would be tight, but I concluded that I did have enough space to construct a Flatfish in our barn.

Did I possess the skills required to build this boat? My two prior projects had given me some preparation and I had most of the tools I’d need. But the Flatfish was built “plank-on-frame” with “carvel planking.” The hull would be formed of cedar planks that had to fit closely together, and would be rounded as necessary inside and out to form a continuous smooth hull. More techniques to master! Carvel planking is considered the most advanced of traditional boat construction methods, and I decided that I wanted to challenge myself and build at least one carvel planked boat.

My “secret weapon” was that my neighbor and very good friend in Georgetown, Scot Smith, is a professional cabinetmaker who also had worked building traditional and modern boats. Scot had been very generous sharing his woodworking knowledge and I knew I could count on him for advice and occasional assistance as the project progressed.

I was set to proceed and in the fall of 2003, I ordered a set of Flatfish plans from the Woodenboat Store.

Once I’d built my Nutshell pram Pearl and confirmed that I loved to sail my own boat, I began to think about building a larger craft that would comfortable seat more people. But how to go about selecting a design?

I began to investigate possible designs by getting a copy of The WoodenBoat Store’s Fifty Wooden Boats: A catalog of building plans, which set out specifications for each of the watercraft for which they sold sets of building plans. I later got their follow-on Forty Wooden Boats. These books describe plans for six categories of craft: Tenders and Prams; Sailing Dinghies and Pulling Boats; Performance Rowing Craft; Power Cruisers; Daysailers; and Cruisers. How to limit the choices?

Well, I knew I wanted a boat I could sail, and I’d decided I wanted to build a wooden boat. I also know that I’m especially fond of traditional designs and building techniques. Then, the more practical issues: What skills would be required to build a particular boat? How much time would it take to build? Where would I build it, and how large a space would I have?

I had successfully built Pearl from a kit. The hull was constructed entirely of plywood and the pieces were pre-cut. The hull has a small plywood bow transom in front, a larger plywood transom aft, and seven plywood panels form the remainder of the hull: a bottom panel and three planks to starboard and three to port. The planks overlap each other and required beveling with a hand plane before being clamped to a building jig and gluing the overlapping joints with epoxy. This method is called “glued lapstrake construction” and it is relatively straightforward and results in a very strong, leak-free hull that is easy to maintain (scraping, sanding, and repainting).

Pearl was built in the basement of our home in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. She is 7′ 7″ long, about 40″ in width, and about 24″ high. The basement had a bulkhead and the size of the opening and positioning of the stairs allowed me to carry the finished boat out through the bulkhead, with little room to spare. The basement itself could accommodate construction of a boat about 20′ in length. As I looked anew at prospect of building a larger boat in the basement, I noticed that there were adjacent basement windows with wooden frames that fit in an opening in the stone foundation that was 60″ wide and 24″ tall, provided that the windows and framing were completely removed. So I was looking for a design that when completed, would be able to fit out this opening.

My criteria were relatively simple: A sailboat design that would take a few passengers, have a traditional look, and be able to be built, and removed, from our basement. From my study of available plans it was apparent that I should focus on the Daysailers, and these ranged from a 14′ Catamaran, Pixie, to a 28′ Camden-class sloop. Some designs were plywood, and some of traditional “plank-on-frame” construction that yielded a continuous, smooth hull.

The design I chose is the Biscayne Bay Sailing Skiff, a 14′ 5″ sloop that could be built with a plywood hull, using a method known as “batten-seam” construction. In this method, the hull planks butt against each other, rather than overlapping, and the joints are backed up with a solid wood “batten” that serves to both strengthen and provide sealing for the joints. And, this boat would fit out the 2′ x 5′ opening in our home’s foundation, though again with little room to spare.

This project required learning some new skills which I’ll simply mention here and explain in more detail when we get to building my larger and more complex Flatfish. I needed to learn how to “loft” a boat design: making full-size drawings of the boat from which I could take measurements to make parts that would accurately execute the boat design. The new boat would require steam bending some “frames” (ribs) that would fit inside the plywood planks and provide support to maintain the hull’s shape. And not least of all, I needed to learn where to acquire the wood, fasteners, and hardware that it would take to produce a finished craft that was ready to launch and sail.

I enjoy making things with my hands. I’ve been an amateur woodworker for most of my adulthood. My first major project was to build a traditional woodworking workbench with a front vise, tail vise, wooden bench dogs, and a tool tray at the rear. I built it about 35 years ago, entirely by hand, in my basement, with only a crude 2′ x 3′ work table. In the process, I purchased some good-quality hand tools: saws, planes, clamps, etc.

My wife’s parents, Sandy and Sally Fowler, were life-long sailors with extensive sailboat experience “crusing” the Atlantic Coast, especially in Maine. Sandy also built some small boats. I learned a tremendous amount about sailing and navigation from being on the water with Sandy and Sal, and gradually got to the point of realizing that I could apply my woodworking skills to building my own boat.

So where does one start in boatbuilding? Most books about boatbuilding address this question at some length. I’ll just tell you how I went about it.

I knew I wanted to build a small sailboat so I could learn how to handle a boat on my own. Even at the outset I imagined that I would progress to building a larger boat, so I decided to build a suitable “tender” for a larger boat: a small boat that could be stored at a dock and used to access a larger boat on a mooring. So I sought a design for a boat that could be both rowed and sailed.

I was also a subscriber to WoodenBoat magazine, and I knew that the WoodenBoat Store sold plans for an assortment of wooden boats ranging from about 8′ to 40′ and more, including both sail and powerboats. They even offered a complete kit for a small craft called a Nutshell pram which is a rowboat designed by Joel White that has an optional lug sail rig. Plus, you could buy an inexpensive book with step-by-step instructions and photographs that you could follow to do the actual building. So I bought a kit and did the building in our basement over the winter of 1996.

Pearl has been in the water every season since. She’s constructed of marine plywood, is 7’7″ in length, and is capable of carrying 3 people in relatively calm water if you are rowing. Under sail, she’s pretty cramped with more than one person aboard. I learned to sail in Pearl, and supplemented my hands-on experience with lots of reading. In addition I began to learn about maintaining a wooden boat—specifically annual painting and varnishing.

Pearl has been everything I hoped for: a vessel for learning how to sail, a beautiful design, and a capable tender for a larger boat.