qm
08-14-2005, 03:40 PM
Back in the 1980s, as I was working in the Adirondacks, I happened upon a substantial sailboat hull upsidedown in an abandon hay field on a back road about 400 miles inland from NJ. No one would give it a second look- it had been there for 20 years or so! But I was born on a Long Island Sound sand bar. It zapped me!. I am crazy about it. I found the owner and he gave it to me and I built a polebarn to cover it. Here it is: About one inch Steam bent ribs(bad shape), with maybe as much as 7/8"tk planking(many sandings)(10 planks per side- abt 3"wide and the shear plank is one pc), brass screwed with heads plugged(3 screws in each rib station and all the paint is gone but the wood is as hard as a rock( no, not even a fingernail can dent it and between the planks absolutely no identifiable caulking seam-good looking fit)!
It was upside down for 20 years! And that when it has about 1000 lbs of lead on the skeg keel w/some deadwood. We handled it gingerly and with an axle, wheels, belting and tripod rolled it over nicely and into a cradle.
I learned it was a 16'x abt 6'x abt 18"s with the galvanized board up(thru lead keel slotted abt 18" x 3' trunk in fore cockpit). It had been in a Keyport,NJ, boatworks called Olsen in the 1940s and the family had closed the shop and left town for NC, sore to part with this boat(No, I was told by an Olsen yard, this Olsen yard is not there now and the local maritime museum knows nothing about that yard either.) Back to my boat. it has double cockpits, wineglass transome,6" dia mast hole way up in the(eyes) bow(no sprit).Nice king plank. The entry/stem went nearly straight down with a deep forefoot made with a natural knee. No coamings at all! just 4" coveringboards with some symetrical, fancy hook scarfs for obvious show(same kind of wood through out and not one little snitch of paint anywhere-can see the waterline mark). Seemingly thin, tongue and groove, abt 2" wide, diagonal decking all around everything. Never a motor.
I can't decide what to do with the magnificent hulk! I am thinking to build a replica, side by side, and not touch the original, partly because I cannot ID it-and I thought I knew a lot! It may well have been sailed as a yacht on lower New York Bay! I want to sail it someday on Lake Champlain-it seems like a good hull shape for that lake's fierce winds and waves. Take a look at it? Thoughts? Info? QMBob
It was upside down for 20 years! And that when it has about 1000 lbs of lead on the skeg keel w/some deadwood. We handled it gingerly and with an axle, wheels, belting and tripod rolled it over nicely and into a cradle.
I learned it was a 16'x abt 6'x abt 18"s with the galvanized board up(thru lead keel slotted abt 18" x 3' trunk in fore cockpit). It had been in a Keyport,NJ, boatworks called Olsen in the 1940s and the family had closed the shop and left town for NC, sore to part with this boat(No, I was told by an Olsen yard, this Olsen yard is not there now and the local maritime museum knows nothing about that yard either.) Back to my boat. it has double cockpits, wineglass transome,6" dia mast hole way up in the(eyes) bow(no sprit).Nice king plank. The entry/stem went nearly straight down with a deep forefoot made with a natural knee. No coamings at all! just 4" coveringboards with some symetrical, fancy hook scarfs for obvious show(same kind of wood through out and not one little snitch of paint anywhere-can see the waterline mark). Seemingly thin, tongue and groove, abt 2" wide, diagonal decking all around everything. Never a motor.
I can't decide what to do with the magnificent hulk! I am thinking to build a replica, side by side, and not touch the original, partly because I cannot ID it-and I thought I knew a lot! It may well have been sailed as a yacht on lower New York Bay! I want to sail it someday on Lake Champlain-it seems like a good hull shape for that lake's fierce winds and waves. Take a look at it? Thoughts? Info? QMBob