"Built On The Beach"

[Larch_Keilson]

After seeing pictures of Harry Pidgeon or Josh Slocum building boats on the beach, I always wonder how they found beach-front property that was accessible and suited for their projects. I suppose this is not done anymore, and I find myself a potential 'back-yard builder' without a backyard.

[Alan D. Hyde]

Get a copy of Building the Blackfish.

There's likely one available reasonably at:

www.abebooks.com (http://www.abebooks.com)

Alan

[Bruce Hooke]

Remeber, there were a lot fewer people around then, waterfront was not the place where EVERYONE wanted to live, and as far as I know zoning didn't really exist so they could do stuff that the neighbors would never allow now! Not that any of that is probably much comfort to you...

[Art Read]

Then again... They didn't have hydrolic flatbeds, boat transporters or travelifts. Build on the best location you can find, plan ahead for moving day and thank God you aren't paying waterfront property taxes! ;)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid81/p73152b1974883c64538a1e4a57344928/faf770f4.jpg

[Hwyl]

Windward Passage a Maxi Ketch(73' in those days) was built on the beach in the Bahamas in the early 70's they even cast her kel in the beach sand (do not try this) she held many records for years and did especially well in the SORC. She was a scorcher downwind.

Whitehawk which is a big version of Ticonderoga was built on a tennis court; does that count? She is 105' and considered by many to be the most beautiful boat ever (I'm aware of where I'm saying this, amd I'm not one of the "many") here's a link to her website http://www.whitehawk.com/ be sure to click on the brochure link (pdf file I couldn't link it from here)

[ 04-06-2004, 08:46 PM: Message edited by: Hwyl ]

[rbgarr]

WHITEFIN was built on that tennis court. See http://www.bkyd.com/Whitefin_spec.htm for pictures of her.

WHITEHAWK was built in O. Lie Nielsen's boatshop on the Rockland waterfront before he sold the shop and turned to making tools exclusively. She may have been the last boat he built (?)

[Hwyl]

Originally posted by rbgarr:
WHITEFIN was built on that tennis court.

I think you are correct. I was living in the Caribbean when they were built so most of my knowledge is Admiral's INn anecdotes. Both are certainly nice boats. What happened to Whitefin's keel extender, as I remember they could put an extension on her keel for racing--never did work well, was it abandoned or did then extend her permanent keel?

[rbgarr]

Admiral's Inn, huh? Is that the bar in English Harbour, Antigua?? If so, there was an old anchor in one of the sluice ways near the entrance that I helped salvage and exchanged for a round of Redstripes for the salvage crew. Boy did that anchor stink!

I don't know the details about WHITEFIN's keel. I thought it was a weighted dagger board that was to be hydraulically lowered and raised through the keel. Could be wrong.

I heard a rumor (and asked Tad Roberts if he could comment) that she was quite tender and would put her lee rail under causing a substantial wave to run aft along the deck and into the cockpit. Don't know if that was really the case though.

[ 04-06-2004, 09:44 PM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[Bob Smalser]

Originally posted by Art Read:
Then again... They didn't have hydrolic flatbeds, boat transporters or travelifts. Build on the best location you can find, plan ahead for moving day and thank God you aren't paying waterfront property taxes! ;)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid81/p73152b1974883c64538a1e4a57344928/faf770f4.jpgGood grief, Art...that hull come out of your picture window?

[Ron Williamson]

A friend of mine built his steel fishing tug on the docks here in Southampton.He was working for someone else at the time and over a couple of years,bought the steel and picked away at it.That's where all the boats are hauled and repaired.If anyone questions it,"Where the *&^%$ else are we supposed to do it?" would be the response.
R

[cdragon]

They are both lovely boats-Whitefin indeed was pretty tender-she wiped out badly one breezy Antigua Week (maybe '83?) and was on her side for 30 seconds or so as I call-guys in the water and a bit of mayhem. She came up fine of course, but she was tender. Don't know if the keel extender/daggerboard thing is still there, I think she was sold to the med some years ago and sports laminate sails,a dark hull and all kinds of stuff as befitting big yachts in the Med these days!!

[Kevin G]

I've lived on the water for over 55 years, and up until about 20 years ago, many of the neighborhoods on the water were thought of as "trashy" areas. Only lower class people lived in them, especially the more crowded areas. Of course there were always elite areas of the waterfront that were more exclusive and expensive.
Thirty years ago, I went to the local bank for a mortgage on my house. I wanted to borrow $20,000. The manager told me "We don't give loans on the shacks in that area." My house could easily sell now for $800K.

So, as you can see,waterfront areas have not always been desirable, and lots of people never cared what went on there. Build boats, who cares??

Kevin

[ahp]

According to Chappelle, in Maine many of the Pinky Schooners were built many miles inland then hauled the water with ox teams. They were typically about 40' LOA and stone ballasted (after launching).

[Alan D. Hyde]

In earlier days, boats were commonly built on the foreshore.

Again, see Building the Blackfish.*

Absolutely classic photos, and good text, too.

Nice intro by Phil Bolger, IIRC.

I've quoted it here in the past, but haven't found it now with the somewhat erratic search thingy.

***

Alan

* Story, Dana. BUILDING THE BLACKFISH. Gloucester. 1988 b/w plates. 172 pp. Step-by-step photo coverage of the building of a 52 foot wooden schooner, with commentary by ship-builder and historian Dana Story. Long-lost techniques and skills preserved in print.

[Larch_Keilson]

I'm still fishing for suggestions. I'd like to rent a bit of land, pitch a tent, run power tools and ruin some good Doug Fir outside the 'rain-belt.' I've found space in Seattle, but this means I'll need accommodations other than a cardboard lean-to in the park. I'm callin' all the boatyards on the Sacremento Delta and down into the Southern United States.

I notice English speaking people building boats in faraway lands; the legalities must require a local import/export lawyer to figure-out who pays what and when to whom and his wife's brother. Then, you have your question of suitable wood and materials.

Alaska? British Columbia? North Miami? Lots of open land, lots of local laws.

[rbgarr]

There was a Forum member near Atlanta who was thinking about getting an old timberframe warehouse in Brunswick, GA and starting a boatbuilding/storage/repair co-op. Perhaps if he sees this he could chime in if the idea still appeals to him. You could offer to help get it off the ground and live there, too.

[ahp]

rbgarr,

Who is this WBF member? I live near Brunswick.

[rbgarr]

ahp- I got a private message from him a few months ago about this idea, but since Brunswick is pretty far from me (Savannah) I wasn't interested. I deleted the message from my e-mail. I assumed he might have contacted you also, and was hoping you'd know who it was, actually.

I wonder if there's a way to retrieve private e-mails sent over the WBF network. I'll check w/Scot.

P.S. Checked with Scot, and we can each get to old PMs through the 'My Profile" link in the upper right. No luck in my case about that Atlanta query. It must have been a regular e-mail.

[ 04-09-2004, 02:55 PM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[Frank E. Price]

Larch, you might also consider the rural tidewater areas of the small rivers in Washington, Oregon and northern California. There's no waterfront in SE Alaska.

Frank

[Larch_Keilson]

Thanks for the suggestion and the Alaska information. I'll be looking into this more. A good friend(and former Oregonian property owner) is in Las Vegas, today, looking for industrial property to open a flooring business. He has my interests in mind, also. I'm thinking Cherry cabin sole and a nice aromatic cedar ceiling. Seriously, finding a place to put this boat together is a challenge.

Oh, then my tools got pilfered and my planes got rained on while I was travelling, last year. Well, no big deal.

Honest, I'm not a big sharpie fan, having owned a Friendship sloop, an Atkins Ingrid, a Hanna Tahiti ketch and a few other good wooden boats. But, I want a boat with which I can have some gunk-holing fun and few beach landings that don't spell the end of the voyage. And Munroes Egret looks like the package I can afford. The sorry part is that I'd also like to cruise the Med and the canals from the North Sea on down. There's more here, and I will keep in touch.

Thanks.