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Freedom
I have always loved wooden boats.
I love the way they ride the water. I respect the craftsmanship it takes to build one. A boat built from wood has a life,
a spirit, and a presence not found in fiberglass or aluminum.
Five years ago I set out to fulfill a life-long dream
- to build a wooden boat myself. I took a boat-building course at Lowell's Boat Shop
in Amesbury Massachusetts. Situated on the shores of the Merrimack River, Lowell’s has been building boats, specifically dories,
for over 200 years. Because they specialize in dory-style construction, Lowell's Boat Shop has been absorbed by the Newburyport
Historical Society, and they offer hands-on courses in which the class builds two dories. The boats are raffled off at the
end of the class for the cost of materials, and it is in one of these courses taught by Robert Elliot, where I learned to
build wooden boats of dory-style construction. There are many styles of dories that have evolved over the years. The classic
banks dory was designed to be launched from a mother ship for cod fishing. It was called a banks dory because its primary
purpose was to allow a single fisherman to fish from it off the Grand Banks, a fishing spot off the New England coast. This
design lends itself to stability and it is able to hold 1500 pounds of codfish, from back in the day when the only means of
preservation was salting the fish upon its return.
There are now many styles of dories, all of which use the same
construction techniques as the original. Each design lends itself to different applications of use. The style I chose to build
was called the Atlantic Rowing Skiff, and its forte was its sleekness, speed, and agility when rowed. With each design come
strengths and weaknesses. A boat built for rowing-speed and agility sacrifices some stability to do that. A boat built to
haul 1500 pounds of fish back to a waiting mother ship does the opposite. If you look into the different styles of dories
that have evolved over the years, you will find there are those that are built to accept a motor, others that lend themselves
to sailing, and still others, like the Atlantic, that shine when rowed.
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The above pictures are pictures of the boat
I built. It is my intention to use this boat to catch record striped bass. In the beginning, I also used it to enhance the
beauty of Fred's Franks, and as a vessel to haul some of my equipment to and from my location. I have now evolved a different
approach, but you never know, the signature Fred's Franks wooden boat may well reappear, so stay tuned.
Below is a
list of some of the frequently asked questions about the boat.
WHAT IS IT? It is a hybrid of a Lowell’s boat shop
banks dory, a Salisbury Skiff design which is called an Atlantic Skiff.
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO BUILD? 425 hours. They
are all logged, what I did when, and if you are interested I can let you look at the log.
WHAT MATERIALS WERE USED
IN HER CONSTRUCTION? Planking is of southern white cedar; rails and stem are white oak; transom, seats, and some of the back
seat slats are constructed of mahogany; risers are eastern white pine; and lastly the oar lock extensions and the other rear
seat slats are made from South American bloodwood.
DID YOU HAVE PLANS FOR THE BOAT? There are no formal plans, however
there is a sheet of paper, one side, that has various key dimensions that tell you how to lay out the bottom, planking, transom,
and stem. There are also patterns for the frames, to which the planks are fastened.
I hope this answers some of your
questions about the boat I built. I call her the "Freedom" for some very good personal reasons. If there is anything else
you would like to know, I would be happy to talk boats for as long as you would like.
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