Interesting boats

IslandEagle said:

He's probably to modest to mention it, but you might notice that the avatar for Tad Roberts is a picture of Liberty... he was the designer.

Scott Welch
Island Eagle

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I knew Tad was on the Bruce King design team for Liberty and several other gorgeous boats, both power and sail. One never knows what that means in terms of who gets the credit for the design.

Tad, how does that work?

When looming at boats with a lot of varnished wood I am in awe how much dedication and work is required. Many have to be in a covered moorage or canvas tarped. If most of the teak decks and trim where not covered I could not keep up.

Phil,

I think in cases like this it's just a matter of money. And If I had it I'd prolly spend it thusly.

David H I love Grayling. The moorage would kill me though. Do you happen to have a picture of her out of the water?
Re reposting ... I've reposted many of my pics but I reason what could be more interesting than interesting boats .... so I'd hoped this thread would go on until we all ran out of pics and that may (hopefully) be a ways down the thread.

dwhatty said:

I knew Tad was on the Bruce King design team for Liberty and several other gorgeous boats, both power and sail. One never knows what that means in terms of who gets the credit for the design.

Tad, how does that work?

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Well David, it doesn't.......

The company name goes on the drawings. My initials might appear in the bottom corner. Traditionally Yacht Designer's get personal credit and few understand that design offices are sometimes large groups of very talented people. The who get's credit thing is (I suppose) left over from when all yacht designers worked alone. Land-based Architects have it a bit better, as most firms always credit the individual, but with boats it usually does not happen.

There are dozens of examples, almost all the great designers apprenticed in some office, and many great designers never left some big office. In the better known design offices the principal sometimes does no drawing at all. Few people even want to hear that Olin Stephens or Phil Rhodes did not design their boat, that the principal barely knew of it's existence, while some minion lived and breathed that boat for months at a time.

I'll add that I worked at Bruce King Yacht Design for 14 years, starting in Bruce's living-room as his only employee and the only person actually making drawings every day. I ended up overseeing two other designer's and an engineer, and still drawing all day every day. Now I work pretty much alone.

For anyone that likes traditionally styled boats, as I do, Maine is one of the best places in the world to see them. The other great area is the PNW. The Chesapeake Bay is good, but not as good as Maine. Florida sucks.

David and Eric have a distinct advantage over most of us. I appreciate their sharing visions of their areas.

Don-I am not that familiar with Maine, but you are certainly right on the PNW and Fla. Since moving to Seattle almost 14 years ago, I am constantly amazed at the boats out here, both pleasure and work. There is a strong tradition of old wood boats and classic designs native to the PNW and a strong culture of keeping many of those boats around. There are so many areas, from Fisherman's Terminal in Seattle, to Port Townsend, to Port Angeles, to Everett, Anacortes, Bellingham, etc where just walking the waterfront is an amazing experience, or spend part of a day on a busy weekend just watching the variety of boats going through the Ballard Locks.

As to Fla, if big, go-fast boats that all pretty much look alike and are owned by folks with much more money than boat sense or taste, Florida is your kind of place.

Just one man's HO.

This is a shot of an 85' foot shrimpboat on the ways in Holden Beach, NC about 30 years ago. My first wife's uncle built shrimpboats there for about 50 years. I used to go watch the old guys build them, no plans, only the roughest of drawings. They would lay down a line for the keel and start building. Even though they were building workboats, they were true artisans with wood. This particular hull was built as a yacht for a guy who liked the traditional NC shrimpboat hull. They were 85' with about a 20' beam, most had a single Detroit 871. 2" cypress planked over 3" white oak frames on 16" centers. Massive, strong boats but still with very pleasing lines. I wish I could find my shots of the entire boat, but this is the only one I have found so far.

Whoops-seems the pic did not attach, try again!

I have posted this one before. The picture was made in St. Augustine while the boat was on the way to Maine. I think it is owned by one of the Dupont family. David knows the story on the boat.

On a family trip to Maine in about '78 we stopped by Southwest Harbor at the Lee S. Wilbur Boat Works. They were doing a final fit out on a new boat set up for sportsfishing. The guys on the boat took one look at my 6' 5" 15 year old son and said, "get him up here". They were installing a tuna fighting chair. They put Mike in the chair adjusting the foot rest. They started swinging the chair around and sliding it. The one said, "that's it mark it, and put it in the book for future reference". I wonder if they are still using those measurements to fit fighting chairs.

Back in the '70s there was an older couple that cruised the ICW, and wrote for the WATERWAY GUIDE. Their boat was a converted wooden salmon troller named CHINOOK. I have a print photo of it in my files somewhere. They would stop in at Morehead City Yacht Basin every year for a couple of weeks each way as they made their migration. I am wondering if any of you know anything about them. A salmon troller on the east coast is certain an unusual sight. The boat sure had pretty lines.

Moonstruck said:

Back in the '70s there was an older couple that cruised the ICW, and wrote for the WATERWAY GUIDE. Their boat was a converted wooden salmon troller named CHINOOK. I have a print photo of it in my files somewhere. They would stop in at Morehead City Yacht Basin every year for a couple of weeks each way as they made their migration. I am wondering if any of you know anything about them. A salmon troller on the east coast is certain an unusual sight. The boat sure had pretty lines.

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See this for a little information

Chinook – Garden designed heavy cruiser

manyboats said:

Phil,


David H I love Grayling. The moorage would kill me though. Do you happen to have a picture of her out of the water?

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Eric:

WoodenBoat issue 141 (March/April 1998) has an article on rebuilding Grayling. There are a couple of photos of her on the ways but they are dark and my scanner doesn't do well with dark pics. I know that I took some pics when she was being rebuilt but they are long lost.

All I can post for you at the moment is a lines drawing (purloined from Bill Page's web site where there are a lot of photos of her) that I believe Doug Hylan did of her at the time of rebuilding by Benjamin River Boatyard and a print by Kathy Bray (that one can purchase).

Tad Roberts said:

See this for a little information

Chinook – Garden designed heavy cruiser

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Thanks Tad. That's her. I have often wondered what happened to Chinook. Sorry she met such a bad end. I always looked forward to their visits to Morehead City. We had several regular seasonal visitors that were an inspiration for me to get out and cruise the wonderful ICW. I still like to do it.

Tad Roberts said:

See this for a little information

Chinook – Garden designed heavy cruiser

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Thanks Tad for your link - what a treasure trove! Appreciated the write-up on Sayonara; haven't seen her in years, but ran across her in Nanaimo and out of the way Bamfield in the past.

Would be great to see something in your files on Bent Jespersen and Mc(I forget the rest of his name) who built gorgeous sailboats in Genoa Bay years ago.

Conrad,

I'll try to get to Jespersen and Jim McClelland (Genoa Bay). Jim still has a website up, and I had a design hand in a few boats he built..... Lancashire Rose

Bent's son Eric now runs the business.Jespersen Wooden Boat Builders

Not sure what she is but I've admired it for several months now. She shares my boathouse 5 slips down.

About 25' long and fresh as a daisy.

Moonstruck said:

For anyone that likes traditionally styled boats, as I do, Maine is one of the best places in the world to see them. The other great area is the PNW. The Chesapeake Bay is good, but not as good as Maine. Florida sucks.

David and Eric have a distinct advantage over most of us. I appreciate their sharing visions of their areas.

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Don: How dare you speak the truth about Florida. Oh well, truth is that I get less respect for my boat here than I would almost anywhere else. Earlier this year, a grotesque 70 ft. plastic thing with two or more jets caught me under the Rickenbacher Causeway Bridge in Miami, and gunned it while next to me between the abutments, turning the perimeter into a mountain of bubbles.. It took every bit of throttle, rudder and bow thruster to keep me off the supports while the dozen or so people on the stern laughed at my emergency. This is the experience of Miami.

The Gulf Coast of FL is quite interesting with a few real fishing villages. I'm looking forward to living there in July. Meanwhile, I'm eternally grateful to the guys in New England, the Chesepeake, and particularly the PNW for sharing their photos of real boats.

Larry, down here in FL we in traditionally styled boats get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. However we know what we like, and are comfortable with our choice.

Eric, did you get a chance to click the link on CHINOOK? The stern shot shows a huge anchor behind the wheel house. I believe that it's a kedge. Those were surely nice folks that owned her, and they gave a great service to all east coast boaters. Back then the Waterway guide was just one volume. There was a story about them near the front with their boat and how they were contributers.

Tad Roberts said:

Here's a picture from Yesterday at Maple Bay, Herself designed by Garden and launched in 2001.

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Here's Herself, stern quarter view, summer 2007:

Scott Welch
Island Eagle

I like Herself better from the stern. Nice shot thanks Eagle.

Moon that IS a Kedge. I know where you can buy them.

Too bad about Florida. When I worked at Uniflite I was quite unpopular saying the classiest boats came from Florida. Sea Bird, Rybovitch, Brtram ect.

CP ... not a clue. Looks a little like a Richardson but I don't think she is.

Here's a boat some should know. Sunchaser in Thorne Bay.

Carolina Customs

Eric, there is a new Bertram in the slip behind me as I write this. It is a very nice boat, but they have lost their distinctiveness. You can tell it's a Bertram by the stylized "V" logo. Otherwise it could be a Hatteras or Riviera convertible. The real custom or semi custom yacht building has been taken over by the North Carolina builders like Jarret Bay. Beautiful boats built the way Rybovich, Whiticar, and other Florida boats were put together. You can't miss the Carolina flair. Those guys cram in the horse power, and run and fish 'em hard. Thought you may like to see some of the process.

Custom Sport Fishing Yachts & Full Service Facility | Jarrett Bay Boatworks

Tad Roberts said:

Conrad,

I'll try to get to Jespersen and Jim McClelland (Genoa Bay). Jim still has a website up, and I had a design hand in a few boats he built..... Lancashire Rose

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Thanks Tad; those guys really built works of art!

Don-I am familiar with Jarrett Bay, knowing someone back where I used to live in SE NC that runs his in fishing charters. However, after reading your link, I was surprised to learn that they are glass over plywood, albeit good quality marine grade. I have no knock on the that method, it is fine if well-executed which Jarrett Bay does. When building what are essentially one-pff boats, it certainly cuts his production costs compared to a molded hull.

THD said:

Don-I am familiar with Jarrett Bay, knowing someone back where I used to live in SE NC that runs his in fishing charters. However, after reading your link, I was surprised to learn that they are glass over plywood, albeit good quality marine grade. I have no knock on the that method, it is fine if well-executed which Jarrett Bay does. When building what are essentially one-pff boats, it certainly cuts his production costs compared to a molded hull.

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That is very a very similar process to how the original South Florida sport fisherman builders built their boats----glass over wood and cold molded. Rybovich is included in those. They are lighter and faster. Many Rybos from the 50s are still around and looking good. They are highly regarded.

Here's a cute little low buck boat in BC.

Not terribly interesting and very basic but definitely not a Bayliner.

BC seems to have many more boats that are interesting. More homebuilts, Fixed up old boats and converted fish boats than neighboring Wash State. Canadians are more interesting too and if you doubt me spend some time in Vancouver BC. Especially the "West End". If you haven't you need to.

In the eye of the beholder to be sure. IMO one of the better looking houseboat designs. A 40'ish footer in my marina.

The Sechelt Chief came in the other night and anchored next to us. She's retired from towing logs to become a full time liveaboard home now. Built in 1938 by WestCoast Salvage in Vancouver, a bit over 50' by 15' and drawing about 7' of water. They'll go on the ways for the anual shave and haircut today. Pictures from long ago and last year (grey hull and extended house).

CPseudonym said:

In the eye of the beholder to be sure. IMO one of the better looking houseboat designs. A 40'ish footer in my marina.

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Agree! Didn't realize it was a houseboat on first blush.

This one is a barge, but interesting (weird) just the same. Someone told me it is used as a stage for plays, no idea if that is so. The superstructure appeared to be Aluminum, shown here docked in Madisonville, Louisiana.