Latest News

Details From A Boat Carpenter’s Notebook, Part One

By michael - 27th February 2011

The 23′ L. Francis Herreshoff design was originally built in Quincy, Ma. in 1939. She arrived in my shop in the winter of 2004 as a bare hull with only a few deck beams holding her shape. She left my shop in the spring of 2007 after being significantly re-framed, re-floored, re-planked, re-decked, and re-fastened. She received a new cockpit and interior, and all surfaces were refinished. The following pictures illustrate a few of the details that added to the...

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Beetlecat Pictures

By michael - 6th January 2011

Above and below: Slings and required rigging for lifting and turning the boat over prior to repairs. Use great care in choosing and installing the hardware for this operation!   Note in photo below sufficient cushions under the boat; the boat will be raised and layed on edge on the cushions prior to being “tipped” over in the slings. The stem scarf is located just aft of the curve of the bow below the waterline. Yes, it falls directly under...

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Beetlecat in Distress

By michael - 6th January 2011

Here is an ongoing project that, after further review, required more work than was originally estimated. Often, when a customer states that a boat is leaking, will ask how much will it cost to repair. My first reaction is, well, I won’t really know the extent of the repair until I actually get into it. To assess a bottom’s condition, the paint first needs to be removed; various fasteners will need to be removed to determine if they are a)...

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Winding Down Another Season

By michael - 12th November 2010

Having not contributed a post in sometime, I feel compelled to continue sharing my boating experiences of late. Autumn is a very busy season for boat owners particularly for the sailor. The winds are brisk and skies are clear as the northerly winds fill in more frequently making for ideal fall sailing. However, arrangements will eventually need to be made for winter storage as well as plans for decommissioning the boat. Surplus gear, spars, sails, batteries, charts, removable electronics, cushions,...

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Pursuant to the Purchase & Sale Agreement

By michael - 7th July 2010

Often the search is far and wide, similar to an online dating service, for a new boat. After all, the boat must meet all the predetermined requisites as set forth by the owner-to-be. Every hiding place for fine boats and, as it sometimes turns out, derelict boats will be sought. On land and by sea, and often through the air, the buyer will not quit until that buying urge has been satisfied. And along the way, oh wise one will...

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Truth in Advertising and Other Notions

By michael - 1st July 2010

I have been involved in various boat deals of late; for many owners, now is evidently a good time to sell. When shopping for classics, there is no shortage of boats available. In fact, I dare say most any boat is available – for the right price! Which brings me to the value of a survey. While employed for various brokerage houses and dealerships, we as sales personnel urged our buyers to have any used boat surveyed prior to purchase....

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Summer is Here

By michael - 23rd June 2010

Over the past month I have been boating in one form or another in New York, Maine, Connecticut, and California. While I enjoy having the waters to myself, an alarming fact became apparent that very few boatowners are actually using their boats. Perhaps it is early in the season but late spring offers exceptional boating conditions. Brisk evenings and warm afternoons, with the usual prevailing breezes makes for memorable cruises. However, I suspect part of the reason for boats not...

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My "Prelude"

By michael - 10th May 2010

  As the weather warms and the lows pass through at greater intervals, lives take a quickened pace. We seem to want to do everything at once – kindly observe the pace of drivers in the passing lane! For a boater in the northeast and on the Great Lakes, these are particularly desperate times given the length of our season. The projects must be concluded; the boat must get launched; the gear hunted down and stowed aboard; and, the shakedown...

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A Boater’s Life, Part 1

By michael - 3rd May 2010

There are countless resources for the boatowner in this day and age. There are hundreds of books dealing with all sorts of minutia on the subject matter, workshops, videos, classes, websites, and on and on. Yet, nothing substitutes for the experience gained by casting off from the dock or mooring in a sound and readied boat, and heading out. Believe me, there is no better way to learn. For many of us, boating is a generational thing; ie, our parents...

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Take My Boat….Please!

By michael - 30th April 2010

I am told that the second happiest day in a boater’s life is the day the boat is sold. It may very well be the happiest day; “buyer’s remorse” should be taken into account when the boat is purchased! Using the logic that nobody needs a boat, great care and a colossal amount of effort must be taken when selling a boat. For sailboat owners, it is particularly true when one considers the fact that only 1 in 7 boats...

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