Looking at this video at 2:27 it is clear that the skills to make those boats are to be appreciated. Those ribs are pretty narrow and nailing those planks to them is not so easy. I am not used to making boats without the inside gunnels but this is a racing boat not a work boat so the lightness counts. Though they seem to be wide , the waterline is pretty narrow and the bow is a penetrating one. I see the bows are sometimes raked backward and though I prefer the raked forward bows this raked back bow seems to come so naturally when one folds a fly sheet to make the bows of a boat. The fitting of planks on a hull like that takes skill as every plank has to be shaped individually. Well it is painful to hear that the wood to make those boats is now difficult to get and I have no doubt that the skills to make them will soon dwindle away too with the introduction of epoxies and fibre and carbon and so many other materials with less maintenance requirements. Congratulations all , as the lady said, get out with the families and enjoy the racing, the fresh air and more than anything else, enjoy the friendly company , even if it is competitive. Well done all.
@ericl29693 жыл бұрын
Actually, they were made light in the old days too, so that they could be more easily carried between lakes in the Adirondacks. The wood versions rarely have inwales, but the modern composite versions do, for construction reasons. They were made so light in olden times that women in those days (those few who would take a ride in the boats back then) had to be careful to step nowhere except on the floor boards, or the heels of their shoes could poke right through the hull, and in boats without floorboards, any footstep that was not directly on the centerboard had to be on a rib or there was a chance of damaging the hull. In spite of the overall profile being very much the result of building convenience, it works out to be a surprisingly seaworthy design. I will add that skilled builders are still making these boats, even without spruce roots. Making the ribs from custom-built laminates that are steamed and bent to an exact shape is quite a skill in itself, and the result is actually a better product than what was ever gotten from spruce roots. I think the old-time builders would have taken advantage of that technology (it's still wood) if they could have, just as they would have coated their boats with fiberglass if they could have, just as modern builders do. In any case, it's a way of keeping the tradition alive.