From New York to Norway:
A Student Boatwright Gets Her Start in the Finger Lakes
Author Kate Slocum using a handsaw at a woodworking class at the Finger Lakes Boating Museum
Some of us are late bloomers and that’s okay. I was approaching age 40 when I began to notice the shape of boats—especially wooden boats. While both of my parents had been self-taught handy people, I had just assumed that I didn’t get the gene. When I began to find the outlines of handmade wooden small craft not just interesting but arresting, I was surprised to say the least.
I had recently returned to the Finger Lakes where I spent my undergraduate years. I searched the region for ways to explore my newfound and somewhat perplexing fascination with wooden boats. An online inquiry revealed that Hammondsport’s Finger Lakes Boating Museum would be hosting a woman boatwright that August. She was going to lead two courses in woodworking with exclusively female students. I wanted to know if I merely liked the aesthetics of wooden boats or if I might enjoy the work of building them as well. With excitement and trepidation, I registered for both courses.
After arriving at the Museum’s impressive facility and meeting my fellow workshop-mates, I spent two weeks learning from visiting instructor Jenn Kuhn, experienced boatwright and boatyard manager at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. We began with basic shop orientation and safety, then dove into building our own carpenter’s mallets of pine and sipo mahogany. I had never built anything from wood so such a thorough introduction to everything from grain direction to using a spindle sander was a rewarding whirlwind. I was hooked and looked forward to the next week when we advanced as a group to making carpenter’s benches from poplar. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and felt that I had some aptitude for the work. Jenn’s presentation on her experience as a boatwright in Maryland only added fuel to the fire. By the time we had our celebratory class dinner at a local restaurant to round out our time together, I knew I needed to find a way to make boat building part of my life.
As an element of my volunteer work for the Museum a couple of months later, I met Geoff Heath, the shipwright leading the work on Pat II, a 39’ launch and former tour boat. Mr. Heath was kind enough to entertain a few of my questions about wooden boat building education while we discussed the status of the rebuild. I eagerly recorded his recommendations about what books to read—including Howard Chapelle’s Boatbuilding--and where formal education could be had—including Arundel, Maine’s famous Landing School.
After talking to half a dozen boatyards in New England about their impression of Landing School graduates as employees (favorable in every case), I made an appointment to visit the school. It was my first trip to Maine but I felt a sense of homecoming as I crossed the Piscataqua bridge into the Pine Tree State. My meeting with The Landing School admissions staff was informative and inspiring. While I was impressed with the facility, the faculty, and the industry-employment rate of graduates, what sealed the deal for me was seeing the boats built by the students in their Traditional Wooden Boat Building program that year: beautiful runabouts painted in sapphire blue with gorgeously varnished decks and lustrous hardware. I could not believe that a group of students—many of whom had little to no woodworking experience at all—could produce such lovely, entirely complete showroom-quality boats from nothing but a set of plans in only nine months. It was exactly the kind of education I craved. I drove home to New York and submitted my application at once.
The author with boat partner Nick Tonello lofting the Town Class
The school year commenced with an orientation day and barbeque. I wandered the now-familiar corridors between Yacht Design, Composite Boat Building, Marine Systems and Wooden Boat Building, whose quiet spaces seemed to anticipate all the activity that would shortly begin. In the wooden boat shop I met that program’s lead instructor, Rick Barkhuff. He welcomed me and asked what had brought me to a boat building program in Maine. By then I was used to having to explain it: “I just finished my first career in the military…” or “I want to transition to working with my hands…”. Most people were supportive but they could not relate to what un-nameable passion had caused me to start over as a novice tradeswoman at age 40. Something about Mr. Barkhuff’s demeanor put me at ease however, so I smiled apologetically and said, “it’s not rational”. He replied something to the effect, “of course it’s not rational. None of us are here because it’s rational.”. I knew I had found my tribe.
My fellow students and I began the enviable task of building three “Town Class” 16 ½”-foot lapstrake centerboard sloops. Built by the family of Percival “Pert” Lowell in Newbury, MA, since 1932, these were originally designed as safe weather-helmed craft for use by children. Since at least 1936 however, they were popular for racing in an around Marblehead and Nahant, MA, and Touisett, RI. We would benefit from consultation with the Lowell family and Marblehead’s Town Class Association throughout the projects.
Our class of eight students was led by master boat builder Rick Barkhuff, assistant instructor Jake Jacobsen, and program assistant Leo Boivin. The students were divided into three groups, which would each build one Town Class sloop from lofting to launch. I was assigned to a two-person team with Nicholas Tonello, a carpenter from Massachusetts, and our boat was designated “Boat 419”. After orientation on the shop and mill room by means of several smaller woodworking projects, we began in earnest with lofting. Every day I found myself applying new skills and despite the consistent challenge, I was having a blast. Patterning the frames off the loft floor, we proceeded with construction of the strongback and setup. Our Town Class sloops would honor the original design while incorporating building techniques to ensure their longevity, such as marine grade plywood planking and epoxy-laminated Douglas fir frames, stems, and sheer clamps. Our hands-on education was augmented by guest lectures, field trips, and a week-long Inter-program Activity Period (IPAP) in January, wherein students spent time in a different program or an internship. I spent my IPAP week interning for boat building company French & Webb in Belfast, ME.
Whiskey plank in place
We reveled in the milestones of hanging the “whiskey plank”, striking the waterline, and turning the boats over—the latter an all-school event where everyone came to lend a hand settling our boats carefully into their cradles for the next stage of construction. By spring break, we had installed the centerboard trunks and deck frames, vacuum-bagged two layers of plywood decking, painted the interior and applied our first layer of finish paint on the topsides—a glossy black for Boat 419. When I left the shop to start my short vacation that Friday afternoon in March, I could not anticipate how my education was about to change.
In an effort to keep students and faculty safe, as well as to comply with state and federal regulations and recommendations regarding COVID-19, The Landing School temporarily transitioned its Wooden Boat Building program to an online format. Our class would acquire the remaining skills necessary to earn our diplomas through the construction of scale model sailboats at home with instructor supervision via daily video conferencing. A challenging 1-inch to 1-foot scale Dark Harbor 17 gaff-rig sloop from Maine’s own Blue Jacket Ship Crafters was selected and each student received a kit by mail.
Over the remaining six weeks of the academic year, my living room became my workshop. Miniaturized though it was, I found myself in a useful review of the skills we’d learned on the Town Class projects, including pattern-making, fairing and painting. The model’s construction also demanded new skills like carvel planking, varnishing, steam-bending basswood and rigging. A living room boat shop during a pandemic requires innovation. Our class and instructors collaborated on solutions that aided us in bringing our model sailboats to life despite each student’s unique situation. I found my skills and self-confidence as a craftsperson grow in an environment that encouraged me to problem-solve with the resources at hand. Even as I installed turning blocks with tweezers, I was having fun!
While I was disappointed to not be able to complete Boat 419, I found myself more invested in the Dark Harbor project by the day, especially as those beautiful lines which drew me to Maine in the first place began to emerge.
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At the time of submission Kate Slocum was in her final weeks before graduation and had just begun rigging her Dark Harbor (DH) 17, affectionately named Larry after author DH Lawrence. She also works part-time for boat builder French Webb & Company, Inc., and has enrolled in a program to learn traditional Norwegian boat building in Rissa, Norway, in academic year 2020-2021.