Boat Building
Boat Building in Westport: A School - Community Partnership
— Boat Building —
The Youth Boatbuilding program will not be continuing into 2024**
Boat Building in Westport: A School - Community Partnership
Starting in 2016, Dharma Voyage has collaborated with Westport High School to provide a full semester course for students covering boatbuilding and design skills, local maritime history, river science and ecology. Read below for summaries of each year’s accomplishments. Although the program is not continuing in its current form into 2024, we celebrate the success of the Dharma Voyage Youth Boat Building Program which has successfully produced nine boats in eight years and introduced boat building skills to more than 100 Westport students every time we step into one of these boats, some of which you may enjoy rowing yourself one day!
2023 Program
In our eighth year of boat building with Westport students, the 2023 project is a Southard Skiff. The original boat belonged to the Southard Family on Westport Point and was probably built between 1890-1900. Bob Baker, in 1979, measured and lifted the lines off this skiff. We were lucky to find and purchase his plans from the Mystic Seaport Museum. Jon Aborn, our master boat builder, is again leading this build in the MakerSpace at the Westport Middle High School. Jamie Soares assists with teaching woodworking skills. Students will complete the skiff in three months, using okoume marine plywood for the hull and white oak for the gunnels. The plans call for two-plank, lapstrake hull construction. In the classroom, high school teacher Dan Harrington teaches academic topics which complement the boat building. Students learn about whaling, navigation, engineering, model making, knot tying, Westport history in general, and the history of boat building in our town. Students decided they will paint the skiff's exterior hull a medium blue with a gray interior. They have named the boat after a blues singer - Muddy Waters!
Previous Years of Boat Building
Last year's boat has a historical significance. It was built using the lines of an original single-plank Westport Sharpie that was designed as a center-board shore boat for the Southeastern Massachusetts coast and Westport River. The original "Sandpiper" was built by Fred Tripp in 1922 and went through several iterations including being renovated into a sandbox before eventually being found in a barn. Bob Baker measured and took the lines that enabled our boat builders to reconstruct this design using hand tools, marine okoume plywood, and modern building techniques. This boat can be sailed or rowed.
In previous years high school students have successfully built a rowing dory, now used by both students and adult community rowers right here on the Westport River. Students and boat building instructor, Jon Aborn, constructed a modern version of a Pete Culler rowing bateau. We built two boats, each measuring 18' and designed for a single rower. Construction, using Okoume marine plywood, began by building the hull upside down on station molds. The hull was then strengthened by applying a layer of fiberglass cloth and two skim coats of epoxy. Liberty and W.S. Creamsicle were launched at the Head of Westport Landing.
2022 Boach Launch of Osprey
In 2018, Westport High School students successfully built a 25' Chamberlain rowing dory, which was historically used for hunting and fishing. Dan Harrington, a WCS biology and environmental studies teacher, took the lead in the classroom. During the winter months, students began exploring topics such as whaling, history of boat building in Westport, knot tying, model building, river science, boat design, and fishing. Related literature, such as Moby Dick and Boys in the Boat enriched our discussions. Local experts from the community served as guest teachers throughout the course sharing their knowledge with the class. Guests included the Harbor Master, a tugboat captain, scientists, boat designers, historians and boat model makers. Other field trips included a visit to the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the Herreshoff Museum in Bristol, RI.
In March, students began working in small groups at the boat shop at Titcomb Brothers Manufacturing on Forge Road. Dharma Voyage Executive Director Ben Booth and Jon Aborn, both accomplished boat builders, lead this part of the course. Students built a rowing dory from plans to a completed boat! Traditional wooden boat building methods were taught as well as the modern construction methods of applying epoxy resin for joining seams and adding fiberglass cloth for strength. It was an exciting process of turning a pile of unshaped plywood and lumber into a classic boat capable of being rowed from the river to the coast.
Click here to view more photos and to follow the 2018 program on its blog.
