Often mistaken for an Adirondack guideboat, this 17' rowboat is John Gardner's modified version of L. Francis Herreshoff's design published in Rudder magazine in 1947. I used Atlantic cedar on laminated Port Orford cedar frames with an Okoume plywood bottom sheathed in Dynel cloth. At only one hundred pounds it is a fast, lightweight, very seaworthy vessel good for open-water rowing, fishing, or camping.

The white model left of my blue one (bottom right) was built by Nathan Greeley in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The 11' 6" Susan skiff (top right and center) was designed in the 1950s by R. M. Steward for Rudder magazine. Many students at Maine's Apprenticeshop boatbuilding school cut their boatbuilding teeth on these rugged workboats. As an instructor there, I built this cedar-on-oak version with a student intern. Mahogany thwarts and rub rails and a yachty paint job belie its rugged origins.

The 8' "Florimbi Pram" (top and bottom left) I designed for a kids boatbuilding class at the Apprenticeshop. We needed a project that kids from eight to twelve could build within two weeks. The pram is symmetrical end to end with a flat bottom and batten-seamed sides. It can be rowed or sculled, a good dinghy or tender.

This 52' motor yacht was designed by Daniel Skira after the 1920s Long Island New York commuter boats. I was the foreman on this project at Bill Cannell's shop in Camden, Maine. It is double-planked–Douglas fir and Atlantic cedar over steam-bent white oak frames with mahogany trim and a cherry and cedar interior. Two 300 hp Mann diesel engines now power it around its home port Patmos, Greece.

This 33', double-ended Rhodes design sail boat required a complete rebuild after its original iron fastenings had rusted out. Michael Geer's and my contribution was replacing the single planking with northern white cedar, then caulking and painting.

I build a wide variety of spars from whole log shaped masts for tall ships to hollow- or solid-section laminations for yachts.

The tall ship (top left and right) was the HMS Rose when Nathan Greeley, David Short, and I built a new yardarm for her. She has since been renamed HMS Surprise in honor of her role in the film, Master and Commander: Far Side of the World.

The historic skipjack HM Krentz (center) is an authentic sail-powered oyster catcher. Steve Garrand and I traveled to St. Michaels, Maryland, to help Capt. Ed Farley with her rebuild, including a new mast and bowsprit (bottom right).

The two bowsprits in progress (bottom left) now are part of the schooner fleet of Camden, Maine, respectively Mercantile and Grace Bailey.

The Haven 12 1/2 is Joel White's modification of Nathanael Herreshoff's popular daysailer from 1914. This one has molded teak sheer strakes, a teak transom, and a tabernacle rig for short bridges. Paul Mullen and I built this boat with Peter Clapp at his Star Boat Company in St. George, Maine.

The Hall family of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, commissioned this replica of a century-plus-old 25' Barnegat Bay catboat to continue the legacy of their father, Sidney Hall. It was built in Rockport, Maine, by Thomas Jenkins, Eric Thierry, and myself under the expert tutelage of Kevin Carney at the Apprenticeshop. The project was a gold mine of learning opportunities. We were required to take the lines from a tired and weary original, loft them into a better, stronger version, then construct a new boat with improvements to increase longevity while retaining the heirloom identity of its predecessor.

Read more about the building process in She Even Feels Like the Old Tordzus from The Apprentice, Fall 1991 (used by permission of The Apprenticeshop) 

Named for Whitehall Street in New York where they were first made, these classic rowboats are speedy, accommodating, and easy to row. Nancy Ninnis, Lars Peterson, and I built this 13' cedar-on-oak version with mahogany details as students at the Apprenticeshop when it was in Rockport, Maine.