The display boat shown here was commissioned as a birthday gift for a long time sailor.

The display boat shown above was commissioned as a birthday gift for a long time sailor. The boat is a hand built, two inches to the foot, model of a 16-foot Ray Speck Sid skiff. The opportunity to build this display model was most enjoyable, as I previously helped build a 14-foot version of the Sid skiff while attending the wooden boat school at Port Townsend, Washington in 1999. The boat building school, now located in Port Hadlock, Washington builds full size versions of this boat as well as several other fine wooden boats as student projects.

Sid Foster, Harbormaster of Sausalito, California owned the original boat, a skiff about 12-1/2’ in length. Ray speck, a master boat builder, instructor, and author, took the lines off the boat and developed the plans for a range of boats from 13 to 16 feet in length. Plans for the full sized boat can be purchase from Ray Speck by writing to him at: Ray Speck Boat Building 228 37th St. Port Townsend, Washington 98368

I built my first display boat while attending the school and have been building selected display boats of lapstrake workboats from the 1800s. The list now includes the following boats: 16 foot Whitehall pulling boat, 16 foot Swampscott sailing dory, 16 foot New Jersey Sea Bright skiff, 16 foot 7-1/2 inch South Jersey beach skiff, 12 foot 4-1/2 inch Providence River fishing boat, and a 16 foot Danish fishing boat.

I build a set of molds from the table of offsets or bodylines and plank the boats upside down. The build process is much like that used for full sized boats with the exception that everything is glued together. I steam the planks and the oak frames and cut the gains at the hood ends. An X-Acto knife with a sharp deburing blade gets a lot of use.

A Danish fishing boat was my first display boat. Built from Honduran mahogany, the rudder was carved from a piece of African Acacia.

Molds and ladder frame for the South Jersey beach skiff.

Molds and ladder frame for the South Jersey beach skiff. The stem, plank keel, keelson, sternpost, deadwood and transom are mounted on the molds. The garboard was steamed, glued, and clamped on the keel assembly.

Jib halyard secured to forward cleat on mast of Sid skiff.

A few of the woods used in the construction of the boats: African Sapele fore and aft sheets, Honduran mahogany thwarts and thwart knees, Monterey pine floorboards, oak frames, red cedar planking below a birch shear streak. The oars are cut and carved from Sitka Spruce.

Honduran mahogany tiller and rudder cheeks, cherry rudder.

If there is a wooden boat that you want to build full size, one of the best ways to get a feeling for what is involved in the construction process is to build a scale model of the boat. I usually build at two inches to the foot as it makes it easier to cut a lot of the smaller parts; in addition, you don’t need a magnifying glass to see the construction details.

First coat of varnish.

I am in the process of writing a detailed construction guide for building lapstrake display boats. It should be available for purchase in a few weeks.

I also build classic sea chests, sea captains ditty boxes, and wooden tool chests. If you have any questions feel free to send me an email at: Larkinsgary@hotmail.com or visit my website at: www.classicseachests.com

© Copyright 2006, Gary K. Larkins