DIY: Build Your Own Wherry To Row On Maine Lakes

Out and About for the Sebago Lakes Region of Maine Jan. 1-7
December 30, 2014
Early Morning Row on a Maine Lake
Early Morning Row on a Maine Lake
January 4, 2015

DIY: Build Your Own Wherry To Row On Maine Lakes

DIY: Build Your Own Wherry To Row On Maine Lakes

Row, Row, Row Your Boat on Highland Lake, Bridgton, Maine

by Leigh Macmillen Hayes
Imagine this—you love to row in front of your Maine lakefront home, you own your own rowing shell, BUT you see some drop dead gorgeous wooden shells a few guys have built and the urge strikes you . . . you MUST build your own.

 

 

 

 

 


That’s kind of, sort of, how it happened for Steve Collins.
At regattas, a handful of rowers would show up with wooden racing shells. Though wood has been supplanted by composites such as fiberglass, carbon fiber and Kevlar™, a wooden boat is still competitive in the hands of a skillful rower.
A few years ago, the idea of building one truly intrigued Steve. After consulting with other rowers and researching  the options, he chose an Annapolis Wherry design from the Chesapeake Light Craft™ kit building company in Annapolis, Maryland. He wanted a boat that would be good on open water.
Being a self-described “complete geek,” Steve kept a journal, including not only the date and tasks, but also the amount of time spent on the project each day.
November 1 [0:30]—motor freight delivered kit. Opened, inspected, inventoried. Everything present and okay. Noted that most pieces have a little divot at beginning/end of cut, which will have to be filed off.
The boat would be assembled using a stitch and glue technique called LapStitch™. This meant that Steve would drill holes in the edge of the okume planks that would create the hull. Then he’d use soft copper wire to hold them in place. Eventually all would be glued with epoxy.
November 27 [2:00]—made a little plywood template to locate wire holes 6” apart at 9/16” from the edge. Made a wire length/bending fixture.
December 1 [1:30]—Took the kit to Ron’s. Floor temp 49ºF. Made plank-scarfing platen. Platen will work with only a little fine tuning.
Steve’s cellar was not large enough to build the boat, so he began the project in the basement of a fellow rower. It soon became obvious, however, that this would not be the perfect work situation. Marine epoxy works best at room temperature; it is difficult to work with when the temperature is below 55ºF. In the basement, the only heat source was a potbelly stove. On a good day, the basement temperature might rise eight degrees in four hours. The epoxy would be only partially cured, though a heat lamp and jugs of water placed on the boards did help.
Fortunately for Steve, he had friends in warmer places who offered him the use of their basement—ah, radiant heat. It was much easier to turn the thermostat to the desired curing temperature than to continuously feed the potbelly stove.
December 27 [6:00]—moved scene of operation. Everything good but light. Got six planks wired. Gets easier as one gets higher.
Part of the design is to drill holes (592 to be exact), place two adjoining planks together, insert one of the zillion pieces of previously cut wire, then twist and glue them with epoxy. To Steve’s absolute delight, his project began to look like a boat as he pulled the wired planks up into place.
December 29 [6:00]—got all four frames tied in. Really pulled hull into shape well. Mixed a “1-plunger” batch of thick epoxy and glued stem and transom interiors. 
December 30 [6:00]—taped all longitudinal seams with packing tape. Inverted hull. Glued all along seams . . . Good thing I taped seams—lots of leakage. 
The secret of creating this boat is the high performance epoxy. Warned about the hazards of working with fiberglass and epoxy, Steve frequently looked like Moonman as he faithfully donned his long-sleeved T-shirt and gas mask. He had also been warned about the thickness of the epoxy, but, unfortunately, didn’t heed those warnings and it drooled into the joints. By not getting the seams tight enough and epoxy thick enough, it ran, which resulted in hours spent sanding and scraping and sanding some more.
January 7 [8:00]—removed the zillion clamps; righted boat. Removed bulkheads. Spent about three hours cleaning out interior. Laid out fiberglass. NOTE: Instructions speak to a “bigger” and a “smaller” piece of ‘glass. I found one 20’ long piece, wide enough to do the 4-plank interior and the 2-plank exterior . . . ‘glassed interior. Hull drank epoxy like a fish. Edges came out raggedy—hope they sand off.
Fiberglass was used on the interior bottom to strengthen the boat and exterior bottom to protect it from rocks and sand. The final process was rather fussy and meant applying a seal coat of epoxy over the entire boat, three coats of glossy white enamel to the exterior, seven coats of marine varnish on the interior and lots and lots of sanding in between.
At last the boat was ready for her maiden voyage. After 197 hours and 45 minutes of production, she proved very weatherly in the blowing wind on Highland Lake.
To learn more about lakefront properties for sale on Highland Lake in Bridgton, click on the green box above.
To learn more about the Bridgton area, check out these blog links below.
Enjoy Lakefront Living on Highland Lake in Bridgton, Maine
Bridgton, Maine, Offers Plenty To Do Throughout the Year
Revised from an article written by Leigh Macmillen Hayes and previously published in Lake Living magazine.

 

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