bitmagick
23.04.2021 3:34:00
A very traditionally built, roomy, seaworthy, flat-bottom, lapstrake rowing skiff.
See full version: Yankee Tender
A very traditionally built, roomy, seaworthy, flat-bottom, lapstrake rowing skiff.
The boat is built primarily of cedar (strakes, thwarts, sternsheets), with an oak stem, transom, keel, rails and delicately tapered frames. The strakes are riveted together with copper nails and roves. All other fasteners and hardware is of silicon bronze. The chines and seat knees where steam-bent to shape. The outside is painted and the inside is oiled with a homemade varnish recipe called “boat soup” or “boat sauce”, an old down east deck coating formula consisting of a mixture of Boiled Linseed Oil, Turpentine, Pine Tar, and Japan Drier. here
The boat rows with ease due to its rocker flat bottom which helps to keep the transom bottom out of the water, thus reducing drag. It will carry three adults. With one or three persons on board, the normal rowing position is the center thwart. With 2 persons on board, the rower sits on the forward thwart and the passenger sits on the sternsheets to keep the boat rocker balanced. [links]
Plans for the Yankee Tender are available from The Wooden Boat Store, printed or downloaded PDF (digital), for $50.
The plans call for either white pine or northern white cedar for the transom, planking, and bottom—I built with cedar—and the remainder of the structure is white oak. The 3/8″-thick side planks are beveled at both sides of the lap to reveal a delicate edge. The sawn-oak frames are sided 5/8” and given a graceful curve; the inwale and guardrail are as fine as a canoe’s, helping bring the boat’s weight down. My boat weighs 130 lbs.
The boat is as zippy as a sports car in its maneuverability. With one occupant, it rides high on the water, with no drag at the transom. The skeg keeps you on course, yet the wicked rocker allows quick spins. The tender’s width and flared topsides allow you to scooch over on the center seat to a rail so you can open one of the hinged fish-well covers without making the hull unsteady. The boat moves along with ease; it’s not a flier but it offers a safe, dry, seaworthy ride. [links]
T he plans for Yankee Tender first appeared in 1979 in WoodenBoat Nos. 30–32 as part of a how-to-build series. When you get the six generously detailed sheets of plans from The WoodenBoat Store for this 12′4″ flat-bottomed rowing skiff, you also get reprints of those magazine articles with their numbered photos and written instructions. What a deal! If you have some heavy paper and a clean-swept floor you can get right to work on laying out the molds, as no lofting is necessary. Study the plans carefully, and you’ll learn a great deal about building a flat-bottomed lapstrake boat with wood in the traditional manner. I sure did.
The cross-planking requires no framing on the bottom and provides an uncluttered interior. The fish-well structure of the center seat makes it sturdy and stiffens up the light hull, and gives great dry storage (or live bait) options.
Then came the fun part! I had purchased No. 10 cotton duck and laid it out on the smooth inner bottom, cutting it to overhang a few inches. Before starting the bedding process, I lavishly brushed the bottom planks with boiled linseed oil, allowing them to soak it in overnight. Then I thinned Interlux Boatyard Bedding Compound to a peanut-butter consistency with boiled linseed oil, spread it evenly across the inner bottom, then laid out and rolled the canvas, squeezing the bedding compound into the fabric. Next, I trowled more of the goo onto the canvas. I then replaced the pre-drilled outer bottom planks, the setting and driving the screws home. I drew the double bottom tight along the plank seams with 7/8” copper clout nails, hammered in and clenched every 5″ to 6″. All told, I used 2-1/2 quarts of bedding compound and 1 quart of linseed oil. here
Description of build, including materials: The kit is from Wooden Boat magazine. It is designed to demonstrate how a real/full size Yankee Tender is constructed. The kit provided a “strong back” which replicates the shop floor. The model and real tender are constructed upside down. Then pulled off the strong back for installation of ribs, inwales, outwales, breast hook and thwarts. The model is finished with shellac.
Modeler’s biography: Nathaniel Fay, retired from the Navy Reserve after twenty one years of service and four years of service in the Coast Guard Reserve. Having served at the Navy Operations Support Center on Buckley Air Force Base. Graduated from the University of Denver coming to DU from Marblehead, Massachusetts. [links]
Ship’s history: The plans for this tender are available from Wooden Boat store online
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I have kits for a number of my designs, ranging from frame kits for the Sand Dollar, Penobscot 14 and Penobscot 17, to a complete kit for the Grace's Tender. The pre-cut kit for the Laughing Gull provides all the plywood parts and hull framing, cut to shape.
I also have epoxy kits and plywood packages for all my designs, plus sails, rigging, and numerous other items. Here's my daughter, Grace, setting up the frames for a Grace's Tender kit.
BOATBUILDING CLASS
My two week class �Building the Penobscot 13� at the WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, Maine, is one of the highlights of my summer, and has been very well reviewed by students. The school on beautiful Eggemoggin Reach is a great place to spend some time. You get the chance to see a variety of activities, there is a fleet of small wooden boats that are available to students in the evenings and on weekends, and the food is great! more