Crawford Swampscott Dory

And just like that, a production hull from the Massachusetts coast turns up needing to be finished and trimmed out. Made by Crawford Boatbuilding, an exceptional design of a traditional craft, with an increased beam and a motor well cut out of the transom for a small outboard.
Never finished by the original purchaser, and moved on to the last owner, this will be an enjoyable winter project for sailing in the spring. A day off, a beautiful spring day and a road trip to collect it made for a great trip east of Madawaska, east of Algonquin on hwy 60.

 At 16' and with positive flotation in both ends, it tips the scales at around 300lbs

 Just need to roll it and get it on the trailer - no small feat

 Nice and beamy , centerboard case molded in

 Loaded and ready to roll

 Motor well in transom

Rudder supplied with hull

 Sealed end chambers

Early production hull with stepped centerboard case

Motor well from top

 Made it home

 21st hull, 6th sailing model, made in April 1977. Info provided by Roger Crawford, who was gracious enough to provide info and talk about the hull, fitting out, and the business in general. Now producing Melonseed sailboats, this is still in the stable though not produced often these days after a run of around 200 hulls

 Found off of a facebook page, with a fantastic paint job and finish. Just might have to scuff up the gelcoat and go for this colour combination

 99 foot spritsail. Hull came with Mast and sprit boom.

Nice shallow water sailing - board up of course!

 Heavy as it is, needed to build a dolly for moving it around

 Time for some instruction on tool basics.

 Next , transfer the hull to the dolly and gather the materials for trimming.

Time for another solo canoe project

Decision time has come and gone. With only so much time available and summer fast approaching, time to decide what to work on, what will get done, and what will get enjoyed through spring and summer as free time gives way to activity. 

New build on the form has been put off; time spent readying the Grand Laker for summer pushed a new build back, to where it wont get finished for spring. We'll work on that to ready it for fall. The solo boat turned out to be so much fun,and got so much use we need another. Post here: 

http://blog.ravenwoodcanoes.com/2017/04/pack-canoe-done-photos-of-process.html

At a fraction of the cost of a new one, while the hull design might not be modern and the weight heavier than modern composites, the old hand laid glass hulls are solid and do pretty well all around. 

Single keel hulls are uncommon compared to the poorly built 3 keel hulls made with chopper guns so when this one popped up for a song we snapped it up.

An easy project that'll be ready as soon as consistent -shirt weather arrives.

A familiar site on the van

34" width, will be pulled in to 31-32"

 Nice shape, small keel

 Aluminum decks coming off

 Aluminum rails, coming off

Tubular steel thwart - definitely coming off

Snazzy blue seats. Already off

This one is hers

Nice lines, will pull into a nice shape

Nice solo from Clipper, not sure yet if we'll go with a hung seat or a kayak style like the first one

 Nova Craft solo, sweet shape

Time to get the pressure washer out, then:

drill rivets and take off rails, decks and thwart

grind off seat mounts and smooth interior

felt skid plates

paint inside of hull

sand outside of hull, paint with 2 part urethane

wood rails inner and outer

fit decks, thwarts

varnish all

mount seat

go paddling...

Back at it, new computer on the way

Life gets busy. Packboat is finished and has been out a bunch. Colour change coming after the paddling season is done, and a lot of activity to catch up on. 

Test float, with a rare Nashwaak paddles double blade cherry 9' paddle

Thanksgiving weekend paddle

Far too little paddling this year!

Comfortable Swift canoes seat. 

Work on the Moonlight carried on, ready for canvas. Hardwood golf tees glued into old gunwale holes make solid plugs for new holes and screws

One wide piece of African mahogany

Really kool new project, a fiberglass replica of a Chestnut 11' featherweight found on Kijiji, advertised as a 7 foot canoe. A phone call and some more pictures later, we took a look and found this. 

  Cant make out who the builder was in Orillia, but with the single seat, and single thwart its set up just like the Chestnut. After what must have been many years outside, the wood was largely gone but the fiberglass hull was solid, and a nice layup with reinforcing where it is needed

Needing to be stripped, this was tasked out to the apprentice. 

Bare hull

Flotation and a different end treatment.

Small keel, and a rigid bottom

Ready to be fitted out

12' of ash for rails

to be continued..