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Make My Wooden Boat Period Correct!

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Sue & Brian purchased a traditionally-built wooden dinghy this past summer, for sailing pleasure but especially for use at 18th century reenactments and "living history" events (we belong to a wonderful French & Indian War group known as "Speakman's Company of Provincial Rangers").


As constructed, the boat is 95% "there" for colonial-period appearance, but does need a number of up-grades (or I guess that would be "retro-grades"!) to be correct for the era of the 1700s.  Plus, she needs some armament!  She must be able to contribute some BANG! and powder smoke to the battles...!Here's a rough breakdown:- small swivel cannon, or swivel-mounted blunderbuss with mounting hardware and stanchion:  $400
- replace oarlocks with correct thole-pins and rope grommets:  $70
- pair of oars:  $90
- replace modern fittings (cleats, etc.) with correct wooden fittings:  $80
- replace modern-looking nylon rigging with early-look rope:  $40

Examples of goodies needed:




The design is known as a "catspaw dinghy." It is 13 ft. long and is constructed of cedar lapstrakes over oak ribs. The thwarts are cherry. The sprit-sail rig has a 65 sq. ft. sail. The mast and sprit are made of spruce.
In the early to mid-1700s, the smallest British navy "jolly-boats" - which were carried aboard larger warships - were 13 ft. long, so this is what our boat will ultimately represent.

Organizer

Brian Carpy
Organizer
Fenton Town, NY

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