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New Francois Vivier designed Yawl with Clint Chase

September 23, 2010, 7:20 am
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Francois Vivier and Clint Chase are busy designing a new dayboat/weekender. This has been a fun collaboration and we have a lot more work to do. By this time next year, it is planned that we will be building this boat in our shop for our family use and for showing in 2012. Francois's boats are designed with a CAD-CAM approach, meaning the drawings are done in the computer, files are generated, and these files can be used to do CNC cutting of all the drawn boat parts, such as bulkheads, molds, and planking. Some of the design requirements were:

·To be trailerable by an ordinary car, and therefore light, and be able to beach temporarily for loading/unloading.

·To have a large, wide and deep cockpit, comfortable, allowing for fishing and a place where children could be safe.

·To have a stable hull for family sailing but give excellent performance for weekend sails “with the guys”.

·To have a cuddy cabin, with a toilet for women and children, a small galley to heat some meals and two berths to spend a night or two on board, or for napping.

What I am most excited about is getting my kids out sailing again.

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Invitation to Fall Shop Talk & Messabout in Portland, Maine

October 12, 2010, 7:04 pm
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Please join me for the 2nd annual – “It’s a tradition now” – shop talk and messabout. This year we’ll welcome our guest designer/builder Walter Wales. Also with him will be WoodenBoat’s Associate Editor Karen Wales (Walter’s wife) and renowned illustrator Sam Manning and his wife Susan.

Walter is an acknowledged expert on the Marblehead Gunning Dory originally built by Will Chamberlain of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Sam illustrated John Gardner’s “Dory Book”

Walter and Karen will bring their Gunning Dory REPUBLICAN, built in 1960 by Capt Gerald Smith from Will Chamberlain’s molds.

Walter and Sam will talk about the history, design, construction, and use of this famous dory type. In addition to REPUBLICAN we’ll have a couple other dories on site to look at and discuss.

You can read about the Marblehead Gunning Dory in John Gardner’s books, “The Dory Book” and “Wooden Boats to Build and Use.”

Bring a boat because afterward we’ll head to East End for a sailing and rowing Messabout. Snacks and drinks provided in the shop, but bring a lunch

WHAT: 2nd Annual Shop Talk & Messabout

WHERE: 25 Deblois StreetPortland, Maine. Deblois is off Brighton Avenue

WHEN: Saturday, Oct 23rd 11am. Messabout after lunch. Sunday rain date (stay posted on my blog for weather update)

MAP: http://tinyurl.com/ClintShop

CCBB BlogClintChaseBoatbuilder.blogspot.com

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The Perfect Rowboat, Sailboat, or Both?

October 16, 2010, 4:37 am
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Do you like the idea of a boat that can row and sail but they often don't like the idea of compromising on one or the other? It is a trade-off. A good sailboat's lines are not good for rowing and a rowboat's lines are not good for sailing. The latter is true mainly because the hull is quite narrow and fine on the waterline, especially at the ends. A fast rowboat's lines just don't provide the stability, often, for sailing and the addition of a slot for the board introduces drag and makes the boat slow for rowing. Wooden Boat's long time manager of their boathouse often cites the Joel White Shearwater as an example. Reluctantly, listening to customer demand, Joel White added the centerboard and it really made a difference in the sailing ability: it made it possible. But it also introduced noticeable drag when rowing: the boat was slower under oars. Drake is very similar to Shearwater, only narrower and longer on the waterline, no daggerboard, and therefore faster under oars. Drake sails downwind fabulously because of the moderate keel to provide some lateral resistance and enable excellent tracking for rowing. We don't have a centerboard, so there is no drag induced (though a tight fitting plug for a daggerboard trunk can fair the slot to the hull reasonably well). I've been asked a number of times, and I just will not add a daggerboard to Drake. She is just a blast to sail downwind and can sail as high as a beam reach quite fast. The sail adds tremendous range when you consider the sail as auxiliary power.

Deblois Street Dory

But if you want to sail upwind, and row well, you need a boat with a lot of flare in the hull and a shape that provides excellent secondary stability. Joel White's Shearwater and his 18' version of the boat are good examples. Another ideal example is the dory. What I love about the dory is that it is narrow at the waterline and flares out to a generous width, for a rowboat, at the rail, usually 4'8-5'. The Deblois Street Dry is nearly 5' at the rail. The stability this shape produces lends itself to sailing (see photo of me sitting on D St D's gunwale), but the narrow width at the waterline when the boat is not heeled means that it will row well. The double ended shape of the waterline on a dory keeps the ends fine for rowing ability. Drake shows a similar shape (see photo): narrow waterline, 4'1" at the gunwales provides secondary stability.

The Marblehead Gunning Dory is, to me, perhaps the perfect boat. If I could have only one boat (let's not think about that...what a shame that would be!), I would have a gunning dory or a Swampscott Dory. Come to my annual Shop Talk & Messabout to see both of these dory types in the flesh and meet two experts on dories: Sam Manning and Walter Wales.

Thank you to Chris Partridge, blogger in the UK: Rowing for Pleasure for bringing up the subject of rowing vs sailing characteristics in a boat
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Dories get some attention!

November 7, 2010, 9:11 am
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I signed onto the Wooden Boat Forum the other day and to my utter delight someone else had created a post on one of my boats, the Deblois Street Dory. At the wonderful 2nd annual Fall Shop and Messabout, I finally had an opportunity to sail the D St. D myself. First off, the talk and messabout was wonderful. We had special guests, Walter & Karen Wales, Sam & Susan Manning, and Thad Danielson. Over 35 people attended.

Shop Talk

Together under one roof, the speakers represented about the most knowledge about dories alive today. Walter is infamous for his experience with the Marblehead Gunning Dory, using the boat all his life for the designed purpose of the boat: rowing to ledges and hunting ducks. Sam is renowned for his drawings of boats in general but, to my mind, especially for his illustrations in the Dory Book by John Gardner and Sam. Sam's drawings are what inspired me to design my own dory, the Deblois Street Dory. I very much would like to produce a kit for the Marblehead Dory at 18'. Who would like one? Let me know...would you like it at the originally drawn 19'6" or 18' or 16'?

How about the Deblois St Dory...would you be interested in seeing this boat available as plans and/or a kit? More photos of the D St Dory underway:

Deblois St. Dory


More on the 2nd annual Fall Talk & Messabout can be seen on the WBF thread "2nd Annual Shop Talk and Messabout at Clint Chase's Shop"


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Top 5 Thanksgivings at Clint Chase Boatbuilder

November 24, 2010, 1:32 pm
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We are certainly thankful at CCBB for five big things:

#1: The new shop. The goal by the time we were sitting down for turkey was to be in the new shop and pretty well set up so we could get back to customers' projects with as little delay as possible. We are a few days off the goat but still pretty darn thankful for this 1100 SF space where we'll be able to build above 30' or have multiple smaller boats in construction, or new construction and a prototype, or one big boat, mastmaking, and oarmaking all happening under one roof for the first time.

New Shop
The new shop on moving in day October 1st

#2: Our customers. We wouldn't be here without them. A handful now are out there building our boats around the States, from Maine to Washington, Montana to Texas. Thanks to those who have helped me start out and who help me keep on!

#3: The designers we contract with have been key to our success and I thank all of them: Francois Vivier, Michael Storer, Bruce Elfstrom, Eric Risch, Ruud Van Veelen, Rodger Swanson, Roger Long, and all those who have helped contribute to our grand plan.

#4: Casco Bay and Maine: Though we are in a semi-industrial, urban neighborhood, it is but a 3 minute ride to the ramp that accesses the most beautiful waters in the Northeast. I am very thankful to have access to these parts, the islands, the open ocean and the memorable rows and sails we've had.

Fort Gorges in Portland Harbor
Fort Gorges in Portland Harbor


#5: Of course my family who have been unbelievably supportive in my ventures, not the least of which is starting our business building beautiful boats, spars, oars and selling boat kits to others whose dream it is to build their own boat.

Drake with Kids
Drake and kids in Flanders Bay, Maine
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Quality Plywood & Epoxy Encapsulation

December 2, 2010, 3:56 am
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I am a believer in epoxy encapsulation of wood; I wasn't always. Encapsulation entails coating the wood with multiple coats of epoxy, saturating the wood surface and building up a moisture-barrier. The moisture barrier is key for bilges and underbodies as it keeps water out of a laminate and maintains a more constant wood moisture content in timbers. Wood movement and ingress of water is what often gives wooden boats a bad name: high maintenance. Encapsulating forms a stable base for varnish and paint. We tell customers to expect a 10 year life for their paint. After 10 years of normal use they may need to do a fresh coat. That is as good as any fiberglass boat maintenance.

What convinced us of the merits of epoxy encapsulation was a visit to my friend Steven's house. He has a faering he built with his son that shows the effects of different plywoods and of epoxy coating wood.

Plywood and Epoxy Encapsulation

You can see three panels in this Faering. The darker plank is Joubert Sapele faced Okoume (varnished), the middle strake is Okoume by Joubert, and the lower plank in the photo is Shelman Okoume. All planks are finished with a Behr spar varnish.

Plywood and Epoxy Encapsulation

This is the same boat closer up to one of the tanktops. It is Joubert Okoume. The neighboring plank is Shelman Okoume. Both were varnished the same. The tank top is more degraded and molded than the plank. The tank top along the edge of the plank is perfectly clear. This strip was inadvertently epoxy coated when the squeeze out from the glue joint was spread during the clean up process. The same thing happened in the next photo: can you see where the epoxy is?

Plywood and Epoxy Encapsulation

The results? It is clear that the epoxy coated areas of plywood are making the plywood much more durable and holding up much, much better. The sheer strake is probably holding up better because it is higher in the boat and receives less foot traffic and a lower angle of sunlight upon it. The middle strake and tank tops get more direct sunlight. But the different brands of plywood may have to do with the difference between planks made of Joubert vs Shelman. It is too bad Shelman went out of business. Clearly, Sapele holds up great and Steven made a good decision putting it in as the garboard. With that said, I have also seen Sapele planked boats flake and shed paint after many years and these were boats that were not epoxy coats.

The moral of the story: epoxy encapsulation is a good thing.

Plywood and Epoxy Encapsulation


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Epoxy Encapsulation & Prefinishing in Montana!

December 21, 2010, 2:39 am
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We can go one step further with epoxy encapsulation: paint some parts before they get set up on the strongback. One of our kit builders is demonstrating this nicely in his Beg-Meil build. He lives in Billings, Montana and started the project this past summer. I advised him to layout all the parts from the kit and precoat them with 2-3 coats of epoxy. He took it further and precoated the bulkheads in his chosen interior color for the boat. This will be quite handy for the bulkheads that are trickier to reach.

DSC_4762

You can imagine there is a little more work in tighter places if you do not precoat:

Beg-Meil bulkheads

When you precoat with epoxy it is important to think about primary and secondary bonding and your timeline. If you precoat with System Three epoxy, you have a nice long 72-hour window where you get a primary (chemical) bond when you glue pieces together. In a small boat, you can probably put parts together in this timeline. However, with a bigger boat, since it will take longer, it is good to mask off areas that you want to keep as bare wood. This way when you glue those parts (e.g., the end-grain of the bulkheads and 3/4" or so along the sides for the fillet) you can get a primary bond. If you choose not to tape, you can rigorously sand the faying surfaces with 80-grit and get a very good bond, but it will be a secondary bond.
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New Blog by Francois Vivier

January 29, 2011, 3:29 pm
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Francois Vivier, famous boat designer of France, has started a new blog. If you are using Google Chrome you can very successfully translate the page to English and read the text with little difficulty.

Vivier has many designs that are not evident on his english website, mainly because he must translate all plans and building instruction to english, a huge effort.

But he will make the effort with an order or strong inquiries. I am his US agent, so if any of these designs are of interest, please let me know.

Sorin_motor

A number of new boats are emerging, such as the skiff 'Sorin' above, aimed at "budget" oriented home projects. The first of these was a dory and he also has a couple skiffs.

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Economics of Kit Building

March 6, 2011, 6:31 am
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I receive a lot of questions and comments regarding the true cost of building a boat from scratch, full size patterns, and kits. Since I track time and materials closely, I have found that building from kits makes a lot of sense from an economic stand point. I took some discussions with customers/potential customers and put together this PDF on the 'economics of kits'.

In a nutshell, the cost of building from a kit is not as much more than building a boat from scratch as people think because of the extra plywood required to build from scratch not to mention the time savings.

As of last week

In the meantime, we are making progress on the first professionally built Goat Island Skiff (yawl version) which will be at the Maine Boatbuilder's Show in Portland on March 18-20th. Please stop by. We'll be in building 2 near the stairs up to food court.

When I post next, I'll have a PDF link that goes into more detail about how the designs/kits are produced in CAD and CNC cutting.


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Maine BoatBuilders Show

March 19, 2011, 8:14 pm
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c0df05e8

Here is a boat moving in for the Show....it is that time of year again. The Maine Boatbuilders Show started Fri and tomorrow is day 3 already. This year has been a good show so far and tomorrow should bring even more interest. People are really intrigued by what I have to offer, a couple dozen truly unique boat kit designs most of which are available only through CCBB!

This is the first time a Goat Island Skiff has been displayed at a US boat show as far as I can tell and people are loving the boat. My boat is still unpainted, but there are always a few boats at this show that are in progress, which makes it a lower key boat show. The philosophy behind this show is that it is a boatbuilders show. People talk to the boatbuilders not reps and, in the case of an unfinished boat, get a rare glimpse into the workings of a boatbuilder, work that is normally inside a shop until it is all painted.

Set up day at MBB Show 2011

Lastly, we are live on FACEBOOK and TWITTER. Like us on Facebook



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Goat Island Skiffs Rule

March 20, 2011, 5:18 pm
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We have a new Facebook and Twitter presence!!!

Like us on Facebook

www.facebook.com/clintchaseboats

Lots of updates direct from boat show thanks to Chris Freeman and his social media prowess.

Our Twitter is

www.twitter.com/clintchaseboats

The Show is over. It was a great time and people loved the Goat Island Skiff. The message was clear: the GIS is about as much boat as you can get for the money/effort/time, etc.

The first builder of the Yawl version, John Goodman and family, has a great video that really shows the skiff's stuff.


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Back to business: boat kits and complete boats

April 16, 2011, 8:45 am
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First off, I am now in 100% complete control of my Gmail account again. Someone in Egypt hacked in because I was not careful enough about protecting my password. Upgrade passwords and never have it on email anywhere! Learn from my mistakes. My email, boatkits@gmail.com, is completely safe, now.

Pictured is a recent boat kit heading out of the shop...CNC (computer numerically control) precut plywood kit and a timber kit. The pieces of mailing tubes over the ends of the long parts protect the precut scarf joints while the kit is shipped (this one a kit to Durango, CO).

Back to business and to pick up from the last few posts, I want to share a PDF and link to my webpage about how my kits are produced, why it makes more sense to built boats out of my catalog from kits or full size patterns, and the general idea regarding the 'economics of boat kits' (i.e., why the extra cost of a boat kit is smaller than many think) will come next time.



In a nutshell, boats designed in the computer are actually drawn full size already to a higher degree of precision (thousandths of an inch) than on the lofting full size by hand (1/16th's of an inch). The difference is that a planks can be precut in advance, glued together with a precut scarf, and bent around bulkheads, hitting every mark on the spot. Interior components and the building jig itself are drawn into the computer model to exactly fit the boat. Therefore, to take a computer aided drafted (CAD) boat and loft it by hand introduces natural errors that were carefully avoided in the CAD process.

Because the parts can all be predetermined off the computer model, they can be nested onto fewer sheets of plywood than a manually (scratch-built) boat can be done. Also, it avoids cutting mistakes which often requires buying extra wood. This offsets the extra cost of a kit and wastes less wood.

The time it takes to manually cut parts to a boat, if you look at it in a hourly rate kind of way, would also offset any remaining difference in cost between building from scratch versus building from precut parts in a kit.



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Rowing & Sailing in France & Finland: Part 1

June 17, 2011, 5:48 am
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I recently returned from a wonderful 2 week business trip in Europe. The 'business' in France was to sail and better get to know Francois Vivier and his designs. I felt it was a good idea as his sole US and Canada kit agent and boatbuilder to better understand the cultural backdrop to his boats. I had also hoped to get on many of the that I carry in my catalog but have not had the occassion to sail on to date. The plan was to sail in Pen-Hir to Semaine Du Gulfe Morbihan (photo left at sea), one of the premier boating festivals in the world with 100s of Vivier boats in attendance as well. The trip met and exceeded all expectations. Not only are Vivier's small boats well represented but there were numerous large vessels of his design sailing in the Gulfe. I was able to get onto all the boats and gain a good feeling for how they row and sail.

While hove to in the 250-boat voile-aviron fleet (sail & oar), I was able to sail with Nicolas Vivier in his Morbic 12 and transfer to a kit built Ilur afterwards. It was a fantastic morning with this sort of activity, bouncing
from boat to boat and seeing so many Vivier boats in one place. It was like a
"live" floating advertisement for his boats!
The pictures don't do justice to just how many boats there were in the sail & oar fleet, one of 7 fleet
s in the Festival which took place over the whole Gulf and rotated night to night through the different p
orts. Other boat in the fleet were: Le Seil, Minhouet, B
eg-Meil, Ebihen 15, Ebihen 18, Aber, and Francois first sail & oar boat, Aven.

I was more taken with Aber than I had thought: she is beautiful, fast, and seaworthy.

If you speak French or even if you do not, it is worth watching a video about Francois and his work shot at the Morbihan week on board Pen-Hir and aboard Francois's motorboat design, Koulmig, pictured in the background.

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Family Boatbuilding at Wooden Boat Show

June 28, 2011, 6:31 pm
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We (myself, Christophe Matson, Eric Risch the designer of the EBDS, and Steven Bauer) had a wonderful time guiding three wonderful families through the construction of 3 beautiful Echo Bay Dory Skiffs this past Friday through Sunday. The skiffs were all made from precut kits, allowing for the quick, efficient construction.

Day 1 was assembling hull sides.
Day 2 was attaching chine logs, gunwales and bottoms.


Day 3 was installing seats and outerkeel as well as doing some shaping and sanding.

Then all 3 familes launched their creations. In fact, out of nearly 30 boats built at the Show, we were the only 3 that launched!

Not one boat leaked. One family rowed across the river to their home and the others loaded on the cartops to drive home to New Jersey and Colorado. They will receive sailing kits to complete their boats.

Big thanks to Wooden Boat's support of Family Boatbuilding, to Eric Risch for giving us the design rights to use this boat, and to Christophe Matson for his patient skilled help with the families. Finally, thanks to the families for signing up with us. It was a blast, especially seeing you all rowing on Sunday.

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Family & Corporate Boatbuilding

July 3, 2011, 9:21 pm
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Some new photos up at my Flickr site for the two past corporate and family boatbuilding events at Mystic Seaport.

One thing we love is that all our participants launch every boat on the third day and they always look great, the people and the boats!

It is interesting that 29 boats were built at Family Boatbuilding and even out of the biggest group of 18 canoe builders led by "man with PA system", none of these canoes were launched and paddled on Sunday.

However, we were out there rowing for a solid hour in our Echo Bay Dory Skiffs. Yeah, kit builders!

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Next Year's Family Boatbuilding Project?

July 9, 2011, 5:06 am
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Sail rigs delivered, launched, and being shaped

July 16, 2011, 7:43 pm
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Drop in Sail rig, ready to go with custom canvas sailbag.


Yawldory Elyssa just launched. We built the masts and spars.


Caledonia Yawl birdsmouth-hollow mast designed by Clint (giving the 'evil eye' above) and built in-house by Steven Bauer and the CY owner.

One of our favorite projects is making birdsmouth-hollow masts and spars, but even more rewarding is working with great sailmakers who specialize in small boat sails. We work with them to have the sails made to fit the spars and lace them, make the lines, attach blocks and hardware so that someone can get a complete, drop-in rig from us and go sailing. It is very rewarding. Just delivered was a complete sail rig in a custom canvas sail bag by Mobile Marine Canvas. Just launched was a wicked-light set of masts and spars for the Yawldory Elyssa by Roger Long. The first sea trial was very successful. The masts are spruce made with the birdsmouth construction. Being finished right now in the shop is a new design for a hollow mast for the Caledonia Yawl. We have modified the original mast drawn by Iain Oughtred to be lighter and stronger for Birdsmouth construction. The tolerances involved are a little finer than working with solid masts, because the stiffness and strength of the mast will be a function of overall diameter, wall thickness, and wood type. All these factors, including the on-water use of the mast/spar, are considered when we design and build a mast. The important thing is that the load in the boat is what will exert the stresses on the mast. This load comes primarily from the weight, heeling moment, and crew of a small boat, more so than the wind strength.
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Small Reach Regatta Finishes in Drake Rowboat

August 2, 2011, 8:39 pm
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This sail is right off a Shellback dinghy, but a new more efficient downwind rig is in the works when we aren't making other peoples' rigs!

(photos by Christophe Matson in his Goat Island Skiff)

My wife, Ellie Chase, and I finished up a fabulous 3 days of rowing and sailing in Drake along with almost 40 other boats ranging from 12 foot dinghies to 15 sail and oar boats, to 22 foot daysailers. Drake often got to the lunch stops first because we were able to row upwind and sail downwind. It turned out that most of the time we rowed in tandem.

We love this mode of boating for getting around but you have to like to row and be in a good rowboat. And there is no need to ruin the lines of a rowboat by making it be able to sail, as long as you stick to sailing off the wind. We can sail easily on a beam reach down to a run. In the above we maintained 3.5-4kts in maybe 5-10kts total true wind.

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New Stitch and Glue Dinghy

August 23, 2011, 6:44 pm
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Congrats to Barbara Simon, the new owner of the Willard Beach Dory (WBD), a new stitch-and-glue dory skiff drawn by Roger Long who has retired and is off cruising. Roger left behind a few gorgeous designs for me to 'kit' and market as new boats, the (WBD) being one of them. The others are the YawlDory and a 16' Herreshoff-like double paddle canoe, which is a thing of beauty and may be the only paddle boat I end up putting in the catalog.

The WBD is out of 6mm plywood and will be rowed in and around Casco Bay. She'd be an ideal tender being light, maneuverable and a good load carrier. The oars are our custom spoon blade oars with high quality 14" leathers by Swanson Boat Company.



Stitch and Glue is a quick way to get a boat, but this project was a reminder that this type of construction can take longer than one thinks if you try to get a yachty finish: hiding the fiberglass tape and fillets takes some fairing. With lapstrake, there is a clean plank line to follow. However, the S and G structure is light and strong and relatively inexpensive as kits go.

What other S and G designs do people like that are not available as kits and should be?


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A trip to sail the Deer Isle Koster aka, "KDI"

August 26, 2011, 6:43 pm
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The Deer Isle Koster is a new kit that will hit the market by November. We are very excited about
this addition to the catalog. I finally had a chance to sail with the designer, Bruce Elfstrom, at his summer camp on Deer Isle in Maine. Bruce designed these boats for his daughters to sail. It is always wonderful to visit the provenance of a great design and to sail with the designer!

I was most struck by how high the KDI pointed sailing upwind. The foils and jib headed lug rig are very effective. I was also struck by how nicely the helm balanced and, overall, how easily she sailed. I was most satisfied about this last point because this little boat will make a great boat for introducing children to sailing small boats.

Both well over 6' and 200 pounds (I will not go into specifics!), Bruce and I had plenty of room in the cockpit with room for kids and under deck places to stow snacks and other gear.

We are currently finishing the 3D model work which will be used to make the 2D parts that are cut on a CNC routing machine and become the basis for the complete kits. To learn a ton more about how this works please read a PDF about boat kitting.

Also feel free to visit the WoodenBoat Forum thread on the KDI.



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