Joe Thompson after 10 years with Brooklin Boatyard has recently left to start a new boat building and retail shop in Sedgwick Me. Salt Pond Rowing will be offering a selection of rowing and sailing vessels including prams, skiffs, dinghies, dories, wherries, and recreational rowing shells as well as oars and rowing accessories. Joe specializes in glued plywood lapstrake construction using high quality marine plywood and solid wood with west epoxy resin. Designs come from the drawing boards of John Brooks, Joel White, and Joe Thompson. There will be five boats available for spring delivery including a Compass Harbor Pram, 12 ft. Salt Pond Skiff, a Thompson designed 15 ft. Swampscott Dory, an 18 ft. Peregrine wherry and a 25 ft. high performance recreational shell. Accessories will include custom spoon oars, stock oars, oar locks, leathers, gunwale guard, and wheel dollies. The shop at the corner of 172 and Hales Hill Rd. will be open by appointment or by chance.

Glued Plywood Lapstrake Construction

Glued Plywood Lapstrake construction was developed sometime after WWII and became popular with power boat builders such as Chris Craft and Thompson among others in the 1950’s and 60’s. Its shortcoming at that time was that the plywood was susceptible to rot because there was nothing other than paint to keep water from soaking in to the edge grain of the plywood. Still, it proved to be a cost effective way to build a durable, handsome boat. In the late 70’s the Gougeon Brothers came out with their book on boat construction using West epoxy resins and everything changed in plywood construction. Wood epoxy saturation treatment very effectively seals the edge grain of the plywood used in Glued Lapstrake construction as well as being an excellent glue to glue the panels together. Rot is no longer an issue even with boats that are left in the water for long periods of time. The boats also stay light and stiff because they don’t soak up water. Because the planks are glued together there are no leaks and far fewer fasteners. In fact what fasteners that are used are primarily there to hold the boat together while the glue cures.

Glued plywood Lapstrake construction can be achieved with a number of techniques including stitch and glue, however Joe prefers systems developed by Joel White, Tom Hill (Ultra-light Boat Building) and John Brooks (How To Build Glued-Lapstrake Wooden Boats) as well as tricks he has developed over the years. Typically Joe's boats have a thicker bottom plank or wide keel to give the boat a wider glue seam at the gar-board plank as well as a tougher bottom. The bottom is then glassed up to the top of the gar-board planks with 3 oz. or 4 oz. glass cloth. He prefers mahogany for transoms, gunwales and seat stringers, clear pine for seats, and cedar or teak for floor boards. The boats receive two coats of epoxy inside and out followed by four coats or more of paint or varnish. Seat systems, sail rigs, centerboards and rudders, and oars can be simple or traditional (fancy) depending on the owners preference.

These boats tend to be very durable, low maintenance, and long lived. Joe's first Dory built in 1980 (pictured here in a recent photo) is still in use and looking fine, as are most of the later boats I have built.

Maintenance for a yacht tender, for example, that stays in the water all summer beating up against other boats and the dinghy dock is as follows. Inspect the boat at the end of the season for dings and scratches. Repair the dings and scratches with epoxy and fillers. Lightly sand the hull with 220 grit sandpaper. Paint or vanish up to 2 coats. Re finish seats if necessary. Refinish interior if necessary. Repair gunwale guard if necessary. Store upside down until launch in spring. This requires as little as 4 hrs. of labor.