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Teal
by George Shannon gjs309@magiclink.com
| .Teal is my second boatbuilding
project, a Phil Bolger, Harold Payson collaboration. My first boat was Bolger's
Micro Trawler and I got hooked real bad (good) on this boat thing. I have thoroughly
enjoyed Micro Trawler and surely she is a keeper. Somehow I was drawn (led) to think
about rowing for fun or exercise and I began looking at different rowboats. I bought
two of Harold Payson's books and studied them for sometime. When I couldn't decide,
I called Harold and asked him about Teal. I was looking for a boat I could row with
two rebuilt shoulders (rotator cuff) without hurting them and possibly strengthening the
surrounding muscles. Harold sold me on Teal and that was that. I ordered the
plans from him and gathered up the materials. After joining the plywood and cutting
out the pieces something didn't look right. There was no sheer on the topside of the
plywood and no curve on the bottom and I could not figure out what was happening.
All the finished pictures of Teal have all that. I called Harold and explained what
I saw and after he chuckled he said keep going and you will see some magic. I do
not have a good spatial type of mind and could not see what any boatbuilder would have
seen. And that is that as soon as I wrapped the perfectly straight sides of Teal
around and attached them to the stem and stern posts, all the shape just happens.
After that the job was a piece of cake. I opted to use the slats fore and aft for
looks and to hold the styrofoam blocks in place when I go through the initiation of
sinking her. I did opt to use epoxy\woodflour for fillets throughout. It makes
for a lot of sanding and soreness in shoulders, but I like the way it looks and it makes
it virtually leak proof. |
| I have used Teal for salvage operations on a
lake nearby. I have retrieved a large tractor tire and towed it over 1000 yards to a
dock. It was 7\8 submerged, I have since towed many logs and am now trying to
figure out how to corral surface moss and tow it to drying areas. |
Finished rowing version of Teal. She rows like
a dream except in heavy wind. |
| I have learned how to row pretty well by picking up cans, cups,
fishing worm containers along the edges of the lake. And believe it or not it really
is fun. I would recommend Teal as a first time build or just something to use as a
utility type boat. The next weeks will be spent finishing Teal for sailing and now I
have to learn all that stuff. |
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Sides epoxy\wood
flour glued and nailed to stem. Temporary frames are still in place. This is
3\8" ACX plywood. Center frame is also in place. I used epoxy\wood flour
fillets (1\2") for all interior seams as well as exterior (chine logs and
sheer). Bottom not yet attached. |
| Sheer and chine logs in place and
filleted. Bottom is attached. |
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Mast pieces in place.
Removable seat containment in two positions. I used scrap hardwood glued to the
bottom. |
| Bow and stern strips of hardwood basically
epoxy\wood flour glued in place. Bottom is finished |
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Finished bottom, skeg
showing. I finished off the bow and stern by filling in between the sheer and chine
logs, where they meet at each end. Using epoxy\wood flour fill. I used
fiberglass cloth and the bottom only before I installed the shoe and skeg. Paint is
polyurethane. |
| Removable seat and you can see the flotation
blocks in bow and stern. Approximately 3 inches off the bottom for oar and other
storage. Seven and one-half foot Spruce oars are being used. Two sets of
oarlocks. |
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