By Eric Gessner
Eric Marking Cut Line
During the February school vacation I was part of a boat building group. We built a Bevin’s Skiff. Our instructors were John Larrabee and Bob Katz. Building the boat was fun. The whole building project was also a great educational experience for everyone involved. The boat was donated to Eastman, so it is for a good cause.
On the first day we mainly fixed some minor problems with the panels and screwed the panels to the stem. A screw kept breaking. The second and third days we put on the transom and the bottom. The last two days we added the ribs, breasthook, and fiber-glassed the bottom of the boat. We had a few minor errors as we progressed, such as not having enough spring clamps and the epoxy acting more like a lubricant than a glue until it hardened.
During our boat building experience I learned many things. In general, I learned how to build a boat and how to use all the equipment. I liked the whole process, but I had the most fun when we were fastening the bottom. We also tried to pick a name for our boat. Most of us in the group had a Scandinavian or German background so we tried to pick a name that would reflect that.
A special thank you to John Larrabee who taught us all how to use the equipment in this once-in-a-lifetime experience building a boat. He had all the proper tools for boat building. Thanks to Bob Katz who was always there to help. And thank you to Charlie Taber who organized the project, as well as to everyone who helped in the process.
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