21′ Atkin inboard diesel launch has deck painted and needs equipment installed to complete build.

Here’s a shot of the newly installed white oak floor timbers on the Neilsen Yawl.

Here shipwright Harro Oberink is fabricating and fitting new floof timbers on the 1959 Aage Neilsen yawl that we are restoring.

Here shipwright Andrew Abreu is making a scarf to accept one of the new frames that he fabricated for the 1959 Aage Nielsen Yawl we are restoring.

Fabricating and fitting an ash rubrail on the Atkin Frank Tool we are building.

Here we are steam bending in some replacement frames on a 1959 Aage Nielsen yawl.

Here’s the setup ready for planking which will be 3/4″ Sapele ply. Topsides will be bent in with full thickness ply, and bilge/tunnel area will be planked with 2 layers of 3/8″ laminated together. It’ll be one beefy 19′ boat.

Rescue Minor is an unusual design that William Atkin drew up for war-time rescue work, but will be a very practical boat for our shallow waters on the edges of the Chesapeake.  It is design for heavy scantling plywood over relatively little framing.  We’re going to keep the scantlings but construct it with a stitch and glue type method.  The owner wants minimal framing and we want to build it as fast as possible (for the bottom line) which is why we’ve chosen this type of construction.  The boat has a ‘tunnel’ of sorts in the aft underbody that houses the prop.  This not only gives a very shallow draft, but by some hydrodynamic magic, makes it faster than it should go.

Lofting Body Plan

new-shop-1_08-016.jpgChoptank Boatworks had previously been a one-man (mostly) home business for around 4 years or so. The size and number of projects became too much for my small home shop, so we moved to a nearby commercial shop and hired two more wooden boat guys to help get things done. The new shop is tall, narrow, and long, perfect for boats of all sizes. It’s dry, insulated, and heated, quite a luxury for someone who’s used to working outside and in unheated shops.

Recently delivered 16′ cedar on oak lapstrake rowboat built for a Maryland customer. The hull is built with Atlantic White Cedar planking from the Carolinas, local White Oak framing, and Genuine Mahogany transom. The floorboards and seats are made from local Sassafras.