Open Water Rowing in Casco Bay

"I like to get out there sit in the swell and look out" is how I think of a pleasant row in my home waters of Casco Bay, Maine. Along with dreaming of boats, like Culler's Otter, I dream of where to go in the boats. Next year's big row is out to Halfway Rock in the middle of Casco Bay, about 15 mile offshore. You can also see a large scale chart of...

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A Pete Culler Otter for Christmas

With a little time off to sit back at Christmas and reflect, new boats are dreamed of day and night and usually they are rowboats or sail-and-oar boats. Another problem is that I have many charts framed and hanging on my walls. So, it is far too easy to day dream of excursions in these new boats. Thus, for Christmas, I want a Pete Culler Otter for...

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Boat Kits and Information About Kits

'Tis the season for kitting out boats here in the shop. It is keeping the business very busy as we finalize the Goat Island Skiff kits and in January we'll be "kitting" Clint's design, the Drake Rowboat. FAQ'sWhat is unique about our kits?Clint's kits are the equivalent of a professionally built boat, dry fit to perfection, and then taken apart and packaged so that you can replicate the results at...

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Goat Island Skiff Boat Kits Available

Our first kit offering at Clint Chase Boatbuilder is a plywood and timber kit for the Michael Storer designed Goat Island Skiff (GIS). Why buy a kit? Folks are sometimes offended when I suggest this, feeling that it is thought they don't have the skills to make the parts themselves, but that is not it at all. We build all of our boats in the shop from...

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Oarsman Tallow for your Leathers

Today I was taking an oar to show a group of students and I was reminded about how well Oarsman Marine Tallow keeps the leathers tight on the loom and quiet in the oarlock. I discovered this stuff while at the Wooden Boat Show a couple years ago, bought a small container, and now I live and swear by it. I apply it as seen in the pictures every other...

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Oars and Rowing at the Wooden Boat School

Clint will be teaching his Traditional and Modern Oarmaking course at the Wooden Boat School in July 2010. There are a huge number of wonderful course offerings up there this year and Clint is proud and honored to be a part of the scene.Students will leave the course with actual, usable, and beautiful oars to put on the gunwales of there boats and...

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Oars and Oarmaking: Different Strokes for Different Folks

Oars are a delight to make and we are trying to make something new for the market. A prototype for a Carbon Fiber blade-Spruce oar has been completed for a customer here in Portland to be use for his new sculling boat, an Annapolis Wherry, being built by him from a Chesapeake Light Craft kit.The main prototype effort here were the blades, an infused...

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Good News

Clint's design the Drake Rowboat, "A new take on the Faering for the modern oarsman" is featured in the 2010 Small Boats edition by Wooden Boat Publications. It is on newstands and it is a great issue. Click here for more info.Clint is also a recommended US builder for Michael Storer boat designer and will be producing a line of high-performance rudders and centerboards using a unique foil template...

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Fall Row

Today was a short 9 mile row around some inner islands of Casco Bay. Pushed hard and maintained a little under 5 kts much of the time. One of the few times I've really pulled much of a wake in Drake. One thing to look for in any great rowboat is the wake. The clean exit of water such that it is not attached to the boat, but rather breaks cleanly from...

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More pictures

The scene of the talkEric Risch Echo Bay Dory SkiffMIK giving pointersMIK was an engaging speaker. Thanks, Micha...

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Michael Storer Talk and Messabout at Clint Chase Boatbuilder

Dana, Clint, and Michael getting things started...Clint introducing the speaker and asking everyone to share a bit about themselves...Lots of visuals during the talk...Including an amateur built rudder and rudder box for a Goat Island Skiff.On November 1st I was pleased and honored to introduce Michael Storer, an Australian Boat Designer reputed for...

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De-Keeled!

I've been away much of the last month preparing for and traveling in China to unite with our newly adopted daughter. We are back home and starting to readjust. Getting back to work has been a challenge. But we got the keel off of Frolic! My brother-in-law, Hank Osborn, is a 'get-it-done' kind of guy, which is just what I needed to jump back into the...

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Morning Row

Taking a break from the start up work for the business and the worries of how to make it all work is important for me. Moreover, getting on the water is my professional development. Using boats, thinking about how they go through the water, and trying new oars or different ways to rig the boat for sailing all matter to my finished products coming out...

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VIP R & D on CF Oar Blades

Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP) is the name of the technique used to make composites. In Maine, this is the new generation of composites and much of our advancement in the state is owed to the North Star Alliance which administers Federal funding Maine received a few years ago and to the Maine Advanced Technology Center which trains people in VIP using...

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Update on Projects

It has been awhile so this is a quick overall update on projects:* Goat Island Skiff kits can be cut anytime. Marketing for kits will begin by late Winter time and CNC cutting will be part of the plan. Meetings with CNC companies will happen early winter. I am taking coursework in Rhino/CAD to enable me to create files, modify files, and give them...

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Welcome home Frolic!

Flying Fifteen #87Built in England 1950Hot Molded Mahogany HullSpruce SparsA new restoration project has come into Clint Chase Boatbuilder, a personal project of the owner/proprietor and co-owned with Vlado Dresar, a family member and fellow craftsman who lives in Ontario. Although the project is part of the projects at Clint Chase Boatbuilder, she...

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A lot of activity at the boat shop!

Carbon oars are in style at Clint Chase Boatbuilder! These are a pair made by Clint's students. They can made at any size, shape, and part of any length oar. They make most sense on 8' or longer oars where outboard weight must be kept to a minimum.On the Dory design front, the lines are complete. To learn about my design approach, click here.Other...

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Slow Beginnings

Since starting to work in my shop "full time", I have yet to put a full day in due to a neck injury and complicated planning to adopt a girl from China. Nevertheless, some light duty work is getting done, namely the modeling of the Deblois Street Dory for a customer, some marketing work (such as starting the blog!), and some prep work for some spar...

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Dory model and Jig for Birdsmouth Mast

The Deblois Street Dory model is coming together! The approach is to model it at 1/4-scale and line off the planking on the model. These points will be transferred back to a 1/4-scale lofting of the boat and the lines plan will be redrawn to show the chines. A new table of offsets will be made and a couple in Portland will be building the Dory this...

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