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WINE COUNTRY CLASSIC BOATS, INC. Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society, Inc.
 
From the Editors:
We have a new look! This year
we are trying something new with the Vintage Wood. We will be sending the
newsletter to our members who have e-mail electronically. (Our members who don’t
have e-mail or who we don’t have e-mail addresses for will still receive the
black and white paper version which we have sent in the past.) This new format
will allow us to add more color, pictures Please help us out by letting us know if you like this new format. You can contact us at WCCBNewsletter@aol.com and give us your feedback! Also, if you’d prefer to receive the snail mail version rather than the e-mail version, please let us know that as well, and we’ll make it happen. Happy Boating!
Dick and Kaye
10TH ANNUAL JOINT CHAPTER MEETING
The Wine Country Chapter is proud to host the 10th Annual Joint Chapters Meeting and Dinner. All members of the Adirondack, Finger Lakes, Niagara Frontier, Thousand Islands, and Wine Country ACBS Chapters are invited to attend. In addition, all members of the Finger Lakes Boating Museum and the Antique Outboard Motor Club are also invited.
The Joint Chapter Scheduling Meeting will be held form 2:00 to 5:00 PM – One delegate per organization is invited to attend. Where: Ramada Inn – Geneva Lake Front 41 Lake Front Drive – Geneva, NY 14456 When: April 21, 2007 5:30 PM – Social Gathering / Cash Bar 7:00 PM – Dinner Speaker: Don Quant Topic: Steam Boats on the Finger Lakes
Additional Details:
10th Annual Joint Chapter Meeting Return this portion with your payment by April 14th Make check payable to: Wine Country Classic Boats, Inc. Return check and reservation form to: Bernie Burns 8994 Armstrong Road Prattsburgh, NY 14873
Name(s):_________________________________________________________ Telephone: _______________________ E-Mail:_________________________ Chapter: ________________________ # Dinners: _________@ $31.00 Total Enclosed: ___________________ Special Dietary Needs: _____________
Page 3
2007,
The Year of Penn Yan Boats Horseheads, NY
March 30 – May
27 Penn Yan Boats and others at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum Route 54,
Hammondsport, NY August 11-12 FLBM Annual Show, featuring Penn Yan Boat Co., Penn Yan
For more
information: www.FLBM.org or call William Smith, 585-586-0754
History of the Seven Isles Built by the Duclon Family By Art Parsons
The boat pictured (above) is a 1928, 25 ˝ foot Duclon built in Alexandria Bay by the Duclon Family. This launch is now powered by a 95 horsepower Kermath Engine and enjoys some very unusual features. The decks are made of mahogany, and the side planks are cedar, clinker style or lapstrake construction that falls back into a carvel (smooth bottom) constructed of mahogany planks. This allows the boat to weigh only 2800 lbs. You have the strength of a mahogany bottom and the lightness of the cedar side planks. I have been told that in 1928 if you had a boat over 26 feet long, you needed a special permit to transport it on the highways. Therefore, you will find a lot of bats built in that era to be just less than 26 feet long. The Seven Isles was built for recreation fishing on the St. Lawrence River. It spent most of its life on Wellsley Island, in an area called Seven Isles, just east of the 1000 Island Bridge. I purchased the launch in 1995 and had the boat completely restored by Jack Morrow, a Keuka Lake boat restorer working in Dan Sutherland’s Penn Yan shop. I am not aware of any other Duclon launches in use today. There are many other boats that have similar characteristics that were built by the Hutchinson family, and are still in use on the St. Lawrence River. I was asking antique boating enthusiasts if they had any information about the Duclon family boat building history, and it was suggested that I get in touch with Bonnie Wilkinson, who was writing a book named “Boat Builders of the Thousand Islands.” Bonnie was kind enough to send me the history from exerpts of her book that are as follows: “The Duclon family has had a long history of building boats in Alexandria bay. This history started with A.C. (Andrew C.) and continued with his son Charles E. Duclon. The Duclon family originally came from Lyons, France to Alexandria Bay6 in 1787. A.C. was born in Alexandria Bay, November 2, 1852. On June 15, 1872 he married Adelia, the daughter of Thomas Comstock. Their first son, Charles E., was born eleven months later. Both father and son began building steam launches and tour boats, and by the turn of the century were building racing boats for a number of different people. Young Charles Duclon, after seven years of schooling, began his boat building practice early. The Duclon shop moved to Wheeler’s shop on Holland Street. There Charles designed the Castinet and the Idler. Due to their size, both vessels were constructed in Wheeler’s Shipyard on Holland Street, which had been the scene of boat building since the 1870’s when A.C. Duclon began building boats. Charles Duclon’s unique designing ability was the key to his building technique. The Duclon shop, located on Holland and Walton Streets, built approximately twelve steam yachts the size of the Captain Visgar. Their lengths sometimes exceeded 100 feet at the water line. The Nakomus, owned by W.H. Nichols of New York City, was 128 feet, 9 inches at the keel with a 15 foot, 9 inch beam. He also designed the Jessie N for Rafferty of Imperial Island. Capt. A.C. Duclon began building racing boats by 1906, when he built the Eureka, a “Fine new launch…and it is to be finished in time for the International Races”, for J.B. Reid. She was 36 feet long, with a 2’2” beam and was constructed in cedar, trimmed with mahogany and mahogany decks. She had a 20 hp Fairbanks engine and was expected to gain 25 miles per hour. Unfortunately the day before the race she became disabled and could not race. The weekend before the race she averaged 23.14 miles over the 21 mile course. Reid later sold the boat to Commodore Bourne of Dark Island. 1907 became a productive year for the Duclon’s when they became known for building “fast boats.” The first one belonged to the Fairbanks Engine Company of Syracuse and the other belonged to the Watertown Engine Company. It was common practice for builders to showoff the power of their engines in a new boat and compete in the Gold Cup Races the following August. They also built a new racing boat for H.N. Denny of Watertown. The boat was 37’5” in length, with a 4’2” beam, and was equipped with a 42-606 cylinder Watertown Engine. They also constructed on for the Fairbanks Engine Company of Syracuse. This boat was 28’0” with a 4’0” beam and had a Fairbanks engine. They also built three more race boats based on this same model: One for the Watertown Engine Company, one for C.S. Thompson and one for Frank Capron. The boats were to be raced the upcoming summer with Capron’s boat being the faster boat. As the racing fever increased, the Duclon shop continued to build more boats. In 1908, W.B. Hayden of Fairyland Island had Capt. A.C. Duclon build a new racing hull for him to use as a new Gold Cup Challenger. The hull was built after one of Hayden’s own models and was noted “as one of the best models yet built.” The MLH hull was 39’11” long and had a 3’ beam. The bottom was planked with ˝ inch pine and the sides with ˝ inch cedar. The engine was a Sytz Engine with 4 cylinders, 7 ˝ inch bore and 7 inch stroke and would develop 115 hp and a speed of 33 miles per hour. George crouch, a well known boat designer in the early 1900’s noted in a 1910 issue of Motor Boat, described the Duclon built MLH as “the only American hydroplane which has been at all successful…” Unfortunately MLH came in third when she ran in a try-out race, held on August 1, 1908. She continued to race in locally sponsored races. In 1913, Charles Duclon redesigned one of A.G. Miles PDQ Boats, the PDQ III. Miles had picked the drawings up in New York City and Fred Adams, Miles’ own builder from the Bay, suggested that they get “Chars to see what he can do with the design.” They went over to Boldt Castle where Adams was caretaker and built the boat based on Charles’ designs. Charles Duclon thought of the boat along Hacker lines and they constructed the boat based upon his suggestions. During the same year he built pleasure boats for G.T. Rafferty, Commodore of the Thousand Islands Yacht Club, a boat for M.J. Breitenbach of New York who was staying at The Edges, and he also built several boats for his father-in-law, C.S. Thompson, another for W. B. Hayden and another for Mrs. Zeitlon on Diamond Island. The Duclon shop heritage continued when Charles Duclon designed the Tackhammer. The Tackhammer was the first one cylinder gasoline powered motor boat built locally in the Thousand Islands around the turn of the century. She was used to ferry guests to the Edgewood Resort. The shop continued to construct fine quality boats for local residents in 1916, which included Commodore Bourne of Chippewa Bay, T.J. Freedman of Westminster Par, Captain G.M. Comstock of Alexandria Bay and Miss Isabelle McMillan of New York City. One year later, in response to World War I, Charles Duclon and John Hind, who “were both experienced in boat building, will be great assistance to the company in building hydro-aero planes”, left the River to build airplanes. After the war, Andrew and Charles remained in the business until A.C. died in 1927 and unfortunately Charles died twelve years later. While they were alive, in addition to building racing boats, both men were particularly noted of building houseboats, skiffs and runabouts that were typical of boats of the River. (Reprinted fro Boat Builders of the Thousand Islands, all rights reserved.) I would like to take this opportunity to again thank Bonnie J. Wilkinson for permission to publish the above excerpts.
ORIGINS OF WINE COUNTRY CLASSIC BOATS,ACBS
PART II: The Regatta (races); ACBS; and our Move to Hammondsport by Dick Newcomb
For this issue I spent some time interviewing another of our founders, Doug Nichols. He was very instrumental in establishing the Regatta and our first efforts at dock building.
The Wine Country show is known as a show and race because since our second year, 1983, we have had antique and classic boat races on Sunday. Doug remembers that the idea for this came from Duncan Springstead. Duncan was a charter member, his family had a strong connection to the lake. His grandfather built launches in the 1920’s. Steve Naimoli from Geneva owns one of these that Dan Sutherland restored. Burt Mosch, another founder, was a champion race boat driver. He is a great engine mechanic and also did a lot of the detailing you see painted on those hulls. He liked the idea of the races too, feeling it added another exciting element to our weekend. He handicapped the boats by using a formula of length/horsepower. Doug headed up a committee that arranged start boats, timing and trophies. He originated the idea of asking local wineries for donations of wine to use as prizes for the race participants. There is a perpetual trophy with the overall winner’s name on it, and prizes for the winners in several outboard, inboard and at times rowing craft. The idea for the race came from an early rivalry between Penn Yan Boat Company at the north end of Keuka Lake and Glenn Curtis Company at the south end. They raced the length of the lake for bragging rights each year. We decided to base our race on this and ran from Hammondsport to Indian Pines where a picnic was held and awards presented.
Bill Pinckney finishes the race. That first year was raining and windy. Doug had talked me into running the Shepherd. (Seemed like a good idea at the time). Long story short….I spent the next month under the boat retightening the bottom and caulking. It was a fun time though and did get media coverage and we think is the site where classic boats began racing again. Today there are several venues for classic boat races, one notable regional site is the Niagara Chapter show in September. The Regatta, as it is now called, has changed a bit since its origin. We now run to the Bluff, half way up the lake and return to Hammondsport. Many efforts were made to continue to Indian Pines but the hassles became too great. With Hammondsport becoming home to the show, all the activities were eventually located there. The fourth year we moved our show from Keuka College to Hammondsport. We needed a new location and as fate would have it our Commodore at the time, Harry Cohn, was a well known businessman from Bath, NY. He had many contacts in Hammondsport and with the help of Duncan Springstead, Dr. Sam Pennise, Bud Shaw and the town and village fathers we were invited to use the park site and Bath & Hammondsport Railroad land. Our immediate need there was additional docking. The town had two permanent docks then. The shoreline was protected from erosion by large rocks. We began talks that winter on how to display the boats. We did have our big tie line but felt it would be nice if we could have finger docks to have boats better displayed. Doug put together a work session at his shop where a great turnout of workers built our first docks. They were built from rough sawn lumber from a local mill. The ramps (to get out over the rocks) were made from pallets. My job at that workshop was cutting and stapling carpet (donated by Fred Tillman) to uprights on the docks, to protect the boats.
from Left: Doug Nichols, Jack Morrow from Left: Grant, Mo Sherrill, Harry Cohn and Jack and Grant Thomas select wood assemble dock frame
Nearly Completed! Boats at the “New” Docks
We completed ten docks in one day! Next was the effort to get them to Hammondsport from Branchport. No small task. Doug said he rounded up ever truck and trailer he could scrounge to get them there. Putting them in and pulling them out started another Wine Country tradition…..DOCK DAY!! This is a Herculean effort each year to install and then on Sunday remove the docks used at our show. (in the next issue: the dock saga continues! ) Our joining ACBS in 1983 is a unique story too. By 1983 our membership had grown substantially and our sister chapter and our guiding ship, Finger Lakes Chapter, was already a member of the rapidly growing Antique and Classic Boat Society. Their members told us of the advantages of joining. Syd Marsden, one of their founders, urged us to consider it. He invited the Board of Directors to his barn one time (I was a Director at Large then) and we were awed by his beautiful collection of boats. He and his wife Shirley were great and enthusiastic hosts. He extolled the benefits of joining ACBS. Over the next couple months, Dave Kidd, then ACBS President, came to a couple of our Board meetings to share ACBS membership concerns. From our standpoint, many of our members did not want to join an additional organization, so after some give and take Wine Country was chartered to ACBS with the understanding that we could continue to have local only members. Over the years this has slowly blended, as more and more members find the ACBS organization to be a great one, with a first class newsletter (magazine now), an amazing membership directory, shows and symposiums literally internationally now. ACBS provides an umbrella liability Insurance that covers the CLUB (not individual members!) for our sponsored events, such as our show and workshops. Our membership today is nearly 100% ACBS too. (Next issue: growing pains; the dock saga continues; new ideas)
FLC Spring Cruise on Canandaigua Lake Saturday, June 2 In the hope that the weather will cooperate this year, the Chapter’s Spring Cruise is again scheduled for Canandaigua Lake, the fourth-largest of the Finger Lakes. Members of the Wine Country Chapter have also been invited to join the cruise. We'll again plan to launch by 10:00 am at the NYS Marine Boat Park on the northwest end of the lake about a half-mile south of downtown Canandaigua and immediately south of where combined routes US 5 & 20 intersect combined routes 21 & 332. We'll cruise down the west side of the lake past some large beautiful homes, cross to the east side and head north to Thendara Inn (six miles south of the launch) where we'll stop for lunch at the Thendara Boat House. See www.ThendaraInn.com
Lunch will be ordered from the menu so reservations will not be required. However, to help with planning and giving the restaurant a “heads-up” on how many to expect, please let Janice Miller know of your plans to participate not later than May 31st. Even if you do not have a boat ready to go, Janice will arrange to accommodate you. She can be reached at 315-496-2924 (E), 315-685-0641 (d), or via email at jmillerarch@centralny.twcbc
FLBM in Hammondsport
The Glen H. Curtiss Museum will once again host FLBM’s springtime display from Friday, March 30 through Sunday, May 27. The display will feature the Museum’s 2007 theme, Penn Yan Boat Co, and will showcase the 1931 Penn Yan Imperial runabout that you read about in the December issue of the Copper Nail.
The display will be kicked off with a wine and cheese reception for members of both Curtiss and FLBM museums from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on Friday, March 30. FLBM’s President Bill Oben will present a short video presentation and talk on the history of the Imperial.
Workshops scheduled at Curtiss throughout the extended display are: (All fees are payable at the door)
Sat. 4/14, 9:00 – 1:00 New York State Boater Safety Course (part 1) Lead instructor is Officer Jack Merriam of Steuben County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol, and assisted by FLBM’s Trustee Scott Johnson. Both leaders are certified NYS boater safety instructors. Donation of $5.00 per person is requested to defray Curtiss expenses. Register by calling the Sheriff’s office at 800-724-7777 or 607-776-7009.
Sat. 4/21, 9:00 – 1:00 New York State Boater Safety Course (part 2)
Sat. 4/28 9:00 – 1:00 Canoe Recanvassing FLBM’s Ed Wightman will lead this popular workshop. Students will tug, pull, stretch, fasten & steam-shrink the #10 cotton canvas. The workshop is limited to 8 people. The workshop fee is $25.00. (Should the workshop be over subscribed, we will attempt to make a second boat available.) Register by contacting Ed Wightman at edwightman@empacc.net or 607-868-3025.
Sat. 5/5, 9:00 – 3:00 Lines Taking FLBM’s Bill Oben will lead the class in a hands-on exercise in taking the lines of a Penn Yan canoe from the Museum’s collection. The boat is a 1954, 16’ Rainbow model. Workshop fee is $25.00 and a set of drawings with table of offsets is available for an additional $10. Lunch is a BYO brown-bag lunch. Register by contacting Ed Wightman at edwightman@empacc.net or 607-868-3025.
Sat. 5/12, 9:00 – 12:00 Wood Bending Dan Sutherland of Sutherland Boat & Coach, assisted by FLBM’s Red Presher, will lead the workshop. Both steam and boiling methods of bending will be demonstrated with student participation. An assortment of woods will be used; white oak, white cedar, elm. Applications will include ribs for a cedar/canvas canoe and rowboat, boat planks and stems. Students should bring work gloves. Workshop fee is $25.00. Register by contacting Ed Wightman at edwightman@empacc.net or 607-868-3025.
Sat. 5/19, 9:00 – 1:00 Oar Making Nick Watts, from Sutherland Boat & Coach, returns to lead a second workshop on oar making. We will be making “Ernie’s Oars”, the standard trout boat oar made by Ernie Sutherland in the early 1900’s. Workshop participants will each have an oar to make from rough cut blanks. Where possible, students need to bring their own tools, specifically a spoke shave and low angle block plane. FLBM will provide a limited number of tools. Workshop fee is $35.00 and you take your oar home. Register by contacting Ed Wightman at edwightman@empacc.net or 607-868-30
The Trading Dock
Wanted -
for a 1959 PY 16' Baltic, top bows and hopefully canvas with side
curtain, regardless of condition!
For Sale- Boat trailer for up to 20 ft. boat. Heavy duty, single axle, surge brakes. At present trailer is set up with rollers but can be converted to bunks. $700.00 Contact Bob Korts at 585-739-9859.
For Sale-1959 Penn Yan 18 ft. outboard. Needs minor wood work plus cosmetics. $250 1939 Skaneateles Lightning #755. Excellent shape, original mast, rudder, etc. New canvas deck. Allan Boat Co. trailer, two set of sails, full boat cover. $3500 Contact Mick Griffin at 716-662-1949 or MickG16@aol.com
Upcoming Dates To Remember!
The 1st Wednesday of every month: Board of Director’s Meetings All Members are invited to these meetings!
March 7, 2007: BOD Meeting at the Bellhurst Castle, Geneva, NY
April 21, 2007: Joint Chapter Meeting at Ramada Inn, Geneva, NY
July 20, 21, 22, 2007: WCCB 25th Annual Boat Show, Hammondsport, NY
July 27, 28, 29, 2007: Fingerlakes Chapter Boat Show, Skaneatlas, NY
August 11-12, 2007: Finger Lakes Boating Museum Show Featuring Penn Yan Boats |
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