Let me preface this post and share with you why it’s here. I love being on the water, which goes hand in hand with my love for exploring the world around us and why I enjoy photography. While the following has nothing directly to do with photography, it’s still me, thinking about and looking at the world. Finally, I’m just not sure where else to post this that I can easily share with friends and family. If you found yourself here for photography, please check out the gallerys on the home page. If you want a little story with some family history that tells you a little bit more about me and why I built a boat, then read on. I hope you enjoy.
Why I Built a Sailboat (and maybe…why you should too!)
By Tim Ingersoll
Sailing has always fascinated me. The idea of motion created without the smell, noise, and waste of our ingenious mechanical devices draws me in. Several summers ago I was introducing sailing to a small group of sailing newbies. We were moving along nicely at around 5 knots when one of the gentlemen on board asked me, in all seriousness, “Where’s the motor?” I just pointed at the sun and smiled.
As I sit down to write this, I’m trying to remember when this particular fascination began. I didn’t grow up in a nautical family, though we did spend a lot of time on the water at my grandfather’s cabin in Northwest Wisconsin. He had an old flat-bottomed duck boat, painted an ugly gray. There was a 9 horsepower engine on the back and a rock wrapped up in wire for an anchor.
The cabin was on Long Lake, north of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Most of our time on the water was spent fishing for sunfish and bluegills, though grandpa was a walleye fisherman with the patience and dedication to get up when he needed to and sit as long as it took to bring home a walleye dinner.
We also used the boat for waterboarding…oh no…not that! I mean that us kids would be towed around on top of an old wooden door (or some such) tied with an old rope to the back of that old, kinda ugly, flat-bottomed boat for the thrill of our life! Don’t let the front edge dig in!
My first actual “sailing” experience was in a cedar strip canoe, the construction of which was overseen by my father, with most of us six kids kicking in to help from time to time. I don’t think that my dad could ever be considered a master boatmaker, but he was a man who would get an idea and figure it out!
Our first family canoe came about because the Boy Scout troop that my two oldest brothers were involved in was planning a trip and needed canoes, so, using plans from the Minnesota Canoe Association, that’s what dad did. If there were any complaints it was that the canoe building took over our ping pong table area for a while, a concern that was quickly forgiven once we began our canoeing life.
Family trips to local lakes, state parks, cabin adventures and The Voyageurs National Park sealed the deal. The joy of a quiet morning on the water was baked into my soul.
At some point in my youth, dad fell on the idea of building a sailing rig for our cedar strip canoe. I don’t recall ever hearing him talk about sailing as a child or as an adult, and grampa never had a sailboat himself that I knew of. My great grandfather (along with my two great uncles), on the other hand, sailed scows and ice boats on Minnesota’s White Bear and Buffalo lakes.
One of their boats was called the Mae Bee, as in, maybe we’ll figure out how to turn this thing around and get home. Maybe that was the spark that got dad interested in building the lanteen rig with lee boards for our 16’ cedar strip canoe. Mom sewed the beautiful red and yellow striped sail for it. I’m not sure what material she used, but pretty sure it wasn’t traditional sail fabric. Dad was smart enough to fill the spars (and everything else that might sink) with expanding foam. I’m guessing he figured there was a good chance that rigging might somehow exit the boat on the water, in the hands of eager teenage boys.
Did I mention, my dad was an engineer, he loved figuring things out! I’m not sure if he found plans for the rig or just stole an idea here and there and put it together.
As I think about it, this is likely where I first started learning about important sailing concepts like “boat balance”. I remember being at a state park in southern Wisconsin with the rig on the boat. The leaboards were apparently significantly misplaced as we fought with the tiller to keep the boat moving in a straight line. “SNAP”. I can’t remember if that was the tiller snapping off, or just a fitting, but there’s no better way to learn then through experience and experimentation. Some playing around with the leeboard position in the center of the boat helped balance things out again and we were back at it, with a paddle as a rudder.
That was one physics lesson. The other one also has to do with opposing forces. For instance, when the wind heels your boat to one side (I didn’t know those fancy words like “port” and “starboard” yet) and you lean out the other, what happens to your freeboard? Said forces begin to conspire and your boat gets gently pressed downward, into the water. “Hey Tim, why do we seem to be sinking?” We quickly discovered that 2 young boys, a good sized dog, and a fair wind can swamp a boat when pressed too hard!
So that’s when it started. Sailing a basement designed rig in a homemade canoe, a few experiences on a friend’s Hobie Cat, finding a Sunfish behind a storage shed at summer camp, dragging it out and sailing it in 20+mph winds until the camp director had us drag it back in because, “It’s not insured!” Not much more than that in my youth.
In my 20’s I met two people that would become lifelong friends. Smart, hardworking and the ability to find the joy of life and take it all in with a good sense of humor! As a married couple, they fell in love with sailing and began the lifelong journey of learning the cruising life. They invested in all the ASA courses they could and after chartering for many years, purchased a Hallberg-Rassy Munson 31. I felt a particular connection to this boat as I was the one who had found the ad and directed my friends towards it. I was able to take the trip over to the Kewanee Peninsula on Lake Superior with them to see it for the first time. It was just what they were looking for, a perfect fit. A comfortable, bullet-proof design with good handling.
Over the years I would get out with them on Lake Superior a few times each summer and in the meantime, would pour over books about sailing, the how-toos and the adventures!
That combination of research and experience helped me develop into a competent and trusted mate on our adventures.
Somewhere in my 30’s, I determined to build my own cedar strip canoe, driven, much like our family’s original project, on the premise that if you’re going on a canoe trip, you need a canoe. My wife at the time and I had determined that we were going to introduce our two young girls to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, in Northern Minnesota, and so, planned a trip. The trip date was three months away when I started my build and it took me about two months and three weeks to complete! My first boat build!
It wasn’t until my mid-40’s that I started to dream about building a sailboat. I found myself scouring the internet for a trailer sailors that I would feel capable of building. I wanted a boat that I could store at home, was fairly easy to rig, could be sailed solo, was stable and safe for the family. I also wanted a design that had been built by a significant number of people and had a proven record. I’m a person of modest means and didn’t want to take a risk on a design that might be a “great little boat”, only to be disappointed. Since I had minimal experience in building, I was also looking for a community that would support me through the process.
I thought I had found that in the Hartley 16! In fact, I bought the Hartley plans and was just waiting to put a little more money aside when I discovered John Welsford’s designs. I started hanging out in the Welsford Yahoo group, asking questions and just following the conversations. After a bit of procrastination, I settled on the Navigator. The boat was small enough to easily tow and store, looked great and had a designed build that seemed approachable. There were already several builds around the world and everyone of those builders/sailors seemed thrilled with the features and performance of the boat. I was sold!
THE BUILD
“So, how long did it take you to build that?”
Alright, I admit, three plus years does seem like a long time to commit to something like building a boat. I should start out by saying that, going in, I had no plan! I had no goal, other than building the boat. I started the project without having a clear idea of how much time or money it would take. That may seem a bit of a silly way to go at this, but one of the points I’d like to make regarding why YOU might want to build a boat is that I found the process enjoyable in and of itself, particularly with no deadline or expectation hanging over my head.
Like my dad, I like figuring things out and the process of building a boat, when you are not working in an apprenticeship role with a master builder, requires figuring things out. I found that both challenging and rewarding! With that said, the blooming age of internet groups provided a safety net and John Welsford and fellow builders were always a post away when I would get truly stuck. They were also there to talk me out of some of my truly stupid ideas.
Money and materials were the next priorities. I was starting my build in the winter in Northern Wisconsin and did not have a heated garage. The plan was to build the pieces in the basement and wait till spring to kick the car out of the garage.
Tracking down marine grade plywood turned out to be a greater challenge than anticipate. No lumber outlets in the entire state carried certified marine ply at the time. I ended up finding a gentleman who lived in a South Minneapolis suburb that was buying material from the east coast and then reselling out of his garage. For my spars, I tracked down another gentleman who lived two hours north of Duluth, Minnesota. He had purchased 5”x full 1” boards of Alaskan Yellow Cedar, 20’ lengths, clear by the pallet load from an insurance company as a result of a claim (some boards had minimal tearout as they were planed wet). While I’m not sure that putting 300’ board feet of 20’ lumber on my Dodge Omi was a great idea…I got it all home.
The lesson learned was to not be afraid to reach out, let people know what you’re doing and what you’re looking for. Both of those contacts came from fairly random conversations of the, “I know a guy who knows a guy” variety.
John’s plans were pretty straightforward and he or others were happy to help out if I wasn’t understanding something. The truth is, when you focus on a single task, the work isn’t difficult. And that’s what I did! One small job at a time. Stop, ask questions, get more material, buy more tools, move on to the next task. Each small completed step brings its own satisfaction, each problem solved, everytime you set one piece aside and start the next, you’re that much closer to your dream. .
During this time, I rediscovered my love of hand tools. The brace, a few good planes, chisel set, and the pull saw, mostly picked up from antique stores or garage sales. These were a joy to learn to use. It’s like sailing…quiet forward progress. Curls of shavings, rather than piles of sawdust clogging your nose, mouth and eyes!
I did find a happy medium and made good use of my table saw, drill press and power drill throughout, but found myself leaning towards the hand tools whenever possible.
Work, money, family life and other obligations kept the pace slow, but steadily the boat came together and on Friday, October 31st of 2008 I floated the hull for the first time. Over that winter, I finished the rigging and made my own sails using lumber wrap material. Finally, on June 30th, 2009, I completed my first many sails.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been sailing Friedlor for fifteen years! Much of that time has been in my own backyard in the Duluth Harbor and the western end of Lake Superior. I’ve had many adventures, have been out in all kinds of weather and have continued to build my own skill level and understanding of my boat.
While I mostly daysail, I’ve been working towards camp cruising and have completed a few of those adventures, including a couple of nights in the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior and a week on Rainy Lake, up on the Canadian border. Last spring, I camped and sailed on beautiful Birch Lake, north of Duluth and on the edge of the wilderness. I’ve also made it down to The Lake Pepin Messabout (a wide spot on the Mississippi River) several times over the last five years and hope that it becomes a spring tradition for me and my girls.
I’m finding that I get out on the water 30-40 times each summer, as my teaching job allows me that kind of flexibility. As I think towards this coming summer, I’m contemplating new opportunities for exploration and the chances to sail with the community of like-minded sailors that I am discovering through the magic of Facebook!
So..what was the question again?
Why build? Build if creating things brings you joy. The quality of designs and methods available these days makes this accessible to anyone competent with basic woodwork. As previously stated, the completion of each individual part brings its own satisfaction.
Build if you are able to be satisfied with YOUR level of competence. I’ve always said that my own build is a “Looks good from 20” build,”and while I say that a little tongue in cheek, I recognize that I am impatient with detail work, and while I’m competent, there are those whose fit and finish far exceed mine (and I’m satisfied with that).
I think that building your own puts you more at ease when considering changes, upgrades, adjustments. It’s YOURS, YOU built it! You can continue to play with those aspects of your boat for a lifetime.
Every year I find “better” fittings, better ways to rig, gear to bring, cushions to sit on, etc. and that becomes part of the joy. I’ve built a galley box and a homemade bilge pump. I’ve played with sculling options and jury- rigged a spinnaker. I love the constant learning and exploring. When I look at pictures of my boat from 15 years ago compared to now, it looks like a completely different boat. The fittings that I originally used because they were what I could afford at the time (scavenge off of old boats, cheap lumber store hardware) have slowly been replaced over time, it’s been repainted, bits and pieces all over the boat have been added, changed and removed, three years in, I finally purchased professionally made sail. It’s like the human body, constantly regenerating itself, with your time, ever increasing talent, and your creativity as the driving force.
And, while maybe it’s just a little bit egotistical, when people come up and say, “Wow, that’s a beautiful boat! Where did you get it?” You get to say with pride, “I built it!”