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Building Boats
for Kids - Compass Project
from Carla's journal
On
July 15-17 of this year I was able to participate in a wonderful
and educational volunteer project to build a wooden boat as part
of the Fourth Annual Boatbuilding Festival in Portland's Monument
Square. I was a volunteer member of Team Portland Harbor Museum,
one of 20 teams (about 100 people) that are challenged to build
20 boats in just over two days. 
Each
team builds a 12-foot Bevins Skiff during the event, an annual
fund-raiser for the Compass Project which hosts rowing and boat-building
classes for children at high risk of dropping out of schools by
teaching them teamwork, mathematics, and practical skills. The
event, which raises thousands of dollars for the nonprofit, is
also designed to instill Maine's centuries-old tradition of boat
building in future generations. This is not a competitive event,
but on the contrary, it's a community event and we all shared
tools and labor as needed to help each other. As the event coordinator
noted on the opening session, the spirit of the event is not 20
teams each building one boat -- it was more than 100 people building
20 boats in under 3 days.
This
year the festival kicked off on Sunday with the first all-day
building session under a large tent in the middle of downtown
Portland. Our teams were provided with two planks for the sides,
a pre-cut boat bottom, and a few other pieces of pre-machined
parts which are then assembled by hand to build the skiff. At
the end of the festival the boats are loaded into trucks rounded
up by participants and the Portland Duck Boat leads a parade of
boats through downtown Portland to East End Beach, where the boats
are launched for their first "sea trial."
It
was great to meet all the other participants of the event, including
other non-profits like the Portland Harbor Museum near our home
in South Portland, and a number of families who build the boat
together as a family project. Each participating group pays the
$750 fee and in exchange receives all the parts necessary to build
the boat, including a boat-building advisor who are also volunteers
and become part of the team to guide us through the process. The
teams provide all the labor and end up with a hand-built 12-foot
rowing skiff that's ready to paint to their own specs.
This
was one of the most fun volunteer projects I've ever participated
in, and we hope Tim can join me next year and make this an annual
event for our family too. The event was very well run and all
participants were provided food and drinks, lots of water, and
even music at the lunch breaks. My favorite part was the families
with kids of all ages who worked as a team to build their own
boat. What a great thing to do together. Tim and I have even discussed
organizing our own team for a future festival after we obtain
a little more boat building experience.
Additional photos are included
below. Enjoy!
Best, Carla
Steve and Doug, our lead boat
builders
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Measure twice, cut once....
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Glue work
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"Flipping" the boat
to work on the bottom
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Installing the keel
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Splicing the painter (line
used to tow the dinghy)
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Compass Project provided food, drinks and music each day
for volunteers and participants.
It was a very fun and festive atmosphere.
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The
teams included kids of all ages who participated in all
parts of the boat building process, including sanding and
drilling. |
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Since the boat building occurred in the middle of downtown
Portland, we received lots of visitors, including this
visit from a local pre-school.
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Boats loaded for transport to the beach
for launching
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The parade of vehicles and boats
down to the harbor
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The parade was led by the Duck Boat (Portland's amphibious
tour vehicle which travels on both land and by sea)
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The blessing of the boats before the launch
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After
we arrived at the launch spot at East End Beach in Portland,
we carried the boats from the parking lot down to the beach
where everyone donned life jackets. Following some last
minute instructions and the blessing of the boats, the skiffs
were successfully launched for their "sea trials"
in front of a cheering crowd. |
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Our crew for the maiden voyage
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Local media covered the building process
and the launch
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Since I was still in my cast, Tim filled in for me during
the launching and I stayed with our dogs
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And they're off!
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Fins to the left
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Fins to the right
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Hooray, no one sank. Even the
boat christened "Hope you can swim"
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Fend off mateys!
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Revised
Nov 1, 2007
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Howl
