On July 7, after four days on a 30’ Nonsuch sailing the Long Island Sound I was walking off my sea legs in Greenport, NY when I came across Wooden Boatworks. Since I rarely get to see this stuff in practice I decided to see if could get a first hand look at the facility. In the office I introduced myself to Donn Costanzo. Donn grew up in Sayville NY where he spent time on the water clamming and scalloping. As a high school senior Donn got hooked on classical wooden boat building when he worked with Al Terry to restore one of the legendary boat builder Gil Smith’s skiffs. After spending some time learning classical boat building at Lance Lee’s apprentice shop (http://www.apprenticeshop.org/programs/#apprenticeship), Donn worked in Europe both building and restoring boats. Now, along with co-owner Bruce Whalco, Donn runs Wooden Boatworks in Greenport, specializing in historical restorations and replicas (woodenboatworks.com)
When I asked Donn if they were currently building anything his face lit up. They were just a few days away from launching “Invader III” a replica of the 1930 Scottish yacht the Invader II, designed by William Fife III and made for Commodore Gooderham of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. For the past 18 months Beattie Hayes, Ben Bentley, Scott Braseth, Steve Lubitz and Mike Javidi have worked on bringing this replica to life.
With a 30-foot, 8-inch waterline, 8-foot, 6-inch beam, and 6-foot, 6-inch draft, she is a historically accurate new build commissioned by Brian Hunt Lawrence, a New York Yacht Club member. Lawrence has a history of preserving classic yachts and was searching for an 8m to restore. Unable to find one he decided to recreate one instead.
Fife expert Duncan Walker, of Fairlie Yacht Restorations in Hamble, England, assembled the construction plans and drawings in Scotland. From these, English naval architect Theo Rye prepared the first table of offsets. Work began in late 2013, when Wooden Boatworks meticulously lofted and fine-tuned the lines to 1/16 inch, which were used to AutoCAD full-size construction drawings for cutting materials on the shop floor.
To say she is beautiful seems trite. Her sleek elegant lines and her fine crafted detail made her seem like a prisoner in the shop; as though all one needed to do was to open the doors and she would surely sail away at great speeds, even without her mast and sail. It is good to know that things of such beauty are still being made and that fine craftsmanship still exists in the maritime industry.
To read more about the making of Invader III click here
To see Video of the launch of Invader II click here
To connect with SNAME’s Small Craft T&R Committee Contact Chris Barry @ Chris.D.Barry@uscg.mil