A Piece of south Jersey history has landed. Updated 9-25

Steve, if you look at the last photo, you can see a support for a seat slightly rearward of mid ships. There is also staining where some apparatus was removed just aft of that seat. I am thinking it was some type of oar lock setup, rower facing rear as he rowed.
 
jode hillman said:
RLLigman said:
Do you think it tips the century mark by much? Are you going to address the mold issue in the interior?
RL, I believe she was made sometime soon after WW1. So she's getting close. She is fasterned with a mix of galvinized straight screws and bronze nails. I plan to clean the inside w water and light bleach solution, then coat with turp and linseed oil.

Hey Jode -

A water and bleach solution will kill all living mold and mildew (and change the color from black/green to invisible) but will not remove it. You probably know this already but just passing along. I would use one of those deck brightener products to remove the mold/mildew but it will change the interior look you are trying to preserve. Some oxygenated chlorine (Oxi-Clean) or a TSP solution may lighten and remove the mold/mildew as well. Once again, it will change the interior look however.

I can't wait to watch the renewal.

Mark
 

Jode

The green paint makes sense, and looks good to boot.


I'm very fond of green. You might appreciate this...


"THEY'LL SELL YOU THOUSANDS OF GREENS. VERONESE GREEN AND EMERALD GREEN AND CADMIUM GREEN AND ANY SORT OF GREEN: BUT THAT PARTICULAR GREEN. NEVER."
- Pablo Picasso
 
Great find! Would you mind if I shared your post with members of the Delaware Valley
Traditional Small Craft Association? A few of our members have railbird skiffs. Independence Seaport Museum has a few in thier small craft collection as well.

I am located just south of you in Woodstown.

Rick Lathrop
 
Richard Lathrop said:
Great find! Would you mind if I shared your post with members of the Delaware Valley
Traditional Small Craft Association? A few of our members have railbird skiffs. Independence Seaport Museum has a few in thier small craft collection as well.

I am located just south of you in Woodstown.

Rick Lathrop

Thanks Rick and Sure Go ahead. If you search back in my posts you will find the write up of a skiff I rebuilt last year. This new Skiff I will keep as original as possible while still making it useable. There are a good group of rail boats/ hunters in our local area.


Here's last years project, found in monroeville behind a barn.View attachment IMG_3395.JPGView attachment IMG_3825.JPGView attachment IMG_4007.JPG
 
Vince Pagliaroli said:
Jode

The green paint makes sense, and looks good to boot.


I'm very fond of green. You might appreciate this...


"THEY'LL SELL YOU THOUSANDS OF GREENS. VERONESE GREEN AND EMERALD GREEN AND CADMIUM GREEN AND ANY SORT OF GREEN: BUT THAT PARTICULAR GREEN. NEVER."
- Pablo Picasso


Gosh, how true is that quote! Lol!
 

My gosh, those skiffs are a marsh rats dream.

With some TLC.

They just seem to beg to go to work, and DO what they were intended to DO.
 
I,m thinking a gifted fella such as yourself might make some molds and knock some of these out in fiberglass... Could be a niche mkt. for some other fellas that don,t care for wood boat maint.! Seriously though Those are beautiful lines in that skiff.
 
roy brewington said:
I,m thinking a gifted fella such as yourself might make some molds and knock some of these out in fiberglass... Could be a niche mkt. for some other fellas that don,t care for wood boat maint.! Seriously though Those are beautiful lines in that skiff.

Roy, I think it would be a rather niche market, but if you could make one in glass, with the same weight as the wooden boats so that they performed the same, that would be fantastic.
 
Dave Diefenderfer said:
roy brewington said:
I,m thinking a gifted fella such as yourself might make some molds and knock some of these out in fiberglass... Could be a niche mkt. for some other fellas that don,t care for wood boat maint.! Seriously though Those are beautiful lines in that skiff.

Roy, I think it would be a rather niche market, but if you could make one in glass, with the same weight as the wooden boats so that they performed the same, that would be fantastic.
Extremely niche I,m guessing as railbird skiff but that shape does lend itself to other uses.
 
roy brewington said:
I,m thinking a gifted fella such as yourself might make some molds and knock some of these out in fiberglass... Could be a niche mkt. for some other fellas that don,t care for wood boat maint.! Seriously though Those are beautiful lines in that skiff.

Thanks Roy, nothing looks as good on the water as a rail Skiff.

Yea, I probably could, but that's not where my interests lie. I am more interested in the history and heritage these boats have. Rick Henderson has built them from glass, and his boat is pure style. For all intents and purposes, quite a few rail hunters just use a canoe, not as stylish, but very effective.
 
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I had a buddy who built one in glass over plywood, maybe from a modified version of these plans: http://www.spirainternational.com/hp_rail.php

It was light enough to cartop and hand carry for launching. Much better for "pushing the grass" for either rails or early season teal than my sculling boat with its round bottom, but he went away for work one winter, the wind blew it over, and it was ruined when it filled with snow and rain before he got home.
 
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