Does anyone have a Merrymeeting Bay Gunning Float?

[Richard Kassner]

Hello All,

I am restoring a glass over wood Merrymeeting Bay Gunning Float and I have some questions that owners of such boats maybe able to help me with.

A. HOW LARGE SHOULD A FLOAT'S SKEG BE?

My Float is 15 feet 5 inches long (according to the title). The Transom is 3 feet wide by 11 3/4 inches high. The Float is 44 inches wide amid ship.

The original skeg is 25 and 1/2 inches long, 1/4 inch wide, by 2 1/2 inches high. Frankly it appears puny to me. See picture below.

I had a very difficult time getting the boat to "track" when sculling.

I decided to make a new skeg as the original skeg was "cupped." The new skeg is 26 inches long, 3/4 inches wide, and 3 5/8th inches high. The new skeg is larger than the old skeg. See picture below.


While larger than the old skeg, the new skeg appears smallish compared to the boat. See picture below.


I "believe" that I am limited in making the skeg higher due to the risk of the skeg hitting something if the skeg protrudes beyond the centerline of the hull. The centerline of the hull to the transom is 4 and 1/8th inches high -see Picture below. This is why I made the new skeg only 3 5/8th inches high. (I wanted 1/2 inch clearance.)


I am wondering if I should not have made the skeg wider. For example, using 6/4 quarter sawn white oak instead of 3/4 inch white oak. I was concerned that the 1 1/4 inch wide Skeg would fail to sit "flat" on the hull as the hull gradually slopes starboard and port from the centerline. (I may have been too cautious.)

QUESTION: Would a wider Skeg help the boat track better -thereby making it easier to scull?

I could increase the height of the Skeg "if" I added a Keel down the centerline of the hull. For example, if I attached a 1 inch high by 1 inch wide keel and attach the 3 5/8th inch Skeg onto the Keel thereby raising the Skeg to 4 5/8th inches while maintaining the 1/2 inch clearance below the centerline.

QUESTION: Would a Higher Skeg help the boat track better -thereby making it easier to scull?

OR Is it just a matter of more practice regardless of the size of the Skeg? (After all the original Skeg was only 2 1/2 inches tall and built by someone who knew more about Merrymeeting Bay Gunning Floats than myself!)

B. ARE THERE KEELS AND HULL STRAKES ON SCULL FLOATS?

My Float doesn't have any nor do I recall seeing them on other Scull Floats.

Yet Merrymeeting Bay is in Maine and when I visited Maine as a child I remember rocks on the beach.

My Float's hull has been damaged at least twice by rocks. Both times amid ship with damage on the starboard and port side of the Float.

See Picture below of Starboard side of the Float -you might be able to make out the white fiberglass laminate repair at the Float's center. This was a good repair.


See Pictures below of the Port Side of the Float. (Notice the smashed wood strips. No fiberglass laminate was laid over the repair. Only some type of white filler and paint was used -which provided the opportunity for osmosis. A weak resin was used to glue over the damaged wood strips. I repaired them with Wood Epox.)




I would think that Keels and Hull Strakes would provide some protection of the hull from rocks and stones. Further, I would think these protrusions would help the Float track.

QUESTION: Do Keels and Hull Strakes impede Floats in "skinny" water whereby these protrusions more often get the Float "stuck in the mud" or "hit" rocks and stones?

QUESTION: Do Keels and Hull Strakes make it harder to Scull the Float in turns around creeks and such and this is why I do not see them on Floats?

I wonder "if" I am just thinking to build a set of "Training Wheels" on my Gunning Float by adding Hull Strakes, a Keel, and making the Skeg higher when what I really need to do is practice, practice, practice?


Any input would be most welcome.

Cheers

 

[Jeff Reardon]

MMB Gunning Float covers a lot of boats made by a lot of different people to hunt a lot of diverse areas in a big bay fed by 2 big rivers, 4 small ones, and a half dozen smaller tidal creeks. Some use them to scull up 6' wide freshwater (but tidal) creeks; others hunt them down near Bath where the water is salty, or in open water areas where Bay is 2 miles wide, and wind against tide can create some ugly waves.

Your skeg does look small compared to mine, but my sculler was built by someone down in Bath, and I have been told at several boat launches that it is a "lower Bay" boat. When I used to hunt up in Richmond and Bowdoinham (the upper Bay, fed by two of the small rivers) mine was generally the beamiest among them, so that makes some sense. I've read that some guides on the lower Bay would hunt two sports side by side, and the wider beam would--just barely--allow for this. My boat is glass over pine strips, and does have a wide and low "keel" that runs bow to stern, into which the skeg is bedded and bolted. This keel is proud of the bottom of the hull by about an inch and maybe 5" wide, so provides a good measure of protection to the bottom of the hull, but none to port or starboard. I've never seen one with strakes.

 

[Jeff Reardon]

One thing to add--my boat's hull is much more rounded from its widest beam, with the center of boat much deeper than the bow and stern. Yours has a bit of curve, but is much flatter. My skeg is both longer and taller than yours, and runs from just aft of the point of widest beam and deepest draft to the stern. That said, some of the commercially-made fiberglass sculling boats have quite flat bottoms and smaller skegs like yours and seem to scull just fine.

 

[Steve Sanford]

Hello All,

I am restoring a glass over wood Merrymeeting Bay Gunning Float and I have some questions that owners of such boats maybe able to help me with.

A. HOW LARGE SHOULD A FLOAT'S SKEG BE?

My Float is 15 feet 5 inches long (according to the title). The Transom is 3 feet wide by 11 3/4 inches high. The Float is 44 inches wide amid ship.

The original skeg is 25 and 1/2 inches long, 1/4 inch wide, by 2 1/2 inches high. Frankly it appears puny to me. See picture below.
View attachment 59866
I had a very difficult time getting the boat to "track" when sculling.

I decided to make a new skeg as the original skeg was "cupped." The new skeg is 26 inches long, 3/4 inches wide, and 3 5/8th inches high. The new skeg is larger than the old skeg. See picture below.
View attachment 59868

While larger than the old skeg, the new skeg appears smallish compared to the boat. See picture below.
View attachment 59867

I "believe" that I am limited in making the skeg higher due to the risk of the skeg hitting something if the skeg protrudes beyond the centerline of the hull. The centerline of the hull to the transom is 4 and 1/8th inches high -see Picture below. This is why I made the new skeg only 3 5/8th inches high. (I wanted 1/2 inch clearance.)
View attachment 59869

I am wondering if I should not have made the skeg wider. For example, using 6/4 quarter sawn white oak instead of 3/4 inch white oak. I was concerned that the 1 1/4 inch wide Skeg would fail to sit "flat" on the hull as the hull gradually slopes starboard and port from the centerline. (I may have been too cautious.)

QUESTION: Would a wider Skeg help the boat track better -thereby making it easier to scull?

I could increase the height of the Skeg "if" I added a Keel down the centerline of the hull. For example, if I attached a 1 inch high by 1 inch wide keel and attach the 3 5/8th inch Skeg onto the Keel thereby raising the Skeg to 4 5/8th inches while maintaining the 1/2 inch clearance below the centerline.

QUESTION: Would a Higher Skeg help the boat track better -thereby making it easier to scull?

OR Is it just a matter of more practice regardless of the size of the Skeg? (After all the original Skeg was only 2 1/2 inches tall and built by someone who knew more about Merrymeeting Bay Gunning Floats than myself!)

B. ARE THERE KEELS AND HULL STRAKES ON SCULL FLOATS?

My Float doesn't have any nor do I recall seeing them on other Scull Floats.

Yet Merrymeeting Bay is in Maine and when I visited Maine as a child I remember rocks on the beach.

My Float's hull has been damaged at least twice by rocks. Both times amid ship with damage on the starboard and port side of the Float.

See Picture below of Starboard side of the Float -you might be able to make out the white fiberglass laminate repair at the Float's center. This was a good repair.

View attachment 59870
See Pictures below of the Port Side of the Float. (Notice the smashed wood strips. No fiberglass laminate was laid over the repair. Only some type of white filler and paint was used -which provided the opportunity for osmosis. A weak resin was used to glue over the damaged wood strips. I repaired them with Wood Epox.)

View attachment 59871View attachment 59872


I would think that Keels and Hull Strakes would provide some protection of the hull from rocks and stones. Further, I would think these protrusions would help the Float track.

QUESTION: Do Keels and Hull Strakes impede Floats in "skinny" water whereby these protrusions more often get the Float "stuck in the mud" or "hit" rocks and stones?

QUESTION: Do Keels and Hull Strakes make it harder to Scull the Float in turns around creeks and such and this is why I do not see them on Floats?

I wonder "if" I am just thinking to build a set of "Training Wheels" on my Gunning Float by adding Hull Strakes, a Keel, and making the Skeg higher when what I really need to do is practice, practice, practice?
View attachment 59873

Any input would be most welcome.

Cheers

Richard~

I recommend John Gardner....



He has a whole chapter of Merrymeeting Bay Scull Boat. Note full length keel - as Jeff described.



Plans.



More drawings....on page 40.



I recommend both Gardner's "Building Classic Small Craft" books - which may have been combined into a single volume at one point.



Hope this helps!

SJS

 

[Steve Sanford]

Hello All,

I am restoring a glass over wood Merrymeeting Bay Gunning Float and I have some questions that owners of such boats maybe able to help me with.

A. HOW LARGE SHOULD A FLOAT'S SKEG BE?

My Float is 15 feet 5 inches long (according to the title). The Transom is 3 feet wide by 11 3/4 inches high. The Float is 44 inches wide amid ship.

The original skeg is 25 and 1/2 inches long, 1/4 inch wide, by 2 1/2 inches high. Frankly it appears puny to me. See picture below.
View attachment 59866
I had a very difficult time getting the boat to "track" when sculling.

I decided to make a new skeg as the original skeg was "cupped." The new skeg is 26 inches long, 3/4 inches wide, and 3 5/8th inches high. The new skeg is larger than the old skeg. See picture below.
View attachment 59868

While larger than the old skeg, the new skeg appears smallish compared to the boat. See picture below.
View attachment 59867

I "believe" that I am limited in making the skeg higher due to the risk of the skeg hitting something if the skeg protrudes beyond the centerline of the hull. The centerline of the hull to the transom is 4 and 1/8th inches high -see Picture below. This is why I made the new skeg only 3 5/8th inches high. (I wanted 1/2 inch clearance.)
View attachment 59869

I am wondering if I should not have made the skeg wider. For example, using 6/4 quarter sawn white oak instead of 3/4 inch white oak. I was concerned that the 1 1/4 inch wide Skeg would fail to sit "flat" on the hull as the hull gradually slopes starboard and port from the centerline. (I may have been too cautious.)

QUESTION: Would a wider Skeg help the boat track better -thereby making it easier to scull?

I could increase the height of the Skeg "if" I added a Keel down the centerline of the hull. For example, if I attached a 1 inch high by 1 inch wide keel and attach the 3 5/8th inch Skeg onto the Keel thereby raising the Skeg to 4 5/8th inches while maintaining the 1/2 inch clearance below the centerline.

QUESTION: Would a Higher Skeg help the boat track better -thereby making it easier to scull?

OR Is it just a matter of more practice regardless of the size of the Skeg? (After all the original Skeg was only 2 1/2 inches tall and built by someone who knew more about Merrymeeting Bay Gunning Floats than myself!)

B. ARE THERE KEELS AND HULL STRAKES ON SCULL FLOATS?

My Float doesn't have any nor do I recall seeing them on other Scull Floats.

Yet Merrymeeting Bay is in Maine and when I visited Maine as a child I remember rocks on the beach.

My Float's hull has been damaged at least twice by rocks. Both times amid ship with damage on the starboard and port side of the Float.

See Picture below of Starboard side of the Float -you might be able to make out the white fiberglass laminate repair at the Float's center. This was a good repair.

View attachment 59870
See Pictures below of the Port Side of the Float. (Notice the smashed wood strips. No fiberglass laminate was laid over the repair. Only some type of white filler and paint was used -which provided the opportunity for osmosis. A weak resin was used to glue over the damaged wood strips. I repaired them with Wood Epox.)

View attachment 59871View attachment 59872


I would think that Keels and Hull Strakes would provide some protection of the hull from rocks and stones. Further, I would think these protrusions would help the Float track.

QUESTION: Do Keels and Hull Strakes impede Floats in "skinny" water whereby these protrusions more often get the Float "stuck in the mud" or "hit" rocks and stones?

QUESTION: Do Keels and Hull Strakes make it harder to Scull the Float in turns around creeks and such and this is why I do not see them on Floats?

I wonder "if" I am just thinking to build a set of "Training Wheels" on my Gunning Float by adding Hull Strakes, a Keel, and making the Skeg higher when what I really need to do is practice, practice, practice?
View attachment 59873

Any input would be most welcome.

Cheers

Richard~

Here is a gunning float from Massachusetts - built by Lowell in Amesbury, if I recall correctly. A very different vessel - so maybe not very helpful for you.

The well in the bow holds ballast - to keep her nose in the water.



No keel or skeg...



Transom - before restoration (obviously).



All the best,

SJS