Great South Bay Scooter Rehab

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
This Scooter was built in the 1920s or 30s and has been in our family since about the time I was born - 1953. It was a big part of my early gunning experience and I used it right up until I moved away from Long Island in 1995. It is still sound but needs some careful attention by Pencil Brook Boatworks (aka me....). I just rolled it into the shop and plan to have it ready-to-go by the end of September (yes, September 2013). Of course, it probably will not see any actual use - back on Great South Bay - until January 2014.

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Here's how she has sat for the past year - I hauled her up from my brother's on Long Island. Cockpit cover was tight and, of course, she was off the ground and leveled left to right. My dairy farmer friends call this area my "marina"....

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The boat-restorer's friend - any old wood finds "tenants" .

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Yes, they are just Paper Wasps, but - it'll mean a "dutchman" fitted into the starboard coaming.

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And, those Paper Wasps had to get to the coaming somehow - so, the sewing machine, too, will see duty.

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Most of the 'glass is sound - but, it is hard to keep it on the ends. This is the fantail stern - which hides the boat beautifully from the ducks-eye-view as they approach the rig. Most of the 'glass dates from 1954 when my Dad first 'glassed her.

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The bow, too, needs some attention. Originally, these scooters had a hole bored right through their stems, left-to-right, to take a painter. My Dad installed the screw eye but it has worked loose over many seasons. I will probably take a different approach when I replace it.

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This is me "piking" the Scooter across the ice off East Islip circa 1982. For you Long Islanders, that is the Captree Bridge in the background.

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This shows the principal difference between a Great South Bay Scooter and a Barnegat Bay Sneakbox. The hull sections of a Scooter are U-shaped - being flat between the ice runners - whereas the Sneakbox sections are round (an arc of a circle). I have one of each and love them both.

Stay tuned for progress reports....

All the best,

SJS
 
Steve , a nice piece of family history there. I cant wait till you start digging into her. post lots of pics. Bob
 
Wow!! Great looking boat. That is the first traditional Scooter that I've seen. How rare are they these days?
 
There are very few Scooters like this in use. There used to be a bunch at the Pattersquash Club on Bellport Bay. You can read about them and see pictures in Connett's "Duckshooting Along the Atlantic Tidewater". There are also a bunch at the Suffolk County Marine Museum in West Sayville (Long Island). I think THE original Scooter - attributed to Cap'n Wilbur Corwin (if memory serves me) is owned by the Village ogf Bellport Historical Society - the Village has a sailing Scooter on its seal. There are also some in storage for a museum-in-process - I have one of them here in my "marina" to be restored to original condition over the winter (of course, I'kll be photodocumenting and sharing that process, too.)

Glad you enjoyed it!

SJS
 
Very cool. Not nearly enough boat builds and rebuilds on the site recently. I am really looking forward to watching you do this one.
 
Wow, that's awesome Steve! Good to see its still in good capable hands for the restoration. Looking forward to seeing the progress photos. Very cool pictures of the boat in action too, thanks for sharing.

Steve
 
steve, good luck with the build. i still have mine and use it on special days. you judged it at one of the shows on the island back in early 80s. the boat is cedar plank over steamed oak ribs. i use to tow it and pole in to different spots. now i have a 9.9 pancake evirude on it. have fun and think of the memorys. rick ( special day black powder shotgun and my mccormick black duck decoys)
 
Looks like you will have your hands full. That picture bring back memories of the way things were.
Now a days if I had to pole my south bay on Ice. I go to the donut shop instead.
 
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Steve,
After you restore it how do you plan on getting it around the bay.
It looks like it the past it was towed?
 
Great project and post Steve, nice article too Eric!
 
Steve, does the Great South Bay still freeze like that. I do remember the bays freezing when I lived there,(grew up a bay man in Oceanside-Freeport) but I can't remember anyone talking about it recently.
Back in the late 60s to late 70s we could walk on the ice and winter spear eels and the bays would be frozen.
 
Thanks for the post Eric. A ride on the ice is an incredible experience. I had an ice scooter for years and then it just went away. Just like the ice. If we still had Ice I might still have a scooter.
 
Hi, Bill~

We towed it a lot when I was young - used it as a layout - but we also dragged, piked or rowed her right off the beach. When I was still on Long Island, though, I used it over the ice quite a bit, off East Islip when I lived there and in Moriches Bay when I lived in East Patchogue. It rows very nicely. I hope the conditions will happen sometime this January for an expedition or two.

When I was growing up - late 50s and the 60s - we could count on Great South Bay icing over between Christmas and New Years. Of course, a partially-iced-up bay is ideal - just get yourself out to the edge somehow.

One of the biggest problems nowadays is finding a place to get onto the ice - the whole shoreline is so heavily developed and tightly regulated.

All the best,

SJS
 
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