Project - Scull boat

S

ScottCK

Active member
I have decided that ya'll are a REALLY bad influence.... I have always been jealous of you east coast guys finding cool old boats for sale. Now it was my turn.

Saw where Eric had posted this in the "Seen Elsewhere" board a while back and decided to toss the guy a lowball offer not expecting a reply. Well. it didn't go as planned as he accepted it. Just picked it up today and spent an hour cleaning out all the junk that some prior owner had put in it. Based on what I have seen, the wood in the floor is all waterlogged and the foam in the sides of the top are most likely wet as well. The issue with the floor was caused by a prior owner mounting a steering control to the floor by drilling drywall screws through the fiberglass. They also ran the control wires through conduit that they glassed into the floor and in the process, covered the drain hole with glass. As a result it had standing water in it that was able to get into the floor and foam on the sides.

On the positive side the bottom looks to be in good condition and except for one crack the top section is as well. I did some measuring, and I have enough Coosa Board left over from the Broadbill project to replace the wood. Whoever made the boat did not skimp on fiberglass - the top section glass is 1/4" +/- thick.

Something I was surprised by is the fact there is not a hole for a sculling oar to go through. Looks like the PO used the trolling motor to sneak up on birds which is only slightly illegal.

Would like some info on the boat if anyone knows anything about it. The owner said someone IM'ed him on Marketplace and said it was built by a Peter Witham from Newmarket Nh in the 70's. I didn't see a builder tag anywhere on it but really have not dug into it too much yet.IMG_2163.jpgIMG_2164.jpgIMG_2165.jpgIMG_2166.jpgIMG_2167.jpgIMG_2168.jpgIMG_2169.jpgIMG_2170.jpgIMG_2171.jpg
 
My plan it to see if I can get some history then plan out the rebuild. Don't think this one is going to be as intrusive as the Broadbill project.
 
if anyone has original condition photos of the boat, I would love to see them. need to figure out what "original condition" looked like and what is PO modifications.
 
Can't help on photos of the original. That looks to me like a Merrimack River/Whitney type scull. There were a bunch of commercial models with that design scheme, and also plenty of home-made boats. The long nose is very different from sculling boats from the Merrymeeting Bay region in Maine, but were common on Great Bay in NH and on the Merrimack. Maybe other places, too. (West Coasters, please weigh in, as I know there is a sculling tradtion out there but nothing about the boats.) Did it come with the lead (or something else?) weight that is supposed to be in that cavity at the bow? You need a lot of weight at the bow for balance once a gunner and sculler are aft. If not, it'll need to be replaced, and you may need to do some experimenting to figure out how much weight you will need.

No sculling hole seems odd. Maybe it was glassed over when the boat was modified for a motor?
 
Eric may be able to help with a link(s) to Duck Boat Specs archive files, too. I found a 2023 post where he referenced them, but don't see a link to them any longer and I wasn't able to find them. My vague memory is that there were several scull boats of similar design in that list when I was working on re-glassing my MMB.
 
A search on here for "Witham" returned several posts which confirmed the maker based on the photos. It looks like there were either different options available or changes over the years. I noticed one that didnt have the motor mount on the transom and another that did have the sculling oar hole.

I did think that maybe the PO had glassed over the oar hole but in looking at the inside and at the PO glass work, there has never been one on this boat. The PO did add a glassed in block extending the motor mount to place the trolling motor.

I am going to continue researching and looking for photos so I can see what the transom and motor board looked like. (IE how much of the PO modifications I need to remove) I am assuming the motor mount was a wood board of some type. The transom has a flat "factory" mount spot molded in so I know it was there originally.

From the other posts, it looks like the top and bottom halves were put together with rivets. All of the rivets are gone on this boat so I need to figure out what to do here and why they are gone. Also, it looks like there were riveted snaps for canvas covers around both the openings (these are all gone too)


So far the plans I have worked up:
1) Cut out the wet wood in the floor and replace with Coosa board
2) Check and cut out / replace any wet foam in the side pockets
3) Remove the PO addition to the motor mount and replace with whatever was original (wood board?) If I have enough Coosa board left, I may use it instead of wood
4) Add the Sculling Oar hole and boot. (REALLY need details on exactly where it needs to be and how it was shaped. Assuming I need to float the boat just to make sure it is above the waterline)
5) Replace the top/bottom connection pop rivets? (Should I split the top and bottom so I can seal it with 5200? It appears that they are still very much attached to each other (IE didn't see anywhere that it is coming apart)
6) Replace the canvas covers
7) Make lead bow weights - sounds like there were 3 @ 25lb each.


If anyone has this boat in original condition or photos of one, I would really appreciate you posting them.
 
Had two half of a scull boat just like yours that was given to me by. Peter , he also helped me put it together and make a sculling oar.
 
perry said:
Had two half of a scull boat just like yours that was given to me by. Peter , he also helped me put it together and make a sculling oar.
Click to expand...
do you have any photos of it or information on making the sculling oar? Trying to gather as much info as I can as sculling is going to be a new adventure for me once I get this boat in shape. thanks
 
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