Walt Ansel

Senior Shipwright, Mystic Seaport

Walt Ansel Walt Ansel grew up in a boatbuilding and sailing family in Mystic, Connecticut. He has made his living either on or around wooden boats for the last 30 years. Walt is currently a senior shipwright at Mystic Seaport Museum Shipyard, working on the restoration of the whaleship CHARLES W. MORGAN. From 2004 to 2008, he was the project leader for the restoration of the 61-foot Eastern-rigged dragger ROANN. While at the museum, Walt has worked on the sandbagger ANNIE, the schooner L.A. DUNTON, the steam ferry SABINO, the schooner AMISTAD, a Beetle whaleboat, and Banks dories. Before that, while self-employed, Walt owned and operated a 40’ wooden day dragger and was deeply involved in the rebuild of a 46′ Nevins yawl. During the sailing season, Walt’s patient wife Carol ignores the piles of books all over the house and an untended lawn while he is off sailing his beloved Billy Atkin cutter WINDROSE. Walt and Carol have two kids just out of college who have artistic leanings, following the family’s non-profit heritage.

Guide Posts

Title
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 10 — Windshield, Trunk Cabin & Side Deck:   It’s been a great spring on the BONNY B. My dad left for Maine in March, so I was back to single-handing, with...
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 9 — Skylight, Floors, Bulkhead Repair: Walt Ansel shares the progress of BONNY BRIDE's ongoing restoration...
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 8: A New-Old Engine: Last fall I was too absorbed in marinizing BONNY BRIDE’S rebuilt Ford diesel and trying to get its 2.5:1 Paragon gear...
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 7: De-greasing, New Frame Ends, Replacing Rusty Bolts: I’m back working on the BONNY BRIDE after a summer of CHARLES W. MORGAN sailing and teaching at the Woodenboat Schoo...
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 6 — Beginning to Repower: While it’s premature to be messing around with engines on the BONNY BRIDE project, I went off on that tangent as...
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 5, New Floor Timbers, Frames, and a Portside Repair: Progress on the BONNY BRIDE has slowed a bit because of the looming sailing date of the CHARLES W. MORGAN. Our boss says...
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 4: The Framing Party: I spent the last several weeks preparing things for a single day of team frame bending. There are several reasons why. O...
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 3: I spent a lot of time the last month thinking about the cockpit reframing. While the 1 x 4” flat frames may look easy...
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 2: With the new cockpit knees in place, I got into some serious butt chasing. No, not what you think. Rather it consists of...
BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 1: I bought the Grand Manan wooden lobster boat BONNY BRIDE that was featured in Woodenboat #206 “Save a classic....
Good Reads: Recommendations by Walt Ansel: OffCenterHarbor.com asked our guides to share their favorite books that should be in every boater’s library… Dang, I...
Learning from Experience; My Biggest Disaster and What it Taught Me.: My friend John Philips and I decided to build a small inshore fishing boat in the early 1980’s. We wanted a low tech,...
The Influence of a Place and Many People: Imagine me as a kid, growing up in a household where my dad was building skiffs and skipjacks in the backyard. Behind ou...
The Three Boats I Lust After (and Why): After 35 years of using a great variety of boats I’ve come to value their utility as much as their aesthetics. I feel...