Preview: Elegant Details on Wooden Boats – Miscellaneous Elements, by Maynard Bray

Small boat details, if artfully carried out, can turn a crude creation into a refined one. Easy on the eyes as well as performing their intended function, it generally takes no more time to make these details right as it does wrong.

For those of you not surrounded by good examples to learn from, here are some photos I snapped years ago when shooting overviews for the book Mystic Seaport Watercraft. There are many, many more boats at Mystic Seaport whose details are worth looking at. That’s possible whenever the watercraft storage area is open—always during The WoodenBoat Show in June and otherwise by appointment.

The photos that follow were scanned by Penobscot Marine Museum from the collection of black-and-white negatives I donated back in 2013; they have kindly been made available for this use. You can click the images for a larger view with my detailed comments.

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3 Responses So Far to “Elegant Details on Wooden Boats – Miscellaneous Elements, by Maynard Bray

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    Stacy Smith says:

    These are great. I had a thought on the Display hitch. If you led the sheet back over instead of behind itself, a slight tug should release it. Or as one of my old mentors would say, “a simple jerk.”

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    Kent and Skipper says:

    Always love seeing the details on these small boats.

    Thanks for getting those photos Maynard, back when it was a little more involved than it is today.

  • Eric T. Pomber

    Eric T. Pomber says:

    This series you are doing is awesome! What a treasure trove of information. Thank you for making these available.