Small boat details like knees and breasthooks, 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.
Breasthooks
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Neil Henderson says:
Always useful to see what someone else has done & how they have done it – before designing your own – thanks.
greg mclaughlin says:
Thanks for this.I’ve spent hours trying to fit a proper breasthook for a very old flat iron skiff rebuild.(I’st time rebuilder).I think I’ve been trying to hard after seeing the photo’s with your article.Simple seems to work just fine.
Now I can start enjoying working on my project again.
Ants Uiga says:
Bravo for showing these and providing the comments. It is a long way from Mystic Seaport to Bodfish, CA. All the visual guidance finds a good home here.
Eric T. Pomber says:
This is a marvelous resource, thank you very much for sharing these photos!
Robert Galliford says:
Many thanks for these!