Geoff Kerr

Boatbuilder, Two Daughters Boatworks

Geoff Kerr Geoff Kerr does business as Two Daughters Boatworks in Westford, Vermont, on New England’s “west coast.” His interest in boats began at age 16 with a Hurricane Island Outward Bound School course and continued as a Coast Guard officer. Geoff learned the trade later from Joe Youcha at the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, where he served as shop foreman and instructor in that dynamic environment. In his present, one-man, full-service Vermont shop, Geoff does small-craft repairs and restorations, as well as new construction, specializing in Iain Oughtred’s Caledonia Yawl. He has been affiliated with Chesapeake Light Craft since the company’s infancy, and is a licensed builder of their many designs, as well as an authorized and experienced instructor.

Videos

Title
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 42 – Final Thoughts: A few final words from Geoff as we prepare for launching day....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 41 – Rigging: Woodworking tools can be put away as Geoff assembles the Caledonia Yawl and completes her rigging with her new suit of s...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 40 – Installing the Hardware: Cleats, oarlocks and a few more final bits of hardware as we draw close to finishing up our Caledonia Yawl....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 39 – Fitting Out the Interior: Putting all these parts together that we’ve spent so much time making? What could be more satisfying?...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 38 – Installing the Rub Strips: Whether you call them bang-strips, rub-strips, or brass half-oval, they are a must for protecting the keel while getting...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 37 – Mast Steps & Partners: There’s a lot of pressure exerted on masts so well set steps and partners are vital to keep everything in place....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 36 – Finishing the Mainmast: Some planing, sanding and a little carving to bring our birdsmouth spar to completion and ready for paint or varnish....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 35 – Assembling the Birdsmouth Mast: Working those long twisting staves into position made simple. Here’s how the birdsmouth mast comes together....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 34 – Milling the Wood For a Birdsmouth Mast: Our hollow mainmast will call for some pieces which need to be carefully shaped. The result is a birdsmouth mast weighin...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 33 – Solid Spar Making with the Mizzen Mast: Building a solid round spar calls for specific tapering and shaping techniques and a lot of fractions....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 32 – Finishing the Rudder: When building a double-ender there will be some discussion of pintles & gudgeons as well as the Norwegian tiller- th...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 31 – Shaping the Rudder & Centerboard: Shaping and feathering the trailing edges of both rudder and centerboard into aqua dynamic shapes is the subject here....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 30 – Reinforcing & Ballasting the Centerboard: Heft and durability – just what our centerboard needs....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 29 – Laminating the Centerboard & Rudder: Laminating the centerboard and rudder and similar processes. Follow along with Geoff Kerr and he takes us through Iain O...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 28 – Cleanup, Filleting & Priming: Cleaning up the inside of the hull is a must in preparation for painting....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 27 – The Floorboards: Being systematic is key as the floorboards are cut and shaped before painting....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 26 – Some Odds & Ends: Crucial finishing details are illustrated so you can get things right as the project winds up....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 25 – Shaping & Drilling the Seats & Partners: Dressing the side benches and thwarts maintains their strength while removing the appearance of bulkiness....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 24 – Partners, Thwarts & Side Benches: As our Caledonia Yawl takes final shape, Geoff furnishes the interior space with thwarts and seats....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 23 – Cleats for the Thwarts: Locating the exact position of cleats supporting the thwarts, and then establishing the proper bevel so the cleats lay s...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 22 – Stemheads & Breasthooks: Stems and breasthooks are signature components that jump out visually in the finished boat.  Learn the specific techniq...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 21 – The Centerboard Trunk: Over a period of four days Geoff builds and installs the centerboard trunk....
7 Basic Boating Knots for Sailing — Taut Line Hitch, Cleat Knot, Sheet Bend, Bowline, Square Knot, Clove Hitch & Two Half Hitches: Geoff Kerr shows us the seven basic boating knots that sailors use for voyages around the globe.  These knots are part...
How to Build A Caledonia Yawl, Part 20 – The Rails: Geoff brings a bit of salty boat quality to the hull as he installs the rails....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 19 – Turning the Hull Over: Flipping the hull over, a job that’s scarier than hard, gives us our first chance to see just how big a Caledonia...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 18 – Scoring a Waterline with a Laser Level: Striking and the scoring an accurate waterline is an easy job with a laser level and a good set of plans.  Join Maynard...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 17 – Installing the Outer Stems & Keel: In a double-ended boat, the outer stems define her final shape.  See how forethought throughout the project makes this...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 16 – Prepping for Outer Stems & Keel: Fairing the hull with a power plane to achieve a snug fit for the keel and the stem....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 15 – Planking: Geoff Kerr’s masterpiece; where artistry and structural imperatives intersect.  Planking, after all, is ultimatel...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 14 – The Garboard Planks: Snug fitting garboard planks are key when it comes to keeping water out of a boat....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 13 – Mounting the Floor Timbers: Mounting the floor timbers completes the boat’s backbone and must be done correctly to assure a smooth landing for...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 12 – Fairing the Keelson: Fairing the keelson with a power plane calls for precision.  Get it right and the garboard planks kiss the keelson all...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 11 – Installing the Keelson & Stems: Installing the fore and aft inner stems and epoxying them to the keelson, the whole job stabilized with clever angle iro...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 10 – Shaping the Stem: A strong, well rendered stem sets the shape of the boat to come.  Here are the tips and techniques you need to get it r...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 9 – Preparing the Keelson: Preparing the keelson: Milling out the keelson and cutting the center board slot by employing the precision of a table s...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 8 – Making the Floor Timbers: Techniques for fashioning precise floor timbers are covered here.  And don’t forget the limber holes....
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 6 – Laminating the Stems: Stems on a double-ended boat largely define the shape as well as assuring the integrity of the structure.  So let the l...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 5 – Tips for Mixing and Applying Epoxy: An expert takes on the goop in this video on mixing and applying epoxy.  Do it right, epoxy is your best friend; do it...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 4 – Building Frame & Molds: Constructing the building frame and setting up molds.  How to get things straight and level at the outset gets the job...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 3 – Essential Boat Building Tools: What are the minimum essential boat building tools for a boat like the Caledonia Yawl?  Geoff Kerr takes us through...
How to Build a Caledonia Yawl, Part 2 – Setting Up Shop: Geoff Kerr sets up our new shop the way he wants it for the new series about building a Caledonia Yawl.  “Manning...
How To Build the Caledonia Yawl, Part 1 – A Good Boat, Up-Close:  For “Part 1” of this series, we revisit our up-close look at the Caledonia Yawl and why we love her...
Painting a Wooden Boat: Simple Techniques for a Professional Finish: Geoff outlines all of the steps to get a durable and beautiful finish when painting a wooden boat in your own shop....
Cool Shop Tips #2, ‘Bed of Nails’ for Painting: Simple ways of painting spars and boat parts can come in instant flashes of genius and wisdom after twenty years of expe...
Cool Shop Tips #1, Manning Benches: A saw horse and a rugged, portable, versatile work bench all in one, or as the case may be, two. Geoff Kerr introduces u...
What’s in Your Ditty Bag? With Geoff Kerr: Geoff Kerr is a seasoned vet at sailing the archipelago of Maine. We have noticed that whether he’s the captain of...
Outfitting a Small Sailboat with Geoff Kerr: Geoff shows us stem to stern how he outfits NED LUDD for a season of beach cruising and island hopping....
Boat Handling for Beach Cruising – Anchoring, Beaching, Rigging an Outhaul & Boat Knots: Geoff Kerr is a genuine beach cruising guru. Aboard his Caledonia Yawl NED LUDD, we learn what is involved in anchoring,...
A Good Boat, Up Close – The Caledonia Yawl: Geoff Kerr takes us for a spin aboard his 19’ Caledonia Yawl NED LUDD. These boats are easy to build, unusually light...
Boat Trailering Tips, No-Dunk Lights: Geoff Kerr shares how he’s devised boat trailer lights that will last. It’s a simple setup that enables you to keep...

 

Guide Posts

Title
I Am a Luddite: Harry Bryan’s recent thoughtful essay (Am I a Luddite?) prompted many comments and more than a bit of reflection on th...
A Stitch-and-Glue Teardrop Trailer: Be inspired by this lightweight teardrop trailer design...
Building and Launching JIMMY D, a 32′ Cornish Gig from the “Champlain Longboats” Program: This past May (2015) saw one of my favorite Spring rituals repeated for the 16th time: the celebration and launching of...
A Good Boat and a Great Client — The RAVEN Project: One of the joys of this trade is a working on an unusual project with a great client. The client’s qualifications are...
Refurbishing A Mystery Peapod; A Post by Geoff Kerr: Here is a peek at what has been an entertaining project on many levels.  The boat is a lovely 15’ sailing peapod of u...
Good Reads: Recommendations by Geoff Kerr: OffCenterHarbor.com asked our guides to share their favorite books that should be in every boater’s library… Here ar...
Iceland and Lofoten; A Trip of a Lifetime. A Blog by Geoff Kerr of Two Daughters Boatworks: I realize OCH is a boating themed site, but bear with me…there are boats to come. Suffice it to say that last March...
Tricks of the Trade; Becoming a Cool Boat Dad: The Perfect Father’s Day Gift for Dads… Click here to Give a 1-Year OCH Membership to a dad you know… * *...
James Wakefield Rescue Row on Lake Champlain: Saturday, Oct 13, saw a fleet of boats and a flock of high school athletes gathered at the Burlington Boat House for the...
An Exotic Vacation, Only a Day’s Drive Away—or, Call Me Ishmael: One of the two daughters and I took a few days off during the last week in August. She fleeing the last gasps of the DC...
Learning from Experience; My Biggest Disaster and What it Taught Me.: Professional disasters at Two Daughters Boatworks have been blessedly minor and far between, at least on the craftsmansh...
Projects at Two Daughters Boatworks: Our two winter projects have been delivered and launched with general grins and giggles all around. Peeler, the 15’ ou...
In the Two Daughters Boatworks Shop: Bare ground for Valentine’s Day is a sad, sad thing in northern Vermont. Not only is the skiing bad, but every mouse o...
The Snow Row: One of the rites of early Spring in the New England boating world is the Snow Row put on by the visionaries at the Hull...
The Influence of the Outward Bound School: I didn’t grow up boating. We lived about 90 minutes inland in North Carolina, and my folks were landlubbers from West...
The Three Boats I Lust After (and Why): Life as a boatbuilder satisfies many nautical longings.  I get to keep track of the world of boats through shows, event...