“There was a guy that built boats. His name was Clayton Learning. And he gave me a few tips for how to build the first one. That was it,” said Cartwright boat builder Howard Mesher. Born in nearby Paradise River, Howard moved to Cartwright in 1953, at the age of seven. He built his first boat when he was eighteen. Read more
As the power available in outboard motors increased, and planing became a possibility, the traditional boat builder was presented a design challenge. In the traditional process, David Taylor suggests in Boat Building in Winterton, “there were right ways and wrong ways of building and designing a boat [based on past experience] but no governing principles. Decisions were made according to custom and originality in decision making was not particularly encouraged”.
Born in Summerville in 1928, Tom built his first boat at the age of 12. “It was what we called a rodney – a small boat about 12 feet long. We used to tow her behind the trap boats.”
Tom spent 15 years fishing with his father for cod, mackerel, herring, squid, salmon and whatever else was in season. He learned how to build boats watching his neighbour Abe Fry as he worked in his shed, “I would spend hours. I helped him to plank a boat. I’d go in there in the nighttime and help him – he lived alongside us. I’d hold onto a plank for him, and he’d show me that, then show me something else…it was right fun for me.”
[Download a PDF of this Drawing]
This speed boat was built over winter 2011-12 by Earl Feltham with help from Gerald Perry. It was constructed with a steam bent juniper frame using full-size moulds made by Earl Feltham in the late 1980s.
