“The first few I built were completely clinker,” Howard said, “like Bruce Martin and Clayton Learning when they started building those boats. They were probably the original guys to start building [these] speed boats…”

“That’s all cut out of the trees, roots of the trees. No steamed laths on my boats. A lot of people used to build boats that got steamed laths, but I always cut the trees in the woods the right shape…”

Growing up, Alf remembers when trap skiffs and motor boats were more commonplace than pickup trucks and ATVs. As Alf entered his teenage years, outboard motors were becoming more widely used around the Island. “They were great big motors then…”

Born and raised in Little Harbour, Twillingate, Harry Pardy learned how to build boats from his uncle Harold. “First when I started it was all done by hand. Hand plane, hand saw, ax, drawing knife, spokeshave, hand drill and all that stuff. There was no electricity then…”

“We were fairly well isolated in Herring Neck. We thought this was the world here when we were growing up. Twillingate was big- you know, to make a trip to Twillingate would take a day almost to get there…”

Displacement boats are designed to minimize resistance when travelling forward through the water, whereas planing boats are designed to. The displacement hull form is configured to minimize drag or the resistance to…

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…

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…

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…

William James Feltham, better known as Bill, was born on Deer Island, Bonavista Bay, in 1938 to Noah and Daisy Feltham. His paternal grandfather, Caleb Feltham, was one of thirteen men tragically lost on the schooner Little Jap in 1909, shortly after…