Building Monhegan Skiffs

The Carpenter's Boat Shop is a magical place that is hard to capture in pictures. The beauty of it is in details like the mottled, well-worn workbenches, the feel of smoothly planed cedar, and the smell of the wood-burning furnace. The beauty is also in the values at the foundation of what we are doing here, which is living in a supportive community to build small wooden boats.

The boats we build are Monhegan Skiffs designed for rowing in the wave-y waters around nearby harbors and islands. The Boat Shop has been making, repairing, and refurbishing these skiffs for decades. This means the design improves because staff notice and address any recurring issues. There is a lovely overlap in the generations of staff. Retired teachers are still part of the wider Boat Shop community and they have deep wells of experience to share.

One of my favorite values in the workshop is the attitude toward building these skiffs, which is practical and unromanticized. We are reminded that, historically, fishermen built these skiffs to transport themselves, their bait, and their catch from shore to fishing boat. They relied on utilitarian materials and methods, and similarly repaired or junked the skiffs. As someone who is prone to perfectionism, it's rewarding for me to work on a project where perfect execution is not the goal. These are humble skiffs, and our purpose is to steward the history and practice of building them and pass it along to future builders.