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HISTORY
Source:
http://www.numberboat.com/
The new Number
Boat is a modern gentleman’s launch, elegant and fuel efficient,
quiet and smooth running, wonderful for conversation and touring. A
boat for the captain who wants the beauty of a traditional long deck
launch combined with the reliability of a strong fiberglass hull and
modern power plant. The deck and interior are varnished solid
mahogany and Spanish cedar, upholstery is of soft leather and the
engine a Marine Power 4 cylinder 140hp. Top speed is about 30mph.
The 1909 design by Charles D. Mower was intended as a fast racing
boat that could also serve as a family runabout on the St. Lawrence
River. The original twenty boats were built by the Leyare Boat Works
in Ogdensburg and sold on a subscription basis, each boat given a
number in the order purchased. These numbers were painted large on
the topside at the bow so the boats could be easily identified while
racing. Over the years these boats became known locally as the
“Number Boats”.
August 2010 was the 100th anniversary of the first official races
for the T.I. One-Design. It is our intention to recreate a race on
the old courses with as many of the original Leyare built one-design
boats as can be enticed to attend. At present we know of six of the
original boats that might be capable of running and one wreck
awaiting a total rebuild. There may be more of them out there
disguised as fishing smacks or work boats. Maybe a little publicity
will bring them to light. Along with the new boats we could provide
quite a spectacle. Hopefully the Thousand Islands Yacht Club and the
Chippewa Yacht Club in conjunction with the Antique Boat Museum and
the A.P.B.A.'s biannual Race Boat Regatta in Clayton will sanction
the event on the St Lawrence River.
The Everett Boat Works is a small enterprise located in an 1850’s
dairy barn in St. Lawrence County. We have been building and
restoring wooden boats since the beginning of the wooden boat
revival in the early 70s - for nearly thirty-six years. Inspired by
Atwood Manley’s book on J. H. Rushton, just like folk music, we
started building Rushton canoes. We have worked on Adirondack
guide-boats, St. Lawrence skiffs, early motor boats, Alden sail
boats and vintage race boats, any thing wood that we could fit in
the barn.
The Number Boat project began with engineer Bob Cox, owner of Ft.
Lauderdale Marine and co-founder of the Antique Boat Museum in
Clayton, NY. Bob thought some of his customers might like a quiet
and elegant way to travel back and forth to their yacht club on the
intercoastal canals. We both shared an interest in the early smooth
running motor boat hulls. Bob engaged Northend Composites to build a
mould and to make the first hull. He then engaged the Everett Boat
Works to install the engine and put in the traditional deck and
interior. At present we have completed two in the Number Boat
series. # 21 Bob is keeping and #22 is available for sale. The hull
for # 23 is in the loft awaiting deck and interior. The new boat
could be an electric launch or even a fuel cell.
Bare hulls are also available to individuals wishing to complete
their own launches. The fiberglass foamcore hulls are made by Shaw
Yachts in Rockland, ME. They each have two bulkheads and a two inch
wide tab running along the inside at the sheer, set at the
appropriate camber to facilitate installation of deck beams.
Specific hull lam description available on request. |
