Building a Bevin's Skiff (or something similar)
As a boy, I spent many hours rowing a heavy, flat bottom rowboat built by my Great Uncle Richard. (Richard Derbyshire was the bother of my mother's mother, Elizabeth Ann Derbyshire.)
I rowed the boat on Johnson's Pond in Coventry RI. My "Uncle Ice" (Howard Merchant, twin bother of my mother) and his good friend Dick Hill had a cabin on the pond. Because I loved the water, and could swim, I was left unattended to play in and around the pier, and rowing the boat.
"Ice" aslo had a Johnson Sea Horse outboard that was started with a knotted rope with wooden handle wrapped around the flywheel. It looked a bit like this. I can remember the vibration of its tiller today.
I'd like to see my grandchildren row a boat, so have decided to build a "Bevin's Skiff." I've ordered the plans, and built a small model of tagboard:
Here are some photos of a finished Bevins Skiff, one of some old guys building one, and a drawing:
