Ice sheathing on skipjacks

[Art1988]

Hello! I'm sorry for my English, I'm from Russia.

I'm building a skipjack model from a kit Model Shipways Willie L. Bennett. Plans and instructions says that skipjacks have metal sheet to protect the hull from light ice damage. However, I have not found confirmation that protection from ice is typical for all skipjacks throughout the first half of the 20th century or were only some covered. Most of the photos available on the web from 1910 to 1960 are usually of poor quality and it is very difficult to consider ice protection on them. The photos I found do not give an unambiguous answer to the question. Tell me, if you can, how typical is the presence of the hull protection from ice and how often skipjacks did without it. Thanks.

[allanyed]

Welcome to MSW Art,

Contact the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum boatyard in St. Michaels, Maryland and ask them about this.  They were very helpful to me and even allowed me to take 2 foot long piece of an original keel from a skipjack they were restoring on one of my visits to their facility.  I used this wood to cut into planks on my last skipjack model.   https://cbmm.org/exhibitions/working-shipyard/   The following lists individual skipjacks and you can do a search of these then contact the owners directly.   http://lastskipjacks.com/list.html  

Allan

[thibaultron]

In the Winter months, all skipjacks had this protection. I'll look for my skipjack books today, and post a picture, if I can find them (my shop is a terrible mess right now). The protection was basically sheet metal rectangles, nailed along the waterline with equal height above and below the water. If I remember correctly the sheets were 2 foot X 4 foot, with the nails in a pattern like two dice placed next to each other with the "5" sides facing you. I believe the sheets were overlapped at each end.

 

I'll try to find the info for you today.

[Roger Pellett]

Skipjacks were owned and operated by independent sailors called “Watermen.”  They lived along the shore and on the Islands of our Chesapeake Bay; away from  big cities.  The boats were built by small boatyards in this same environment and sometimes by the Watermen themselves.  Americans living in these environments tend to be very independent and very good adapting to local conditions, sometime with unusual solutions.  There were no rules, each boat owner doing his thing.

 

Oysters are not harvested in the summer.  We used to say that they were only available to eat in months with names containing the letter R.  This means that Skipjacks worked throughout the winter.  On the other hand, the Bay water is brackish;  mildly salt, so ice that formed would not be heavy.  Skipjacks working in waters where ice was expected to form would have light gage steel sheet nailed to the bow along the waterline.  Others working farther down the Bay in saltier waters might not have needed this protection.

 

Roger

[Art1988]

thanks to everyone who answered.

 

 

[Art1988]

13 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

Skipjacks were owned and operated by independent sailors called “Watermen.”  They lived along the shore and on the Islands of our Chesapeake Bay; away from  big cities.  The boats were built by small boatyards in this same environment and sometimes by the Watermen themselves.  Americans living in these environments tend to be very independent and very good adapting to local conditions, sometime with unusual solutions.  There were no rules, each boat owner doing his thing.

 

Oysters are not harvested in the summer.  We used to say that they were only available to eat in months with names containing the letter R.  This means that Skipjacks worked throughout the winter.  On the other hand, the Bay water is brackish;  mildly salt, so ice that formed would not be heavy.  Skipjacks working in waters where ice was expected to form would have light gage steel sheet nailed to the bow along the waterline.  Others working farther down the Bay in saltier waters might not have needed this protection.

 

Roger

That's about what I thought. This is exactly what is confirmed by the materials that I found on the web. 

Maybe the availability of protection also depends on other factors. I read that the winters in 1970 were very cold and the bay froze. It is possible that there were such cold winters in other years. Now most of the skipjacks are not equipped with protection. Of course, many are used for other purposes and are pleasure craft. But for example Catherine (built in 1901) is an oyster boat. And there is no protection on it. Is the reason for this an increase in water temperature?

Or is it the economic situation in the region or the country? In difficult periods (the Great Depression, World War 2) is not up to oysters, oyster fishing is not conducted, therefore protection is not needed? What was the price of steel sheets in those years? If business is not going on, then there is no money for the maintenance of the vessel?

I made a list after studying the photos. Some of the photos of skipjacks with ice protection date back to after 1945 (for example, Fulton T. Mister, E.C. Collier). But some (Silver Spray, Mythle) have protection in 1910-1945.
There are such as Geneva May (1939 there is no protection, 1950 - sheets). The presence or absence of protection from ice is unstable. Both options are equally true. I didn't find any photos of Willie L. Bennett.

 

[Art1988]

21 hours ago, allanyed said:

Welcome to MSW Art,

Contact the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum boatyard in St. Michaels, Maryland and ask them about this.  They were very helpful to me and even allowed me to take 2 foot long piece of an original keel from a skipjack they were restoring on one of my visits to their facility.  I used this wood to cut into planks on my last skipjack model.   https://cbmm.org/exhibitions/working-shipyard/   The following lists individual skipjacks and you can do a search of these then contact the owners directly.   http://lastskipjacks.com/list.html  

Allan

Thanks, I'll try

[Art1988]

19 hours ago, thibaultron said:

In the Winter months, all skipjacks had this protection. I'll look for my skipjack books today, and post a picture, if I can find them (my shop is a terrible mess right now). The protection was basically sheet metal rectangles, nailed along the waterline with equal height above and below the water. If I remember correctly the sheets were 2 foot X 4 foot, with the nails in a pattern like two dice placed next to each other with the "5" sides facing you. I believe the sheets were overlapped at each end.

 

I'll try to find the info for you today.

Thank you, I will be grateful. It is possible that you are right.