The world has changed a lot since my last post on January 16, 2020 and with all the stay at home orders in place throughout the United States and World many of us had extra time on our hands. However, instead of using my time wisely writting advance blog posts I spent my time knitting! After many months off though I am happy to share a childhood memory from my Dad, Bill Atwell. He’s written and shared many books, poems and memories with the family over the years often writing special poems for individuals as they reach important milestones in life. I’ve heard bits and pieces of “The Boat” over the years yet his current recollection below makes a complete story.
Dad in one of the small rowboats.
From as along as I can remember, my Dad was always in our basement working on or trying to invent something. I can’t get into every one of the activities, though I would like to describe one area, boats.
Somewhere along the way Dad decided to build rowboats for children. I was still young and am not sure how this came about. I think someone he met was trying to buy one. I am also not sure where the plans came from. He might have just taken a full-sized set of plans and downsized them.
Dad and his brother Don.
I recall the first boat he built, though I wasn’t involved. We took the boat to a river we used to fish and tested it out. I went out first and Dad took pictures. Then I rowed while Don sat in the backseat. We didn’t have life jackets though the river area wasn’t dangerous water. I know he sold the first boat he constructed and as I remember, he made and sold several more. It would be just a few years later that the boat building would begin again. This time I would be involved!
My Dad loved to fish. As a young boy he usually took me on these Saturday fishing outings. Sometimes my brother Don would come, however, his extreme diabetes often prevented him from making these trips. Of course my Dad fished with other guys and even sometimes alone. I think we fished every lake within a fifty-mile semi-circle of Milwaukee. Some lakes I recall are Lac LaBelle, Pewaukee, Okachee, Phantom, Moose, Big Cedar, Little Cedar, Upper and Lower Nemabin, and Oconomowoc. Sometimes lakes and rivers further north and even small ponds.
We generally rented rowboats from whoever had them available on each lake. Later my Dad purchased a used 5 horsepower Hiawatha outboard motor, which definitely made fishing easier. Even when the fish weren’t biting my Dad didn’t want to quit. If it was raining he didn’t quit. This was his fishing day. Thus, these were long days and I often fell asleep on the homeward trip.
When we arrived home there was usually fish to clean. We would spread out newspaper on the concrete in front of our porch that faced the alley. The neighborhood kids, who never had a chance to go fishing, would gather around to watch. There would be oohs, aahs and yucks as we cut off fish heads and pulled out their guts.
At some point my Dad decided we needed a boat. He didn’t like the metal rowboats as they make too much noise when you were fishing and this tended to scare the fish, at least that’s what he said. So, the boat would have to be wood.
We purchased a set of boat plans from an ad in the back of a Popular Science magazine. The plans were for a 12 foot boat with the new, wide lower transom and a covered cowl over the bow. The transom was shaped like the Chris-Craft boats, wide at the bottom, curving at the sides to a more narrow top. Before starting construction we actually made a small, to scale, balsa wood model of the boat. Materials were expensive so this was an important step to insure there were no mistakes. I still have the boat model on the shelf in our lake cottage. This model is almost seventy years old. Satisfied that we had a good set of plans, construction started on the boat.
Dad had three large worktables in the basement that were from his sign painting days. We cleared everything off of these tables to allow space for the boat construction. The patterns for the ribs, transom and bow had to be traced on pieces to pieces of hardwood. We used a table saw and a jigsaw to cut these pieces. These were the only power tools we had. I was taught to run both of these power tools safely.
Cutting and sanding the rib and transom pieces was a big job. We put a sanding wheel on the table saw and this was a big help. Once all the ribs and transom were finished, we started to assemble the ribs, holding them in place with the keel that ran the length of the boat from transom to bow. The spacings and straightness between rib sections had to be carefully measured. The upper and lower gun rails had to be steamed, then carefully bent along the ribs to the boats shape. When these pieces were in place, this completed the “skeleton” of the boat. The boat was starting to take shape.
Normally finishing the hull of a boat would be a lengthy process using individual long slats. In the late 1930’s the development of waterproof glues allowed for the development of water and weatherproof plywood. This strong, lightweight material was used extensively during World War II for the construction of boats, such as PT Boats, and the construction of building, such as barracks. Our plans called for the use of plywood on the boats hull.
Using the plan patterns, each hull piece had to be traced and cut out one at a time. When we had one piece finished it was attached to the hull using waterproof glue and screws. We used brass screws, a lot of brass screws! Each hole had to be pre-drilled and countersunk, by hand, no power drills! Every screw was screwed by a hand-ratchet screwdriver, the precursor to power drills. When each section was finished, each screw hole was filled with waterproof wood putty and hand-sanded, with sandpaper on a wooden block.
Slowly the bottom and then sides of the boat were completed. When each plywood seam was filled with wood putty and sanded it was time to turn the boat over and begin working on the inside and top of the boat. We had to build a sort of cradle to hold the boat steady while this work was completed.
The inner and outer gun rails were completed first. Some steaming of the wood was needed to get the bends near the bow. A transom wood plate was added on the inside to provide extra support for the outboard motor. Two convex ribs were added near the front of the bow. These were then covered with a triangular shaped piece of plywood, creating a small, covered storage compartment at the bow of the boat. A narrow piece of plywood ran on top of each gun rail from the bow canopy to the transom. I wasn’t sure why they were needed, however, they made the boat look streamlined. All seams in the new plywood were filled and sanded smooth.
Wooden floorboards were fabricated providing a flat surface for standing. The floorboards were removable for easy cleaning. Two lifting handles on outer sides of the transom and one on the bow were added for carrying the boat. Dad made the seats and installed them with hinges. Removing the hinge pins allowed us to remove the seats. I wasn’t sure why we would want to remove them, perhaps for ease of cleaning. Finally, adding a set of oar locks completed the fabrication.
The inside of the boat was sealed with two coats of clear varnish. The bow cowl and top of the gunrails were stained a slightly darker color and the sealed with to coats of varnish. This completed the top and inside parts of the boat. It was time to turn the boat over again.
We had to set the boat on blocks to protect the curved part of the cowl. The hull was sanded again and applied three coats of white enamel paint. We sanded the hull after the first and second coats to ensure a smooth final coat. It was a beautiful boat, quite different than your typical rowboat.
As I looked at the boat the next day, Dad said “ Should we launch it? “ I thought, how do we get it out of the basement? Our rental home still had a coal bin and a coal-fired furnace. A basement door that faced the alley led to a small cinder block room used to store garbage and ashes before they were put out for pickup. Several steps up led to a slanted wooden door that led out to the alley. With help from a neighbor we just barely got the boat through the first door and then up the steps to the outside. It was really tight. I don’t know whether my Dad had measured previously or just got lucky.
Dad had purchased a set of car top carriers and the boat was lifted onto the top of the car and strapped down. The boat was lighter weight because of its plywood construction, however, it still required two people to get in on and off the car top carriers. In Dad’s rented garage he constructed a rope and pulley system. The ropes were slid under the front and rear of the boat as it sat on the car top carriers. Pulling on the ropes lifted the boat off the car and tying the ropes to garage wall hooks secured the boat. Simply untying and lowering the ropes loaded the boat for the next fishing trip.
In the water the boat performed great. It was very stable, roomy and quiet. With our five horsepower Hiawatha outboard motor it scooted right along from one fishing spot to another. We could store our lunch and drinks under the bow, out of the sun or rain. Many other fishermen stopped us to inquire about the boat. It would serve us well for years
After the boat was completed, I didn’t realize that my Dad had a second construction phase in mind. He planned to convert our boat into a mini-cabin cruiser. The plans for this part of the boat were in my Dad’s head. We constructed a three-sided cabin wall. It had a pointed windshield that was connected by hinges to the side walls. The windshield had two plexiglass windows and each sidewall had a large plexiglass window. The walls sat right on the gun rails and were locked in place by sliding pins through hinges. A plywood top snapped on to sidewalls keeping everything locked in place. I thought we were finished but Dad wasn’t. With a water-poof, silver colored, canvas material, Dad fabricated a cover that stretched from the ends of the cabin walls to the boat’s transom. The cover could be easily attached and removed with snap attachments. I still have a piece of this same material in my garage. The entire cabin could be easily removed when we wanted to just fish.
It was just a beautiful, unique little cabin cruiser. We set it up in the backyard and the Milwaukee paper sent a photographer to take a picture for an article in the newspaper.
Milwaukee Journal article showing the cabin cruiser with my Dad and grandfather, Harry Atwell.
My Dad had a friend who lived on Moose Lake. One weekend Dad dropped my friend Tommy Baker and I off on his friend’s property. We launched the boat and camped on his friends land. We fished and swam all weekend. In the evening we anchored the boat in a back bay, with the cabin and cover in place we slept on the water. Late on Sunday Dad picked us up.
When Dad wanted to fish alone the boat actually created a problem. He wasn’t able to handle it himself. At the time there was a one-man boat loader on the market. After examining it, Dad decided it wasn’t worth the money as it was still difficult to use. It was probably at this point when he decided that he would build his own model.
I can’t remember how many different loader designs he drew and fabricated. Each one was a progression forward. He would build a part out of wood. Someone would make a mold for him and then cast the part out of aluminum. Trial after trial went by until finally he hit on the design that solved all the problems.
The pole of the boat loader attached to a standard trailer hitch with the ball removed. At the top of the pole was a clamp that hooked to the top of the transom, when the boat was upside down on the car. Once on the can you would simply pick up the bow of the boat and walk around to the back of the car. At this point you could flip the boat over and lower the front of the boat to the ground near the shore. This was made possible because the transom clamp could be rotated 180 degrees and moved downward 45 degrees, a very unique design.
Grandpa and his one-man boat loader.
Unscrewing a locking knob above the trailer hitch then allow one to lower the pole till the boat is flat on the ground. A short shove puts the boat into the water. Reloading the boat follows the reverse directions, ie, attach the transom clamp lift the pole till the boat is at a 45 degree angle, screw in the locking knob, lift the bow of the boat, rotate 180 degrees, then walk from the back of the car to the front and lower the boat onto the car rack. The transom clamp design and the tilt pole were the key patentable designs.
This boat loader was the best built, most functional design on the market. There was one problem; the market. Boat ownership was becoming popular and purchased boats were now coming with trailers. Most owners who could afford a boat didn’t want to mess with the handling that came with the one man boat loader. My Dad obtained a patent, however, he lacked a distribution channel and no significant sales ever developed.
Dad used the boat for many years and then sold it. I had already moved out of state so I never knew the next owner. I still have the only remaining, functional boat loader. I have no idea what to do with it. I just don’t have the heart to throw it away!
Written by William H. Atwell (3-28-2020)
Grandpa was an artist so I’m sure he did this drawing!