Sloop »

When Daniel Robb set out to rebuild a family sailboat that had been deteriorating for years, he couldn't have anticipated what he was getting into. Although Robb was a skilled carpenter, boatbuilding (and boat repair) required a specialized set of skills. And this wasn't just any boat; it was a Herreshoff 12 1/2, a classic wooden sailboat. Built especially for the coastal waters of New England, this little sloop had sailed for years out of the author's boyhood home in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, before being relegated to a quiet corner of a yard, no longer the focus of the family's summer. Restoring the sailboat was both an act of respect and an homage to a place and a way of life that are in jeopardy of disappearing.

Sloop is the captivating story of Daniel Robb's education in boatbuilding, peopled by an eccentric cast of characters — lumbermen, boatbuilders, and local artisans — who are part of a changing and perhaps dying world. They tell Robb how to find the materials — certain kinds of wood, fastenings, caulking, and canvas — he'll need, which are increasingly hard to come by, and they educate him in the techniques of restoration, an all-but-lost art. Building and restoring wooden boats means an initiation into a world where life is lived simply, with respect for materials, for labor, and for the local waters.

A craftsman and environmentalist, Robb is a willing and able student, and although the restoration of the boat takes far more time and effort than he'd calculated, it is ultimately successful. After all Robb's struggles with quartersawn white oak, homemade steam boxes, bronze screws, copper rivets, andold mast hoops, the Herreshoff sailsagain — and a dying art and a vanishing way of life remain alive and vibrant just a while longer.

By turns charming, meditative, and wonderfully quirky, Sloop is a paean to a sense of place and to old-fashioned values.

Publishers Weekly

Seeing his family's sailboat wasting away under a tarp on his cousin's property, Robb, a carpenter and author (Crossing the Water), thought to himself, "I could write about rebuilding her." The boat in question is Daphie, a 68-year-old, 15½-foot sloop built by Nathana Greene Herreshoff, "genius of American design and engineering." As he takes stock of the boat, Robb dutifully presents its story, which is interwoven with the history of his family, himself and the Woods Hole area of Cape Cod, where his family has deep roots and Robb currently lives. Robb spends the time he doesn't use to work on Daphie enjoying endless cups of coffee and tea with colorful local characters and craftsman who give him advice on boatbuilding, lend a hand bending and replacing boat frames or advise against the project altogether. Robb is a craftsman as well, with words as well as with a hammer, as he constructs a charming tale that both details the technical nature of boatbuilding and captures the essence of the past, present and future of a New England maritime community. (June)

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Sloop     1
A Proposal     7
Perseverando     9
The Boat Mover     15
Bill and Rafe     19
Resolve     29
The Old House     32
A Start     39
January: Shed     41
Building a Shelter     49
Shed: Done     53
Consultation     55
Opiner     64
Description     66
Giff     70
Origins     74
February     78
The Quest for Wood     86
The Source     98
To Build a Steam Box     102
Kettle     109
The Auto Zone     112
Nine Miles by Water     114
March     115
September     115
Walden     117
November: Bending In a Frame with George     127
One Frame     136
Harbor Ice     139
Talisker     144
March     156
April     159
May     161
June     162
June 21     166
The Planks     169
Mast Hoops     173
July: The Bulkhead Grille     187
First Thursday in July: Decks     195
Canvas Decks     204
Floorboards     207
Monday, Second Week of July: Transom     209
Second Thursday in August: Elf     212
Stories     216
Third Monday in August: Covering Boards     222
Story     223
Three Tillers     225
Third Tuesday in August: Seats     227
Third Wednesday in August     230
Third Thursday in August: Spars     231
Third Friday in August: Paint     234
Wednesday, Fourth Week in August: Bronze     237
Thursday, Last Week in August: Caulking     240
Friday, Fourth Week in August: Sails     244
Fourth Saturday in August: Bottom Paint     246
Last Monday in August: Launch     250
Launch Day Cont'd.: Pumping     254
Shakedown     258
Proposal     266
October     275
November     284
Glossary     287
Acknowledgments     303
Index     305