After decades of boat work in all sorts of spaces—from one-car garages to a cavernous warehouse in the 1990s—I recently joined two boat-obsessed friends in renting and outfitting what we laughingly but lovingly call Geezer Boat Works. At ages 80, 79 and 70-Something, this might be our last boatshop, so we’re making the most of it.
GBW is the opposite of a commercial enterprise, and that’s a good thing: It’s just a place where some aging buddies can tinker with boats in relative comfort, surrounded by tools and products needed to do woodwork, refinishing, planking and framing, wiring, plumbing and other such tasks.
Besides being associate editor of Small Craft Advisor, my background includes decades of work on customers’ boats—some rotten to the core, others needing just a bit of love. I am joined at Geezer Boat Works by two fellow boat nuts—Bob Miller, a retired Coast Guard officer with tons of boating experience, and Denis Wang, also retired, who for years taught biology at the high school and college level…and was one of the organizers of the famed Small Reach Regatta, an event for sail-and-oar boats on the coast of Maine.
All three of us are hopelessly addicted to wee watercraft, and in personality we might appear half asleep at times, so onlookers guess our friendship will survive playing together…maybe well beyond the 12-month lease.
In retirement, I’d been restoring and building boats for years, always solo, after decades of sharing work space with a crew of fellow boatwrights. I had no complaints about working alone, but when the three of us brainstormed the idea of a shared boatshop (over beer, I might mention), and how we could help each other with some projects, share tools and materials, and simply work on boats in the company of trusted boating friends…well, the musing soon became a reality. This Spring, we leased a 32’ x 48’ shop with an interior ceiling height of 20,’ tall enough to fully rig most of our small sailboats indoors.
As a bonus, the new shop is fully insulated, has heat from 220v overhead units, along with an air scrubber and massive roll-up door facing the morning sun. The shop came equipped with large sodium-vapor lights, but since they emit a dull yellowish color and sharply increase electric bills, we installed half a dozen economical daylight-balanced LED shop lights, which offer cheery illumination inside the building.
We already have five boats in the space, with four being worked on: Bob’s 18’ Poulsbo Boat launch, SCOT FREE; the 18’ John Gardner-designed outboard camp cruiser, MOON LADY, that Denis acquired from the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding; my 14’-on-deck, 20’-overall gunter yawl build, MOUSE, and the 10.5’ lapstrake tender to our 30’ liveaboard cruiser, RAVEN…in for refinish work. Hanging overhead, awaiting restoration, is my 1870-design Seaford Skiff, a 14’ melonseed built in Amityville, Long Island in 1952.
We’d like to share some photos of the shop space—what’s inside and how it’s organized—and briefly describe the projects we’re currently working on. Please understand: Our goal isn’t to crow about the shop, but rather to share bits of knowledge about particular basic tools that have worked for us over the decades; how we’re trying to organize a semi-functional boatshop without spending a fortune, and why working with friends on small boats can be a barrel of fun—not to mention more affordable—than paying for and working alone in one’s own shop.
So, here are some photos with captions to show what we’re up to at Geezer Boat Works, situated on the outskirts of Port Townsend, Washington.
So, let’s talk about tools in the Geezer Boat Works shop, along with our organization and storage of materials and supplies. First up, below, is the stationary tool that’s a must for all boatshops—a bandsaw, in this case our vintage Rockwell 14” model, a heavily-cast workhorse. I’ve had the beast forever and just love it. (Some boatshops have much bigger ships’ saws, but the 14-incher is fine for work on our small boats.)
Editor’s note: If readers wish to share photos or stories about how they’ve organized personal workshops, please get in touch with josh@smallcraftadvisor.com •SCA•
Being an “Old Geezer Myself” (did someone say 80??)…..I loved Marty’s article!……my upper level of skill was probably taxed under Kees Prins direction with SCAMP #6 B.Frank…took me 6 months….I would love to be able to spend time learning at the hands of “the 3 Old Geezers Boatshop”!…….Alas, too little time…so many boats…Again, thanks for the GREAT Article…Dan
Being an “Old Geezer Myself” (did someone say 80??)…..I loved Marty’s article!……my upper level of skill was probably taxed under Kees Prins direction with SCAMP #6 B.Frank…took me 6 months….I would love to be able to spend time learning at the hands of “the 3 Old Geezers Boatshop”!…….Alas, too little time…so many boats…Again, thanks for the GREAT Article…Dan
Heavy sigh! Living in the dry hole of boating I lust in my heart for such digs. Glad you have them!!