DUMBO

Volunteers build 1890 Whitehall rowboat at Brooklyn Bridge Park

A boat grows in Brooklyn ...

May 2, 2016 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Rob Buchanan, right, and Marcel Dejean, board members at Village Community Boathouse, are leading volunteers in building an authentic 14-foot wooden Whitehall rowboat in Brooklyn Bridge Park this month. All are welcome to join in.
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“If life becomes unlivable in Brooklyn, we plan to evacuate by water,” joked Rob Buchanan, one of the leaders of community boat building sessions taking place this month at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Volunteers are constructing an authentic 14-foot wooden Whitehall rowboat, which, when completed, will be transported to Prospect Park and used in the free summer program, hosted by the Village Community Boathouse (VCB).

People interested in working on the boat can drop by 99 Plymouth St. in Brooklyn Bridge Park on Mondays and Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon until May 15. (It gets crowded on Saturdays, so it’s best to reserve your slot by contacting [email protected].)

“Our mission is to expand public access to the waterways,” Buchanan said. “This is our way of luring the public into our mission and getting on board.” Buchanan and fellow builder Marcel Dejean are both board members at VCB.

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The group is also trying to get the community interested in the idea of year-round boathouse boat building in Brooklyn Bridge Park “because there’s going to be a new boathouse here in the next year or so. Part of that boathouse is a boat-building space,” Buchanan said.

The boat gaining shape in the park this month is called a Whitehall rowboat because the design originated on Whitehall Street in Manhattan, “the place where you went if you were going to catch a small boat out into the harbor or out to Brooklyn,” Buchanan said.

“If you missed the ferry and wanted to go quickly to Brooklyn, or if you wanted to go to a ship, you’d go to Whitehall Street and jump on one of these. The guy would row you across.”

“The plans we’re building this from were taken from a boat that was built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1890. This is an exact replica, at least in shape and size,” Buchanan said.

“The distinctive feature is the wineglass transom [the back end]. That came to be associated with New York boat design in the early 19th century,” he said. “And it’s just a very beautiful shape at the back end of a boat. There’s something very organic about it.”

Anyone is welcome to join in the construction, from old timers familiar with the woodworking process to young people just getting interested. Because of sharp tools, parents must accompany children, however.

The boat, while a replica, is not built exactly the same way a similar boat would have been crafted in 1890. “What’s we’re doing here is not expert carpentry,” said Marcel Dejean, co-builder. “If someone who is an experienced worker saw us cutting these pieces for the boat, they’d be a little bit appalled.

“And we’re also not using 19th century materials,” Dejean added. “We’re using plywood and epoxy, both of which came about in the past 70 years or so. And that makes it a lot easier to build a boat. Epoxy fills all the gaps.”

However, “Most people couldn’t tell that they’re not perfectly traditional boats,” Buchanan said. “And really the point is not to build beautiful boats, it’s to get the public out on the water. So if you can come up with a simple design that’s easy to build but still looks good, that’s the ideal … Only a real boat snob would look at it and say, ‘This is not an authentic Whitehall rowboat from the 19th century.’”

VCB also works with students from Benjamin Banneker High School, who have built two boats and are working on a third. The students row their boats on the East River from the Navy Yard.

“We have a little dock at Wallabout Channel, which is a protected part of the Navy Yard,” Buchanan said.  “That’s where we teach them how to row. And once they’re good enough, then we can ride on the river.”

People interested in knowing more about community boatbuilding and rowing can visit [email protected]

Students from Benjamin Banneker High School, who have built two boats and are working on a third, row from a dock at Wallabout Channel at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Photo by Mary Frost, from a photo courtesy of Village Community Boathouse


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