Yankee Tender

This is the boat we will be building as the final part of the first semester utilizing all the skills we have learned to date. Construction will start this week and finish prior to the Winter break. We will be using western red cedar as our primary material and will deviate from the plans in building only a single layer planked bottom. 

The “Yankee Tender” is a Wooden Boat Magazine refined design of the original “Thomson skiff-tender”, built from the early 1900’s to about 1935 by Cape Cod boatbuilder Asa Thomas of New Bedford, MA. It is known for it’s light weight, elegant lines, rowing ease, and sea worthiness as it was designed to handle the choppy waters of Buzzards Bay in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was used both as a skiff to get out on the water and fish out of, as well as being used as yacht tender.

The original “legendary” design by Asa Thomas was 10’ LOA with 3 strakes. Asa Thomas was known for his fine craftsmanship and exacting standards. Maynard Bray, Spencer Lincoln, Joel White and Jon Wilson, all of Wooden Boat magazine, teamed up and refined Thomas’s design and stretched it 12’-4” LOA, added a forth strake, and further raked the transom and the stem resulting a bigger boat, and more pleasing lines, yet it still rows with ease due to the rocker flat bottom

The boat is built primarily of cedar (strakes, thwarts, sternsheets), with an oak stem, transom, keel, rails and delicately tapered frames. The strakes are riveted together with copper nails and roves. All other fasteners and hardware is of silicon bronze. The chines and seat knees where steam-bent to shape. The outside is painted and the inside is oiled with a homemade varnish recipe called “boat soup” or “boat sauce”, an old down east deck coating formula consisting of a mixture of Boiled Linseed Oil, Turpentine, Pine Tar, and Japan Drier.

The boat rows with ease due to its rocker flat bottom which helps to keep the transom bottom out of the water, thus reducing drag. It will carry three adults. With one or three persons on board, the normal rowing position is the center thwart. With 2 persons on board, the rower sits on the forward thwart and the passenger sits on the sternsheets to keep the boat rocker balanced.

In Thomson’s day the 10’ skiff-tender complete with leathered oars cost $140 (not so cheap in those days) and he charged $1.25 per hour for his labor.