Paul and Sharon LaBrie live in West Gardiner, a rural community 10 miles to the southwest of Augusta, Maine, and while they are 25 miles inland from the state’s south-central coast, they don’t lack for access to the water. Their 7-acre lot borders Cobbosseecontee Stream, a gently flowing tributary of the Kennebec River. The couple have always shared a love of paddling. In 1976 they celebrated their first anniversary with an overnight canoe trip on Maine’s Narraguagus River. A short time later they bought a Grumman canoe—their first boat—and matching paddles, and throughout their nearly half-century of married life they have continued boating and camping together.In 2005, Paul took an early retirement from a 21-year-long career in academic technology management, and established LaBrie Small Craft, a hobby business devoted to building and restoring boats. Among the boats he built were two reviewed in Small Boats: L. Francis Herreshoff’s CARPENTER and the E.M. White Guide Canoe. He and Sharon also joined forces for several years to do custom work for Island Falls Canoe/Old Town Canoe when customers ordered wooden canoes covered with fiberglass rather than canvas.About eight years ago, Paul had designed a peapod and before he began construction, he and Sharon had a difference of opinion, the kind that can push even a long, happy marriage to the brink: strip-built or lapstrake. Paul had a number of good reasons to go with strip-built: “Twisting a slim 1/4" cedar strip, as it leaves the flat bottom and makes a 90-degree twist to the ends of the boat, is easier than torturing a long piece of plywood. Strip-planked bottoms lend themselves better than lapstrake to various coverings like Dynel and a mix of carbon powder and epoxy—just the thing for the ledge and rough landings we often encounter here in Maine. Lapstrake-hull bottoms don't lend themselves as well to ’glass coverings. And a ‘clean’ bottom, sans seams, is probably a more efficient one, especially for small, human-powered craft.” On the other hand, Sharon likes the look of lapstrake.
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Great writing! More from this author please!
Thanks very much, Adam. The Reader Built Boat features are done in house, working from notes provided by the builders, and I’ve written all of them so far.
Christopher Cunningham
Editor, Small Boats Magazine