Paul LaBrie is new to professional boatbuilding, but the design he chose for his first commercial project is one of the oldest in this publication. CARPENTER was drawn up by L. Francis Herreshoff in the summer of 1929—his Design No. 41—and featured in his book Sensible Cruising Designs.In an era when small boats were less commonly created for their own sakes, Herreshoff devised CARPENTER as a tender for the 50' auxiliary power cruiser WALRUS. (The names come from Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and The Carpenter.”) He described CARPENTER as being a “sort of cross between a whaleboat and a dory, for she is whaleboat-shaped above the waterline, but has the narrow, flat bottom of the dory. The combination would make an admirable seaboat, whether loaded or light, yet a boat that would also take kindly to being beached.” He went on to explain that the “turtlebacks fore and aft provide dry stowage space and extra buoyancy,” and that “the rig is extremely versatile, for...there is an additional mast position at the forward end of the centerboard trunk, which would allow sailing her as a catboat with either the big sail or the small one.” In short, Herreshoff mused, “she would make an excellent secondary cruising boat for exploring small waters within range of the WALRUS’ anchorage.”For Paul LaBrie it was love at first sight. About 10 years ago a friend gave him a copy of Sensible Cruising Designs and as soon as he saw the drawings for CARPENTER, he “just fell in love. I always thought, if nothing else, it would be a fun boat to have for myself. Then two years ago we moved to Maine—we have a log home in the woods with a barn and access to lakes, the Penobscot River, and the upper Penobscot Bay. Once I’d built the new shop it seemed that CARPENTER was ideal to be my first boat.” Paul had built boats before: an English punt for his son, two kayaks—one an Aleut baidarka, the other a “tortured-ply” Severn from a Chesapeake Light Craft kit—and a strip-planked canoe, but CARPENTER was the “first bigger boat” and the first to be built “on spec.”
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Thanks for the “bonus” article.
I have read somewhere in the past, that Carpenter was the basis for the Sea Pearl 21, a great boat in its own right, of which I have owned three over the years. This is indeed a beautiful boat, but probably beyond my abilities at age 87.
Jim Brown
Sweetwater, TN
Paul, did I miss it? Wondering about the beam? Looks more slender than I thought she might be, but likely the photos. She looks like a perfect little cruiser for overnights up there. I’m leaning toward the ILUR, love the freeboard of both… but this little beauty might just change my mind.
Congrats,
Rob K
Hi Robert,
I no longer have the plans for CARPENTER so I can’t accurately speak to the beam, but CARPENTER is a long, slim boat as the photos suggest. Yes, Sea Pearls were inspired by this Herreshoff design, but they are much larger boats. (Dr. Denis Wang, whose Downeast Work Boat was featured last month in Small Boats, is the longtime owner of CARPENTER. The boat is now located in the Pacific Northwest).
I really like Vivier’s Ilur; it is a wonderful design and is a much different boat from CARPENTER. Ilur has the great advantage of being available as a CNC-cut kit and could be built more quickly.
For anyone who is interested, the Vineyard Gazette website has a link to various older videos. One of them is called something like “sword fishing off of the Vineyard.” It shows the crew of the original Walrus harpooning a swordfish, and then aboard the Carpenter while rowing to retrieve the keg and dart, with Fish attached. It’s a bit brutal, as the fisherman saws off the sword while the animal is still alive.