Comments on: Herreshoff/Gardner 17

By: Jenny Bennett

Jenny Bennett — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 14:12:08 +0000

In reply to Steve Najjar. Hi Steve, I'd be happy to help you upload a photo if you'd like to do that. Just let me know.

By: Ben Fuller

Ben Fuller — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 14:08:03 +0000

Some comments as John worked up and built The GREEN MACHINE during my watch at Mystic. The project was in the winter of 1980, with the completion that summer. The boat in the photo is not the original which has been retired; it is one built carefully by the late Myron Young and donated for use.

There was material experimentation. The boat is built using high grade exterior waterproof construction plywood, not marine plywood, and over the years there has been some checking. Most people don’t realize this as John used a piece of cedar for the sheerstrake so you don’t see the ply end grain. It was built before glued lap became a thing and might be able to be made a bit lighter as the fastenings were kind of belt and braces, glued laps and clench nails. There was no real effort made to make it as light as possible.

The GREEN MACHINE was set up to row in one direction as a single, the other as a double so the seat for single rowing could be folded to get it out of the way as you couldn’t get your feet under it when rowing double or carrying a passenger. The third seat for single rowing was put amidships and you pulled from the bow oarlocks.

Boats with these skeg-like stems are extremely sensitive to trim, griping badly if even lightly bow down. Many builders decide the boat is going to be rowed only in one direction and relive the bow stem, and trim the boat accordingly as she is a little bow high when rowed as a single from the stern seat or needs weight in the stern rowed as a single from the bow seat. Some shift the aft seat forward a frame which then means that some stern weight is needed if rowed as a double. Some have added a shallow skeg in the stern.

The boat’s development is interwoven with the Adirondack Guideboat, where one of the problems to solve was how to make artificial natural crook frames. John solved this with glued laminations. His long article details this but because of the double ended shape there were only three shapes needed from which several pairs of frames could be resawn.

Borrowed also from western Adirondack guideboats was the slight rake in the stems, making planking easier than using a plumb stem and the dramatic flare in the topsides. Both are of considerable help in keeping water out of the boat when pulling into a head sea.

John was a bit conservative in oar lengths. The recommended 7’6″ oars work in both rowing positions but the forward position with 48″ between locks can take 8′ oars. Andy Steever in his “Oars for Pleasure Rowing” (available on the Internet Archive) details the oars designed for the boat. They have teflon leathers and are squared inboard of the locks. They have been counterweighted with lead strips, to balance with the weight of your hand. The longer ones took three times the amount of lead.

I became the tester for the boat, taking it out into Fisher Island Sound where there were predictable whitecaps over a bar out from Ram Island. I got her surfing pretty good but the flare kept the bow up surfing. That summer I took her to the Blackburn and won my class. That set off a building spree of race optimized boats.

By: John Ernst

John Ernst — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 16:54:40 +0000

I had one of these for about 20 years. Built by Steve Najjar in Redwood City, CA and named Sophisticated Lady. Weighed about 95 pounds. Had a trolley type sliding seat and fixed seat. Went well with either. I mounted a pair of folding outrigger oarlocks I had lying around and used 8′ Shaw and Tenney spoons. It went beautifully in all but crazy weather. I launched off the shore into Lake Ontario. When I hit 85 launching and retrieving got too difficult and I regretfully sold her. Bought an Annapolis Wherry for the weight. Now building an Oughtred Macgregor kit because even lighter.

By: John Murray

John Murray — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 03:34:11 +0000

Thank you very much for your article. I have found over the years that the sides of the boat are only needed to keep the water out and can be made in your case, I suspect, with 1/8″ ply. I have made one boat out of carbon fiber and got the weight down to 50 lbs. The only advantage is that it is easier to cartop. Now use one less layer of fibreglass on the sides and though it might feel vulnerable it is quite adequate. A friend in Tasmania makes his from tortured ply.
Fiberglass with wooden gunwales, backrests, and foot stretcher is 66lbs. This means I only have to lift 33lbs onto the roofrack then go to the other end lift and push it on.

By: Wayne Grabow

Wayne Grabow — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 00:36:16 +0000

“the Herreshoff/Gardner can be a bit squirrely”
I wonder if that may be due to the amount of rocker (2 3/4 inches) used. I have built several similar boats (my own design) with 1 to 1.5 inches of rocker which track well but, of course, may turn less readily. It depends on what you are seeking.

By: Steve Najjar

Steve Najjar — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 23:07:42 +0000

Hi,
Back in the late 90s, I had my own shop, and built seven of these so-called Herreshoff/Gardner pulling boats. One of them was for the singer, Jimmy Buffett. I shipped it from my shop in the Bay Area to Sag Harbor, Long Island. I had to build a box that was 18 feet long by 4 feet wide by 2 feet high. That in itself was a project.

Jimmy passed away a year and a half ago. I was recently contacted by the man dealing with his estate, and was pleased to know that Jimmy used the boat quite a bit. (Sorry, I couldn’t figure out how to add a photo of the boat.)