Community Corner
Child's Kayak Built by Volunteers, Raffled at Bayles Boat Shop
A Port Jefferson resident won a child's kayak build by volunteers at the Bayles Boat Shop.
A beautifully crafted child’s kayak had been on display at the at in Port Jefferson for the past few weekends. Visitors were able to look over the kayak–good for youngsters up to 100 pounds–and purchase raffle tickets for a fundraiser to benefit the (LISEC)’s boat building projects hoping to win the masterpiece of construction for their child or grandchild.
On Sunday at noon, the Stack family–Dana and Eric with their two children, Augustus, 5, and Winnie, 7, and their black lab, Lola–arrived at the boat shop tickets in hand, just in time to be the ones to pick the winner. In fact, Winnie and Augustus had the job of shaking up all the stubs to insure that the drawing was as fair as possible. They so hoped to win it.
Unfortunately, they didn’t but the happy winner was Nicole Connelly of Port Jefferson.
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There will be a next time, as the may be planning a family boat-build in the fall of 2012.
Betty Ann Arink, the president of LISEC whose headquarters is at the Bayless Boat Shop, was a hard working member of the boat building crew that put together this "stich and glue 8’ Chesapeake light craft Duckling kit" made of okkume (light colored) and Sampele (dark) plywood.
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"It was a challenge to make the pieces fit, then to stich and glue them to give the boat its correct shape," she said. "Next we had to cover it with a 4-oz fiberglass cloth, six coats of resin and four coats of varnish. It should last a very long time, as long as it is not stored in direct sunlight and is taken care of by giving it a light sanding and a new coat of varnish each year.”
Nate Gass, now 14 years old, worked on the Kayak. He has been working most Wednesdays and Saturdays in the boat house all summer.
"I came here because I’ve always liked boats and wanted to see how they were built," he said. "I've learned a lot. I plan to keep coming – at least until I build my own boat."
He is now working on the centerboard for the SS Sloop under restoration in the shop.
LISEC plans to build an adult size kayak in the winter as well as completing the restoration of the Sloop. To keep up with all that is going on at the boat shop, check out the website: www.LISEC.org or, come see, maybe join, the
