Located in Eel Town on Shelter Island, Shelter Island Boat Works is a small boat shop established in 2019. Concentrating on small wooden boats under 20 feet, repair work has also included larger wooden boats. The first blog posts focus on the Seaford Skiff build. It is a 14′ shallow draft, wooden duck hunting boat designed in the 1870s. There were many variations of this boat that sailed the waters around Seaford, Long Island.

Earlier work includes an Annapolis Wherry and the restoration of a 1960s Dyer Midget. The next build of a Herreshoff Coquina has started.

… in the beginning

3 responses to “A Brief History of Shelter Island Boat Works”

  1. John Gearing Avatar
    John Gearing

    Hi Todd,

    I found your blog by searching online for information regarding Mower dories. I have recently come into a Mower dory that has had three rigs. The first one used the standard Beachcomber/Alpha sails (as Gardner shows in his Mower chapter) but with a hollow (stave, not birdsye) mast rather than the solid Beachcomber mast. That mast suffered a complete fracture about a foot above the partners. I have not examined yet to see whether this corresponds with the gooseneck’s location. The failure may have been, in part, due to the mast not being able to bend slightly at the head in order to shed a heavy gust.

    The owner then switched to a solid mast, gaff rig, which appears to have suffered from serious splitting at the point where a gooseneck fitting was screwed into the mast. Mast #2 also shows an extreme amount of wear from the gaff jaws.

    Mast #3 was the owner’s final rigging iteration. It is another solid mast, gaff rig, using jaws on the boom vice a gooseneck, and leathered gaff jaws. Two wire shrouds were added as well.

    I plan to have a new mast made to the original Beachcomber design so that I can use the as-designed sail. Yes, my purchase included all three masts plus both the original leg o’mutton sail and the gaff sail.

    However, I was intrigued to read in your blog that some Mower dory owners in the Pacific NW have had success with gunter rigs. Gunter rigs, owing to their short masts, have some interest for me, as I very much like the idea of being able to stow the rig inside the boat.

    I’d really like to get in touch with Mower owners who use gunter rigs. Can you point me in the right direction? Did you build your own Mower dory, and if so, what rig do you use in it?

    Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

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    1. Shelter Island Boat Works Avatar
      Shelter Island Boat Works

      Hi John,

      I have not built the one I was contemplating yet. I just built a model of a “version” that i modified. It was a bit of a hybrid based on examples I saw in a build in the Northwest. I can’t seem to find the references I used but if you send me your email I can send on some photos.

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    2. Shelter Island Boat Works Avatar
      Shelter Island Boat Works

      Sorry, my email is schliemann.co@gmail.com

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