Unique wooden boat?

Posted by nicholhawking@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 25 comments

Saw this neat boat on Lake Union (Seattle) the other day. Wonder what that wooden contraption off the stern is/what it does.

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automaticpragmatic@reddit

Bet if you went down to the center for wooden boats they might have a clue

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dickwae@reddit

it's called a "bumpkin," and it's purpose is to lengthen the boom and avoid a split backstay. they're most often found on double ended canoe sterns.

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Ahlarict@reddit

Is there any such thing as a bumpkin without a backstay? This was originally a gaffer and has no backstay because her boom was too long to clear one.

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dickwae@reddit

it looks to me that the split backstays are off, and made to the starboard side temporarily along with the main sheet and block. you can clearly see where they attach on the bumpkin.

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Ahlarict@reddit

Could be. Looked like she might have had running back stays in the photos I linked above

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dickwae@reddit

i'd say from the photos you linked that i'm wrong. the one with the skipper at the helm looks like those terminal ends are unused?, and that whole thing is indeed dinghy davits.

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nicholhawking@reddit (OP)

The gallows is also connected to it a foot aft of the stern.

It's funny none of the photos have a dinghy in them.

Some of them have some rigging that looks likely used for a dinghy though.

I wonder if initially it was a bumpkin that got repurposed when the rigging was redone

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dickwae@reddit

i typed that it was a bumpkin after looking at OP's first photo only, and didn't even realize it wasn't a v shaped bumpkin until after i cried about downvotes.

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Bill Garden was an artist, so one can’t dismiss the possibility that this was primarily a design flourish. He did however use this to access a remote leisure property up in BC so he may have needed a small tender

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nicholhawking@reddit (OP)

Wait so should we go back and downvote you? ;) thanks for all the detective work!

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nicholhawking@reddit (OP)

Ayy how bout that!

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