July 29, 2010 | Christine Buckley - College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Building Boats the Old-fashioned Way

Undergraduate students at the Avery Point campus get a hands-on lesson in building boats.

<p>Three undergraduates at the Avery Point campus learned to build Adirondack pack boats during an internship with Bill Armitage of the John Gardner Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association. Shown here are (L to R) Stephen Jones, English professor at Avery Point and boating enthusiast; Bill Armitage of the TSCA, undergraduates Elizabeth Provenzano, Peter Omdahl, and Jon Turban; and Sandy E'Esposo of the TSCA. Photo by Christine Buckley</p>
Three undergraduates at the Avery Point campus learned to build Adirondack pack boats during an internship with Bill Armitage of the John Gardner Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association. Shown here are (L to R) Stephen Jones, English professor at Avery Point and boating enthusiast; Bill Armitage of the TSCA, undergraduates Elizabeth Provenzano, Peter Omdahl, and Jon Turban; and Sandy D'Esposo of the TSCA. Photo by Christine Buckley
<p>Photo of two Avery Point undergraduates doing a boatbuilding internship with Bill Armitage of the John Gardner chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association. Photo by Christine Buckley </p>
Bill Armitage points out some of the finer points of boat building to Jon Turban. Photo by Christine Buckley
<p>Photo of two Avery Point undergraduates doing a boatbuilding internship with Bill Armitage of the John Gardner chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association. Photo by Christine Buckley </p>
Professor Stephen Jones, who teaches English in the Department of Maritime Studies, is an accomplished sailor, wooden boat builder and author. He shared some historical facts with students during the boat building experience. Photo by Christine Buckley
<p>The John Gardner chapter of the Traditional Small Craft association is based at the Community Boathouse building on the Avery Point Campus. This is where the students learned to build boats. Elizabeth Provenzano, an undergraduate Bachelor of General Studies major, cuts out a pattern of plywood that will create the hull of one of the boats. Photo by Bill Armitage </p>
Elizabeth Provenzano, an undergraduate Bachelor of General Studies major, cuts out a pattern of plywood that will create the hull of one of the boats. Photo by Bill Armitage
<p>Undergraduates Peter Omdahl and Jon Turban add a construction platform to pieces that will become the strongback, or the bottom, of the boat. Photo by Bill Armitage </p>
Undergraduates Peter Omdahl and Jon Turban add a construction platform to pieces that will become the strongback, or the bottom, of the boat. Photo by Bill Armitage
<p>Avery Point undergraduates are teaming with the John Gardner chapter of the Traditional Small Craft association to build these smaller, lighter versions of a traditional two-person Adirondack guideboat, the design for which has remained virtually unchanged since the early 1800s. Photo by Bill Armitage</p>
The boats built by the Avery Point undergraduates are smaller, lighter versions of a traditional two-person Adirondack guideboat, the design for which has remained virtually unchanged since the early 1800s. Photo by Bill Armitage