PEASE BOAT WORKS
Chatham, Mass.
I met with Mike Pease whose job it is to run and administer Pease Boat Works. I visited Pease Boat Works on April 30, 2003. When I visited there, I asked him some questions. I also got to see what was going on in the shop. Here are the basic questions that I asked and the answers he gave me:
ROSE: What is your job?
MR. PEASE: I run and adminster the company.
ROSE: Do you use old tools to make old boats?
MR. PEASE: We use a mixture to try and match old techniques.
ROSE: How long have you been building boats?
MR. PEASE: About twenty years.
ROSE: How wold you compare new boatbuilding to old boatbuilding?
MR. PEASE: Today when you build a boat it takes molds and chemicals, but when you built one 100 years ago it took real craftmanship, not fiberglass and epoxy.
ROSE: How did you learn to build boats?
MR. PEASE: I watched other craftsmen do it and I went to college. Most of all I practiced.
ROSE: What skills do you need to build boats?
MR. PEASE: You need to be able to see with your hands and you need to be able t learn.
ROSE: How have materials changed over the years?
MR. PEASE: The wood is not as high quality and the adhesive has changed.
ROSE: How are they the same?
MR. PEASE: They are both made of wood; they both have the same plans, and the fastenings and lead ballast have stayed the same.
Building wooden boats is harder than fiberglass boats.
Building fiberglass boats doesn't require craftmanship.
Building boats is something you need to stick with.
Many people are frustrated because it doesn't come easily.
Many kinds are wood are used to build one boat.
Oak: spine and ribs
Cedar: "Skin" (planks)
Wooden boats are high maintenance.
People like wooden boats becuase they feel and sound better.
People like fiberglass boats becuase they aren't as high maintenance.
Fiberglass boats are based on what has already been discovered.
