Wilcox and Crittenden Co Inc Catalog 1954

02 Mar 19:

A few bits from the 1954 Wiclox and Crittenden Co. Inc catalog. They made the hardware for Alcort sailboats, the Sunfish and Sailfish. We have a lot of the hardware, one of our favorites is the bow handle for the wooden Alcorts. They run about 50 dollars today on the Old New Stock market.

We also like their boat hooks.

Now we know where to get our ice pick holders!

Wilcox and Crittenden Boat Hook, Chocks and Bow Handle

07 Feb 19

Rounded up some more Wilcox and Crittenden hardware for use on our boats. We will make another padook with the galvanized boat hook, it feels like the perfect weight. We love the crusty patina.

The tabbed bow handles fit on the wooden Alcort Standard Sailfish, Super Sailfish and Sunfish. We are losing track of how many boats we have, but I think this is a spare :)

I'm not sure what I was more excited about, the box or the chocks inside. The chocks will go on our little Sorg Runabout WILLOW.

Small Boat Padook

02 Dec 18:

We designed a combination paddle and boat hook recently, to assist in boat handling. There are a lot of combinations out there, but we wanted one that took up little space, with that in mind we chose the Greenland paddle shape for our "padook." We also wanted it to float upright, and used information gleaned from a WoodenBoat article to aid in the design.

We just had an article published on the Padook in the Novemebr 2018 issue of Small Boats Monthly, way more information on making, measurements and sea trials posted there. Editor Chris Cunningham shared photos of the construction and float test of his beautiful padook. Chris is the expert, he wrote the book Building the Greenland Kayak and offers a guide on paddle construction.

The article on floating boat hooks and the boat hook itself can be purchased from WoodenBoat.

Beautiful bronze for the hook end.

Making sawdust. Spot the Crickle?

Hook and handle, a surprisingly secure grip.

While we were at it we made a pattern.

She fits well with our Penobscot 14 adventure gear.

FMI:
WoodenBoat Boat Hook and Upstanding Boat Hook Article
Small Boats Monthly Padook Article

Small Boat Boat Hook

We wanted to have a small boat hook to grab a dock when we are coming in for landing. And to fend off boarders....Mostly to fend off boarders...saw one we liked on the Herreshoff dingy Gem from 1885, currently housed at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. (Off Center Harbor video).

First we bought a boat hook from WoodenBoat a few months back. We measured the outer diameter and set off to find a mostly ready handle. We looked at some tools to see if we could adapt a handle and found a nice ash shovel handle at Lowes. Brought it back to the Boat Works and cut it down to size. I used the jigsaw to start a nice groove that matched the outer diameter of the hook and then the rasp to take off a lot of material next to the groove. The belt sander came next to remove the rest of the material and smooth the point. After that we used the random orbital sander to get rid of the finish and logo. Jamestown Distributors TotalBoat Wood Sealer and 2 coats of TotalBoat Gleam Satin varnish were applied, and finally the hook was attached with 2 silicone bronze screws.

Can't wait to try it out!

(Image: Off Center Harbor).

(Image: Off Center Harbor).

Sea Trials.