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Boatbuilding is at the core of Rocking the Boat's work with inner-city youth and is a powerful tool for building self-confidence and learning about life. Since August 1998, when Rocking the Boat began operations, over 400 students from more than 20 different high schools have been involved in building 23 traditional wooden boats. Each semester-long Boatbuilding class is divided into two sections of eight students each. They work together in the Shop on Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 7:30 pm during the school year.
During the summer, all students are paid a stipend of $575 to work from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Thursday for seven weeks. A significant part of this special summer program takes place at the Philipsburg Manor living history museum, 30 minutes north of the Bronx. In a bucolic setting, students use traditional hand tools, dress in period costume, and demonstrate the boatbuilding process and its historical context to the visiting public.
More info on the Philipsburg Manor program Without any previous woodworking experience, students build a full size traditional wooden boat from scratch. They start from architectural drawings, transfer the layout to wood, and create the entire backbone of the vessel before planking, framing, and painting.
In equal numbers of boys and girls, the students are drawn mostly from the Bronx but also Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. They represent Latino, African-American, West Indian, Indian, Asian, South American, and African cultures. For some, the Boatbuilding program is a familiar reminder of the island countries they or their parents came from.
Many of Rocking the Boat's boats have been 14-foot Whitehall rowing boats, a design with historical relevance to New York City -- it was the primary small craft used throughout New York Harbor in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Other designs include a Cape Cod Oyster Skiff, a bateau, a colonial river ferry, a Rangeley Lakes Boat, and a Melonseed Skiff -- a decked sailboat traditionally used in New Jersey tidal estuaries. Boatbuilding students also build all of the oars that their On-Water counterparts use to row the fleet.
A large community boat launch event completes each semester, allowing Boatbuilding and On-Water students to show their work off to their friends and families and get a first opportunity to use their new creation.
schedule
Each semester after school programs are offered from 4pm - 7pm.
Fall: 2nd week of September - 3rd week of December Spring: 1st week of March - First week of June Summer: 1st week of July - 3rd week of August eligibility All high school age students are encouraged to apply. You do not need to be in school to join. requirements Students need not have any prior boatbuilding or carpentry experience, only the desire to have new experiences and the willingness to put in the effort to learn new things. apply:  or contact Christopher Kautz at Rocking the Boat |
