|
Vermont Magazine
Beauty on the Water by Jim Blair
|
| "If you think a runner’s high is high," says David Rosen, who with Steve Kaulback owns a small boat-building company in North Ferrisburgh called Adirondack Guideboat, "wait till you try a rower’s high." |
| From their drab industrial building flow some of the sweetest-rowing, fastest and most beautiful boats you could ever hope to see. But, be warned, if the words "row boat" make you think of clunky boats, hard work and hard rowing, think again. |
| Before there were roads or highways in the Adirondacks, water transport was the primary means by which people and goods were moved. The earliest guideboats appeared in the 1830’s. They were used for hunting, fishing, and transporting beaver pelts to market. Wealthy "sports" from the cities discovered the wilderness in Adirondack guideboats. Typically these boats were designed to carry a guide, two sports (as customers were called) and all their gear. Yet they had to be light enough for one person to carry. |
| In 1895 Henry van Dyke wrote about Adirondack guideboats, "They are one of the finest things that the skill of man has ever produced under the inspiration of the wilderness. It is a frail shell, so light that a guide can carry it with ease, but so dexterously fashioned that it rides the heaviest waves like a duck and slips through the water as if by magic." |
| When Steve Kaulback, whose background is as a photographer, woodworker and sculptor, first saw a guideboat being built he said, "That’s what I’m going to do for the rest of my life." He studied the work of master boatbuilders and then began making innovations of his own. The awards and plaques on his office wall attest to how well he has done. |
| One of Steve’s most valued possessions is an antique tool chest given to him by his grandfather. He uses these beautiful hand tools every day; the edges of the chisels and planes are as sharp, and perhaps sharper, than when Grandpa used them long ago. |
| Like many fine craftsmen, Steve blends the best of high-tech with the best of no-tech. His eye and hand are more sophisticated than any computer. The hull of Steve’s wooden boats are made of cedar, the stems and ribs are spruce, the bottom board is pine, cherry is used for the seats, oars, gunwales and trim. Steve explains, "We use each wood to its best advantage. Cherry is known as a beautiful wood, but not many appreciate how tough it is." Each wooden boat takes 250 to 300 hours to build. Some see these boats as such works of art that they have never been put into the water. Dave, however, wags his finger and says, "If you don’t put our boats in the water you’ll never discover their true beauty." |
| Steve Kaulback and David Rosen enjoy a classic partnership, each drawing on the others strengths. Where Steve can make a chisel sing, David does his magic on the computer, out on the water or at boat shows. Steve rarely has time even to try one of his boats, while Dave looks for every opportunity to shove a boat out from shore. Even David’s son Joshua, at age 6, has been rowing for years. |
| In addition to the company’s traditional wooden boats, Steve has designed a parallel line of guideboats and packboats made of Kevlar and cherry. Kevlar is that mystery/miracle fiber which stops bullets but enables boats to slide through the water with uncommon ease. The smallest of these boats is 10 feet long and weighs the same as a well-loaded bag of groceries, just 24 pounds. Yet, light as this solo boat is, it can carry a large man and his gear. And, perhaps more importantly, it is so light a small woman can put it on the roof of her car with not much effort. |
| At a wooden boat show held last summer at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut, David challenged a man with a 6 horsepower Mercury outboard to a race. David was rowing his 12’ packboat. When the astonished motorboater caught up –after David stopped rowing- the man asked, "How’d you do that?" David said, "Actually, I didn’t do it, my partner did. He’s the one who designs our boats. |
| In addition to building boats, Steve also teaches others how to build them at their shop on Route 7. He also teaches classes at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and at the Arts Center in Blue Mountain Lake, NY and at the Arts Center in Old Forge. Students in Steve’s boatbuilding classes have included doctors, lawyers, psychologists, architects, housewives and engineers. His first boat-building apprentice went on to become an emergency-room physician. |
| Just as David admires Steve’s abilities to create beautiful boats, Steve thinks of David as the P.T. Barnum of watercraft. A customer once told David, "You were born to sell these boats." |
| Unfortunately, in most of the fine aquatic museums we have here in the North Country you’ll find the same sign over and over again. "Please don’t touch the boats." But if the urge to touch is just too strong, you might give Steve and Dave a call. Not only can you touch their boats, they’ll give you a push from shore and say, "Have fun. See you when you get back." |
|
|
