Build Your Own Schooner

Wooden Boat Store has a new model schooner available. The replica is of one of my favorite boat types; The Sharpie. More specifically, it is a modified sharpie fishing vessel used by turtle fisherman along the Florida and Gulf coasts at about the same time as the coasting schooners were active. Sharpies are very pretty boats.

These vessels were flat bottomed, shallow draft boats designed to sail in very little water. The larger sharpies (35-40 feet) were some of the fastest sailing boats in the world. Most were open boats but larger vessels had decks. They were in use from the Great Lakes to Texas and were first developed near New Haven Conn based on smaller rowing skiffs . Few were rigged as schooners(ketch rigs were more popular) so this model is quite distinct.

Modern replicas, both model and full size, are popular today with amateur builders because they are easy to build compared to other boat types. Sharpie Schooner Model