(Broadsheet 7: On Paper Boat Construction, pdf, 3.9mb)

At long last we have completed work on our three year long investigation into the histories and techniques of paper boat building, originating with the Waters & Co. paper boat and dome factory in Troy New York (mid to late 19th century) to the more recent artistic excursions on the water in… things made of paper.  The attached broadsheet details the first phase of our research.  Click the image above to download the 3.9mb pdf and happy boating!

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Thanks to everyone who came out to the museum for the launch of our paper skiff yesterday.  We are affectionately calling it “le Massicot” now – ‘paper cutter’ in French, and we christened it with river water.  It went off without a hitch:  the weather was delightful, even for these generally charming climes.  Emmett’s bottle of river water poured well.  The skiff rowed beautifully, even against the robotic wake of Nick Normal’s drone surveillance speedboat (thanks for freaking us out, Nick!)  Now to ready the boat for Jean and Arthur’s (epic) row to Montreal.  The first leg of the journey will give our boat and its crew their first real challenge as they must row across the shipping channel, against a prevailing wind that threatens to turn our paper boat into a kite.  We wish them well in their voyage, as the rest of our crew makes their way over the next week back to Brooklyn to check in with our dory fleet and the scorching summer heat.

Here’s some friends we made in Clayton and others who joined us from New York seeing le Massicot into the water for the first time.  She floats, and what’s more, stayed bone dry inside through the entirety of our afternoon row around the museum’s docks.

We pinned the paper shell up to the temporary frame we had measured off of the original boat this morning.  Clamping the paper shell to the inwales produces a surprisingly hard surface.  Next, we’ll set the kelson and the ribs to the temporary frame and add more strength and shape to the paper.  It’s coming along, but still a lot of small tasks ahead before Sunday’s launch, and we’ve got to start prepping for the Sailor’s Dinner tomorrow night here at the Museum…