The Newfound Rangeley

The Newfound Woodworks

The Newfound Rangeley is a strip-planked interpretation of a well-known western Maine guideboat.

The Rangeley Lakes boat, adapted for modern wood-strip construction by Newfound Woodworks, is ideal for fixed-seat recreational rowing. It moves easily through the water thanks to its slender bow and tapered stern, and its generously flared hull amidships lends great stability. The historical use of this boat was for sport fishing, where standing up in the boat was a common practice. In the decades before reliable outboard-motor power, builders of these boats developed a design that performed exceptionally well under oar power and had the stability that customers demanded. Newfound Woodworks has preserved the essential performance qualities of the original Rangeleys while allowing the 21st-century builder to achieve the smoothly rounded contours characteristic of a wood-strip boat.

The classic Rangeley Lakes boat was lapstrake planked on light bent frames. John Gardner, widely regarded as the dean of American small craft, describes the Rangeley’s history and construction in detail in his book Building Classic Small Craft. His narrative is entertaining and informative, and prospective builders who want to re-create the Rangeley Lakes boat in its lapstrake form will enjoy his chapter on the type. Historically, the construction of these boats was fairly standardized and simple. For builders unfamiliar with spiling planks for lap joints, or who just prefer the look of a wood-strip hull, Newfound’s wood-strip/epoxy adaptation offers a sound and easily maintained alternative.

Michael Vermouth was helping a friend renovate his family’s camp in the Rangeley Lakes region during the winter of 1989–90 when the pair discovered an old boat that had been left outside under snow. The bottom of the boat had been hogged by then, and advanced decay was evident. The relic was soaked through and through, and weighed about 200 lbs. However, Michael, a cedar-strip canoe builder, was intrigued by the fine lines of this boat: It had clearly been a high-quality rowing boat in its day. He wondered if it could be reproduced in wood-strip form. With the permission of his friend’s family, he hauled it back to his shop for further inspection.

Upon perusing Building Classic Small Craft and other books, Michael determined that he had the remains of a Rangeley Lakes boat. The old boat was too misshapen to have its lines taken, so Michael approached boat designer Tony Dias to adapt the offsets in Gardner’s book for wood-strip construction. He then built a wood-strip prototype of the Rangeley from those plans. It proved to be a joy to row, and Michael was convinced that this wood-strip edition would be perfect for recreational use.

Today, Michael Vermouth is the proprietor of Newfound Woodworks, which supplies plans, kits, materials, tools, and instructions for the wood-strip boat builder. The company offers plans for a variety of boats, including a nice selection of rowing craft. Several years ago, when he converted his production process from hand-cutting to CNC, Michael and his staff went back to John Gardner’s original offsets and started from scratch to create a digital file of the lines. In the process Newfound developed digital plans for a several models of Rangeley boats: a 15-footer, a 16 1⁄2-footer, and a 17-footer. Most have a transom stern, but a double-ender is available. The 17′ model is 2″ wider than the 15′ and 16 1⁄2′ models—which are each 46″ in beam. Aside from being refaired (checked for accuracy and corrected as needed), Newfound’s Rangeley lines are faithful to those found in Gardner’s book.

The Newfound Woodworks

Newfound Woodworks offers its Rangeleys in three lengths: 15′, 16′ 6″, and 17′. The company also offers a 17′ double-ender.

Building a Newfound Rangeley Boat

Newfound offers a variety of options to those desiring a Rangeley Boat—or any of its fleet of small craft. You can simply purchase the plans ($110), and build from scratch; you can purchase the CNC-cut molds ($250) and mill your own strips, and buy your own fiberglass, epoxy, and hardware; or you can purchase a complete kit ($2,695) containing everything you need.

Twenty years ago, when I began working on my first boat, I was a rather tentative builder. I was quickly hooked, though, and continued building wood-strip canoes, trying a different design with each new project. Eventually, I began displaying my work at shows and woodcraft demonstrations. Back then, there were few strip-built rowboats at the events I attended. I wondered about their absence, because it was obvious to me that this method of construction would be suitable for just about any small, lightweight craft. Later on, when a couple of wood-strip rowboat plans appeared on the market, I noticed the shapely lines of the Rangeley Lakes boat. Thinking that this was an especially pretty boat, I contacted Michael at The Newfound Wood- works, and settled on the 15′ model.

I started building my Rangeley Lakes boat in October 2004, and completed it, except for the last coats of varnish, a year later. I named my boat CRYSTAL EMBER for the way she glows on the water in low-angle light. A pair of 7 1⁄2′ spruce oars from Shaw & Tenney finished her off perfectly.

Although some folks are able to build strip boats in a couple of months, mine took longer because I worked intermittently on the project. I used CNC-cut stations from Newfound Woodworks. They came with clamping grooves milled into the edges, which eliminated the need for blemish-inducing staples. For those who plan to paint their strip boat, I recommend stapling because it is a much faster way to assemble the hull over the mold.

I sawed my own strips from salvaged wood. About two-thirds of the strips were cut from cedar tongue-and-groove siding salvaged from a building in Olympia, Washington. About one-third of the strips were cut from a cedar log found drifting in the Columbia River. I made feature strips for the hull sides using cedar scraps left over from earlier boat projects. CRYSTAL EMBER’s transom is built of marine plywood sandwiched between 1⁄4″-thick pieces of cherry. The outwales are ash, which is renowned for its strength and abrasion resistance. I chose cherry for the inwales, deck, quarter knees, and oarlock blocks. The seats and seat risers are of Douglas-fir.

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The hull is sheathed in 6-oz fiberglass cloth, which is standard for a boat of this size. Two lengths of cloth were overlapped by 6″ on each side of the flat plank on the bottom of the hull, inside and out. This provides greater strength where it is most needed. The decorative feature strips on the hull of my boat have a band of 4-oz fiberglass cloth bonded to the inside surface for reinforcement.

Rangeley boats are fast, responsive, and stable; thus they are well suited to pleasure rowing. They can handle choppy water, and in fact are appreciated on their native lakes for safely negotiating storm-tossed waters when unanticipated weather rolls in. I am very impressed with my Rangeley Lakes boat, and although I originally thought I might enjoy the boat for a while and then maybe offer it for sale, I would have a very difficult time letting such a fine boat go.

Although the 15′ Rangeley is a fairly small, light boat, it is too broad-beamed for most people to load by hand onto the top of a vehicle without risking injury to the boat or themselves. I transport mine using a lightweight aluminum trailer or a boat cart. Also, despite the design’s flat transom, the fine stern that contributes so much to the excellent rowing qualities of the boat make it unsuitable for supporting a lot of weight back there. The transom can accept a lightweight motor; I would recommend a small electric one, with a long tiller that allows the operator to sit on the middle seat. If too much weight is moved into the boat’s fine bow, the Rangeley may capsize. Finally, it would be good to see foot braces added as an optional feature in the plans for the Rangeley, as braces really improve the oarsman’s ability to apply power.

The outstanding performance and beauty of Newfound’s Rangeley boat has reaffirmed the place of this design as the quintessential sportfishing and pleasure-rowing boat. With Newfound’s support in the form of detailed building instructions (including videos) for the amateur builder, as well as materials and tools, the Rangeley design should have great appeal to a strip-boat builder in search of a fine rowboat.

FOPA: A Reader Built Rangeley

Need some inspiration before building your own Newfound Rangeley boat? Read about FOPA, a Rangeley lake boat built by one of our readers.

Order plans for the Newfound Rangeley from Newfound Woodworks, Inc., 67 Danforth Brook Rd., Bristol, NH 03222; 603–744–6872.