From childhood, Geoff Hart has been interested in boats and boatbuilding. His father, an amateur builder of small boats, built a skin-on-frame boat that he kept upside down in the yard of the family home in Miami. “A neighborhood kid, a little older and bigger than me,” recalls Geoff, “was running up and down on the upturned boat and put his foot right through the bottom. My father was fit to be tied. After that he only ever built in plywood.” Indeed, his father went on to build a couple of sailboats, an outboard runabout, and a 9′ pram dinghy with a Bermudan rig that he built for Geoff as a Christmas gift. As a teenager, Geoff helped his father from time to time and remembers that he “never bothered with lofting but instead would work straight from the table of offsets.”Geoff took his first class at WoodenBoat School more than 20 years ago, joining a team of students building a traditional Norwegian pram with Bob Elliott. He returned some years later for the Fundamentals of Boatbuilding and then Advanced Fundamentals of Boatbuilding with Greg Rössel. He followed those with Elements of Boat Design with Paul Gartside, and finally Bronzecasting for Boatbuilders with Michael Saari, commenting, “Casting is like snow-skiing—way more difficult than it looks.”
Geoff HartGeoff’s office floor became the ideal space for lofting, although the family English setter was not always the most efficient assistant.
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That is one very salty craft!! Great job!