Boatshop Reports
Captain Rick Franke's monthly Boatshop Reports feature news on new boat builds, maintenance, and boat restorations from area boatbuilders and shops across Maryland and Virginia.
January 14, 2016
Originally published in January, 2016.
January 6, 2016
Winter is tightening its grip on Chesapeake country, and January is a good time to settle down in front of the fire and reflect on the past year as well as to make plans for the coming one.
November 30, 2015
The boat shows are over, the ospreys and the snowbirds have gone south, the marina do-it-yourselfers are few and far between, and the rockfish season is about to end.
November 4, 2015
Dave Hannam with Classic Watercraft Restoration in Edgewater, MD, reports that after replacing 2860 fastener
October 29, 2015
Today we look at some of the fiberglass boats designed and built in the '50s and 60's that were style leaders in small pleasure boats. Fiberglass boats appeared on the market as the United States’…
September 8, 2015
Late summer, to my mind the prettiest season of all, has arrived on the Chesapeake.
August 10, 2015
Summer is here at last and, as always, seems to be flying by much too fast. There are still many fish to catch, trips to take, crabs to eat, boats to enjoy and not enough time to do it all.
July 14, 2015
Summer has finally arrived on the Chesapeake Bay. Big rockfish, steamed crabs, fireworks, and steamy days mark everyone’s favorite boating season.
December 2, 2014
One of the most enjoyable aspects of writing Boat Shop Reports is the opportunity to go to neat places and talk to i
November 2, 2014
The days are short, the ospreys are long gone, the rockfish are big, and flights of geese join the southern migration of the mega-yachts down the
June 16, 2013
While there are plenty of other ways to build a boat using aluminum, steel, wood planks, and even cement, we’ll cover the boatbuilding basics of fiberglass composites, and wood building methods for…