Power for a Smith Island Crab Skiff is referred to as a “lawnmower” engine that generates 20 hp. A crab skiff has a traditional shaft drive to its propeller, and that’s it. There’s no gear box. Start the engine in forward gear and drift to a stop. Seabuddy used to “catch” one as the one-and-only member of a boat’s pit crew. Watch your fingers and hands in that job!
To steer a crab skiff, you’ll use a canoe paddle handle attached to a rudder with a sailboat line. Push it backward or forward to make your port or starboard turns. Really simple boats!
These roughly 19-by-four-foot woodies use spruce framing with Okoume plywood for their sides and bottoms. Decks are often intricate hardwood designs fashioned by their master wooden boat builders. Then the entire exterior of the skiff is covered with a transparent layer of six-ounce fiberglass cloth.
This is a fun “exhibition” class of unique Chesapeake Bay traditional small craft (dating back to at least the Depression era) that travel around the Bay for friendly rivalry.
Here’s where you can experience them this season:
2016 Schedule:
July 16: Tall Timbers Regatta - Tall Timbers, MD
August 6: Shuck & Suck Festival - Cape Charles, VA
August 20: Kent Island Regatta - Kent Island, MD
September 3: Crab Derby Regatta - Crisfield, MD
October 1: Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival - St. Michaels, MD
October 29-30: Sultana Downrigging Festival - Chestertown, MD
For more info, click to the Smith Island Crab Skiff Association's
Facebook page.
by Chris "Seabuddy" Brown