PORTSMOUTH, NH: As part of the campaign to raise $1.2m to build a new gundalow and expand Gundalow Company programs and operations, efforts were boosted at the shipyard from the early support of some special people and businesses from the seacoast area. In-kind services and materials have been valued at over $50,000 towards the project. Strawbery Banke has been instrumental in giving the location to build the boat and site support. Collaborative education programs are ongoing with both organizations.
In the fall of 2010, Appledore Engineering – a division of Tighe & Bond, provided pro-bono civil engineering and site plans for the Puddle Dock construction site, and supported the gundalow staff through the regulatory and permitting process. McLane Law Firm’s team fielded various legal questions, while Gove Construction created a level gravel pad as the base for the shipyard.
Tony Coviello at Summit Engineering provided structural engineering plans for the shipyard cover from conceptual designs by the Steve Jones Architectural Design Program at Portsmouth High School. The tool shed that is now at the Puddle Dock shipyard was also designed by students, and built by Dexter Roblee’s Building Trades program students. Over 700 hours were donated in labor to design and build the impressive 10'x20' shed, delivered in early April. Four Seasons Fence donated the labor to surround the shipyard in fencing, and gundalow volunteers crafted the gate.
Vince Todd of V. Todd & Co., built the temporary shipyard cover and contributed his time to plan and oversee its construction. The shipyard was completed by early May with the support of Moores Crane Company, Ricci Lumber, Second Nature Landscape Outlet, A.H. Harris & Sons, Inc., Green Velvet Landscape, Independent Boat Haulers, Jackson’s Hardware & Marine, Jeffrey Knapp Construction, Keith Bridge Electrical, Kevin Knapp, North Hampton Grocery, Peter Coren Builder & Cabinetmaker, Rainscape, Rick Stevens Custom Lumber, Rockingham Electric Supply Co. and Tri-State Fire Protection.
Construction of the new gundalow began in early May under the direction of York, ME Paul Rollins, boatbuilder. Materials, services and supplies were supported by Bartlett’s Farm & Sawmill, Brentwood Machinery & Tools, Dixon Mills, Fastener Warehouse, Lamprey Oil, Rand Lumber, Sanborn Mills Farm, and Urban Tree Service. Early corporate and business donations from Appledore Real Estate, Piscataqua Savings Bank, Infinite Imaging, Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish Café, Federal Savings Bank, Granite State Minerals, Property Tax Advisors, Waterfront Engineers, and Jeffrey H. Taylor & Associates covered early costs associated with the start of construction.
About the Gundalow Company: Since 2002, the non-profit Gundalow Company has used the Captain Edward H. Adams – a replica modeled after the last gundalow to carry cargo on the bay – to provide “dockside” programs to more than 100,000 visitors. However, the Adams is too authentic to comply with modern U.S. Coast Guard safety requirements. Recognizing the need to get students of all ages to genuinely connect with their rivers and bay, the Gundalow Company is building a new gundalow that will have the safety features and structural integrity required by the U.S. Coast Guard for passenger-carrying vessels.
For centuries, gundalows connected up-river seacoast communities with Portsmouth, the region’s seaport and primary market town. Harnessing the wind and riding the tide, gundalows moved bricks, hay, firewood, and goods crucial to the economy and everyday life. The Gundalow Company takes its inspiration from the vital role of those historic gundalows, vessels unique to the Piscataqua Maritime Region. This new gundalow’s educational purpose is as important for the future as its predecessors were for the past. For more information, www.gundalow.org, info@gundalow.org or 603-433-9505.
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