Remembering Carl Cramer
Dear Matt,
Carl Cramer (Across the Bar, WB No. 305) was a good friend and a real character. I smile most when I think about the leadup to the first Family Boatbuilding event—an idea he conceived and executed, in which multiple families gathered to build boats of their own over the course of a weekend. The first one was held at the 1998 WoodenBoat Show in St. Michaels, Maryland, and during the winter before it, Carl asked me if I had a small-boat design that would fit the concept. He was tired of offering quick-and-dirty boats that were discarded after shows, and wanted to do something meaningful and durable.
At the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, which I then directed, we were building boats with families and groups, and had just developed Bevin’s Skiff, a flat-bottomed skiff for sail and oars. We’d built a few and had patterns, but no plans. I could show Carl a couple of pictures, but that was all. Nevertheless, he decided that this was the boat to build. And so it went: Carl publicized the event and signed up the families. We made kits for about 40 of these boats, plus 20 or so more to other designs, gathered tools for the builders, and recruited 20 volunteers from our shop to help out. There was no contract. There wasn’t even a handshake. It all happened on a phone call.