Wooden Boat Form at the Finger Lakes Boating Museum

In case you have wondered how a small wooden boat was made, they have a display for that at the Finger Lakes Boating Museum in Hammondsport on Lake Keuka.  Here you can see a heavy wooden form on the bottom with metal strips on it running from side to side.  These were for forming the ribs out of steam bent oak or elm.  After steaming, the wood was pliant and would be bent over the form from side to side. Next, planks were laid from end to end and tacked or screwed into the bent ribs.  As the tacks went through the planking and ribs, they would hit the metal and be driven back up into the rib.  Above is a boat just being raised off of the form. This is a 9 foot boat made in the FLBM class.