The Carpenter's Boat Shop Refurbishes Pram

Sneezy gets blessed!

In the mid-eighties, a member of the PL maintenance staff, Cliff Chafin, built six prams for Pilgrim Lodge.  Mr. Chafin was trained at The Carpenter's Boat Shop in Pemaquid, Maine.  The prams are used each summer by campers and counselors for education and recreation.  They can be used as row boats or as sail boats.   Building the prams included the spars, rudders, tillers, and dagger boards. It is worth noting that the hulls, though built with only quarter inch plywood epoxy glued together, are structurally sound after all these years of use.  The prams are named after six of the seven dwarfs (Can you figure out which one is missing and why?)  In the summer of 1999 Boat Shop participant Lisa Casey volunteered to spend a summer at PL refurbishing and maintaining the prams.  Lisa became such an integral part of the summer staff that she returned the next year as a grounds and maintenance staff member. 
Well the Boat shop has done it again!  This winter the shop took one of our prams, Sneezy, to Pemaquid and completely rebuilt it.  It has been refurbished, repainted re-varnished and is absolutely beautiful! Many thanks to the Bobby and Ruth Ives and to those who worked on Sneezy, in particular Jay Glendinning (a friend of the boat shop) and to the whole crew at the boat shop for this tremendous gift.

According to John MacDuffie, (a Boat Shop board member, Outdoor Ministries Committee member and former Pilgrim Lodge manager) the Boat Shop has agreed to take one pram each winter and refurbish in the same manner. 

The Carpenter's Boat Shop, an ecumenical community and school, offers apprenticeships in wooden boat building and simple, Christian community. There is no charge for accommodation, nor pay for work. Contact Rev. Robert E. Ives, The Carpenter's Boat Shop, Branch Road, Pemaquid, ME 04558; (207) 677-3768.