capst-winter-2021-Proof1-52REV - Flipbook - Page 44
David Cantor uses sandpaper to smoothe a section of the rudder on a 17-foot Northeaster Dory
sailboat he’s building in his garage. He purchased the boat as a kit from Chesapeake Light Craft.
Photos by Barbara Haddock Taylor
By mike klingaman Capital Style
I
t was a mundane task, but one that has
stuck with David Cantor from the day he
began building his own boat from a kit.
“I glued together the first two parts of
the hull, stepped back and breathed a sigh
of relief,” said Cantor, 69, of Edgewater.
That was months ago. Now the vessel, a
17-foot sailboat produced by Chesapeake
Light Craft, of Annapolis, is nearly ready to
roll out of his garage and onto South River.
There, the Northeaster Dory is sure to turn
heads — and not just because it’s painted
fire-engine red.
“The design of this boat is faithful to
200-year-old traditions,” said Cantor, a
retired pharmaceutical research manager
who can’t wait to show it off.
“Besides,” he said, “my wife wants her
garage back.”
Dreamboat
At Chesapeake Light Craft, the emails
pour in from folks who’ve built boats from
kits created by the 26-year-old company.
“I’ve never started and finished anything so
meaningful in my life,” reads one. “My dad
and I hadn’t done anything together before,
reads another.”
Amateur do-it-yourselfers are the target,
said John Harris, managing director of CLC,
44 | fall 2021 | capitalstylemag.com
which has shipped more than 40,000 assembly packets of sailboats, kayaks, canoes,
rowboats and paddle boards to customers
in 70 countries and on every continent but
Antarctica.
“We received one photo of an 18-foot sailboat being lowered from a 10th-floor apartment in Seoul, South Korea,” said Harris.
Kits include all of the essentials: marinegrade plywood shaped by a robotic cutting
machine, copper wire (for fastening), fiberglass and enough epoxy to float a battleship. Plus an instruction manual that any
bungler could follow.
“We focus on the first-timer,” said Harris,
49, of Kent Island. “Building stuff is cool,
especially a boat which combines sculpture,
engineering and material science. We strive
to make the project accessible and enjoyable. Got patience? You can do this.”
Moreover, for a fee, CLC offers weeklong
classes to walk clients through basic construction at its workshop in Annapolis. Kits
themselves range from nearly $1,000 for
paddle boards to $8,000 for a 15-foot cruising sailboat (with cabin). Most boats sell
for about $2,000 and take about 80 hours
to finish.
While the CLC catalog lists 115 designs,
there’s room for more, said Harris: