What is a Whitehall?

I realized that I have a blog about owning a Whitehall and I assumed that anyone reading it knows right away what a Whtehall is. This post is to remedy that.

The Whitehall Pulling Boat was developed at the Whitehall Boatyard in New York City in the early 19th century. It is a refinement of earlier styles of boats dating back to the Elizabethan times. It quickly caught on and became the most common style of boat in the 19th century. Since it is a rowboat (pulling boat), it stopped being as popular as a working boat after steam launches became common but it continued for some time as a gentleman's rowboat.

Despite its popularity, there are only a handful of them left from the 19th century. Mystic Seaport has two and mine is based on those. I know of one in New York and another in Alexandria.

The Whitehall started out as a harbor boat. It is designed to be fast so that it could be the first boat to get to newly arrived ships. That way they could charge a premium for ferrying important mail and passengers to shore.

Whitehalls are long and narrow with a straight prow that cuts through waves. It is fast and goes in a straight line without any trouble. Mine is not as fast as a racing skull but it easily overtakes other rowboats, both smaller and larger ones. I've never raced a modern sailboat but my impression when sailing is that I am usually overtaking modern boats.

A traditional Whitehall has cedar planks over oak ribs. In addition, mine has cherry seats, apple knees, and teak flooring. Modern ones are often fiberglass with teak seats and flooring. Many Whitehalls have lapstrake (overlapping) planks but mine are carvel (smooth).

They are usually 14-17 feet long. Mine is 17. Mine has three rowing stations. When it is just me rowing, I take the center one. When two of us row, we take the first and third stations. Sometime I will try it with three sets of oars, just to see how fast we can go. I have a sliding-seat for rowing that fits on top of the benches. I tried it once and it makes rowing very easy. The leather foot loops on it are old and need replacing before I use it again.

I've seen complaints about turning Whitehalls. I've never had a problem but when I have to turn sharply I do it with the oars, pulling on one while pushing with the other. Not everyone knows how to do this.

Tacking with a Whitehall is difficult. It needs some extra help. A couple of strokes with a paddle is enough.

Not all Whitehalls are set up for sailing but all of the modern makers seem to offer a sailing option. As I said, mine is quite fast under sail.

Mine is sprit-rigged. This means that the mast is relatively short - around 14-15 feet. The sail is four sided with a short edge on the top. A pole called a sprit goes from the mast to the outer corner of the sail at an angle. The rope that ties the sprit to the mast is called a "snotter". Not all sprit-rigged boats have a boom but mine does. Mine also has a jib - the triangular sail in front of the mast.

Setting up for sailing is easy. The mast fits through a hole in the seat into a socket (you can see this in the picture at the top of the blog). One person can do it although it helps if a second person lines it up with the socket. The sail is permanently laced onto the mast and the boom. I can have it ready to sail in ten minutes.

Sprit rigged boats are supposed to be the easiest rig to sail. Mine is certainly easy (except for tacking which takes a paddle).

Whitehalls have the reputation of being one of the most graceful boats ever made. Between its lines and the fine workmanship that went into it and the exposed wood on the interior, it is a lovely boat.

An original Whitehall at Mystic Seaport

What Goes Where?

My Whitehall came without any instructions and not all of its rigging. While a lot of it is obvious, there are still parts that I am not sure what was intended.

The mast has a cleat on it plus a thumb cleat (a sort of half-cleat) for holding the snotter, which is the line that holds the sprit in place. In addition to this, there are two blocks fastened to the front centerboard box. There are two cleats on the side of the centerboard box to go with the blocks. The question is what to do with these?

There is only one obvious line that uses these blocks, the jib halyard. There is a block mounted in the top of the mast. I have been running the halyard through the mast block, down through one of the centerboard box blocks, and cleating it off there.

The boat did not come with any way of taking in the main sail quickly. In a sprit-rigged boat, the sail is laced to the mast. I added a bunt line. There was an unused block attached to a line with a loop in it. This fit over the end of the mast. I ran the bunt line from the end of the boom through this block and down. When I pull on this line the end of the boom pivots up parallel to the mast.

Things get a little messy from here.

The boat did not come with a flagpole but I wanted one. I bought a short commercial one made from teak. I took a 2x4 and drilled a couple of large holes in this. The flagpole is glued into one of these. The other hole goes over the tip of the mast.

When I am transporting the mast, I have the flagpole separate and tie the bunt line to the cleat in the mast. When I step the mast I put the flagpole on the tip and let its line hang free. The bunt line keeps the boom parallel with the mast which makes it easier to step. None of this is very heavy and I can do it by myself although it helps if someone guides the end of the mast into its socket.

Once the mast is in place I transfer the bunt line to the second centerboard box block and fasten it to the cleat. Then I add the sprit and secure the flagpole line to the cleat.

When taking the mast down I reverse the process.

I have no idea if the designer meant for things to be one this way but it works.

Whitehall in the news

NBC did one of their "Making a Difference" pieces on a program at the Alexandria Seaport Foundation that helps troubled youths. The video showed them rowing a Whitehall. I checked and they have an original 1898 Whitehall. This may be what was being used since it looked weathered.

Rudder problems

The way that the rudder is hung is fairly elegant. There are pairs of brackets at the top and bottom. These set on matching pairs on the transom. A long brass rod goes through these, holding them together. The tiller goes over the top of the rod and keeps it in place.

The problem is that there is enough play that if the transom hits the bottom then the bottom of the rudder can be lifted up enough to come off of the bottom transom bracket leaving it hanging from the top transom bracket. This puts a lot of strain on the bracket and makes the rudder ineffective.

This happened a couple of times. One was on Lake Monroe. We were launching into a strong wind from a shallow beach. The other time was going to the boat ramp on the Scioto. The river is very shallow there with a deeper channel. We lost the channel, ran aground, and the rudder came loose.

The best solution would be to find a new bronze or brass bracket and mount it on the transom above the bracket on the rudder. This would hold it in place. The alternative would be to make a bracket from sheet brass.

Just one more oversight that makes me wonder how a boat could be around for nearly thirty years and not have this solved. Was it always used in deep water?

Update: After examining the boat I realized that it was built wrong from the beginning. The upper bracket should have been on top, holding the rudder in place.

I thought of an alternative to adding a bracket. If I cut a tube the length of the distance between the brackets and run the holding pin through it, the rod will keep the rudder in place. I think that some off-the-shelf copper tubing will do it.

UPDATE: That's what I did. I had some extra copper pipe sitting around so I cut it to length. This seems like a good solution. The pipe stops the rudder from moving and copper resists water fairly well.

Modifications

A couple of things puzzle me by their absence. When I got the Whitehall it had two small cleats just past the midpoint. I assume that they are meant to control the jib. They are in the right place and they are too small and not well placed for mooring.

I found a couple of slightly larger bronze cleats and mounted them a couple of feet from the stern. These are very useful. When I'm launching it I can use them to tie off the tiller. When I'm mooring to a dock then I can moor to these. I really wonder why the boat never had cleats there before.

The other omission is a quick way to take up the sail. The sail is sprit-rigged. It is fastened to the mast and a boom. A sprit is fastened to the mast with a line called a snouter (don't you love that name). The other end goes into a corner of the sail. The idea is to increase the amount of sail without making the mast longer. It is a very traditional rig.

There did not seem to be a quick way of taking in the sail. I was able to rig up a bunt line. It came with a line that had been spliced into a loop with a bronze block attached. This is the right size to slip over the top of the mast and may have been intended for a bunt line. I ran a line up the mast, through the block, and back down to the tip of the boom. If I need the sail taken in in a hurry I just pull on the line. The boom and sprit pivot up until they are nearly parallel with the mast. Problem solved. I'm using a four-strand rope for this to make it easier to identify. For good measure, I put some marks on it with a red Sharpee pen.

When I am putting the mast up or taking it down I use the bunt line to keep the boom out of the way. There is a cleat on the mast that I tie it to. Once the mast is in place I transfer the bunt line through a block to a cleat on the keel boot. I also added a flagpole that slips over the top of the mast. I then tie the flag to the cleat on the mast.

Whoever did the rigging seems to have been stingy with the rope so the bunt may have been omitted by mistake.

The boat came with cotton twist line. This looks much better on a traditional boat than nylon or other modern line. I bought a lot more cotton twist line. It is pretty cheap. Most of my rigging is 3/16" line which goes through the 1/4 grommets very well. It isn't as strong as nylon but it is still rated at 300 lbs. If anything ever puts that much stress on the line I want it to break. I have some 1/4" and 3/8" if I need anything stronger. My anchor and mooring lines are nylon so I can tell by touch which is rigging and which is mooring.

A Year With A Whitehall

I bought my Whitehall Pulling Boat just a year and a few days ago. I've been posting about it i my pirate blog but I decided that it is separate and should have its own blog.

This is just a getting-started post. I'll just recap the current condition of the boat.

When I got it, it looked like the interior had just had a complete refinishing. It was perfect. Not very likely in a boat built in the 1980s. Also, the rigging wasn't quite right. Some of the lines were too short and none of it had been tied long enough to leave knot marks in the rope. Also, the rope that was used was too big. It was very hard to thread through the grommets.

Plus the trailer needed a lot of work.

At this point I've redone the rigging. Everything works now.

The leather on the oars was poorly done. I replaced the leather on one set and fixed the collar on the other. I also discovered that the leathers were not at the same place on the oars.

Most of the interior wood had been refinished but the teak flooring had not been. I took care of that with some teak oil. It looks much better.

On the negative side, I did put some scratches in the seat. A bit chunk was worn out of one of the oars coming back from Maryland. I filled this in with basswood and putty but you can tell the difference.

Since the boat is in the garage for the Winter, I used some wipe-on polyurethane on the scratches. It helped.

The mast and sprit picked up some scratches from normal use. I used some of the finish on these also and the scratches disappeared.

The boat only came with three oarlocks but a set of spoon oars and a set of sweeps. The oars are non-standard - bigger than most - so most oarlocks are too small. I've used a hammer and anvil to open up some iron ones and I got a pair of bronze horn oarlocks. None of these are perfect.

When I got it, it needed painting. I used traditional oil paint and primer. This seems to have worked fairly well but the keel needs painting again after being beached multiple times on sand and gravel.

The boat has a steel swing keel. The leading edge was rusted when I got it. I sanded it down and painted it with Rustolium but it developed more rust. I will have to try something else over the Winter.

The trailer needed a lot of work. I've replaced the wheels, the springs, the pulley, most of the rollers and the hitch. I still need to rewire it.