Night Scraper, a 26' L.O.D steel skipjack, built by Dave Crowley footing along in light airs on Buzzards Bay.

Description:

Night Scraper, a 26' steel skipjack, was designed for a welder friend, Bob Thomas. An article about her appeared in the December 1979 issue of Small Boat Journal. Her name stems from the smaller fast class of Chesapeake bateaux which were used illegally to oyster (or scrape) at night. These lightened and slimmed-down workboats required a good turn of speed to evade police vessels.

While Bob never built one, Dave Crowley completed one in his backyard, painted her northern colors and hoisted a tanbark sail. A real Chesapeake boat would have been white all over with a red copper bottom. At anchor Dave's boat was sometimes mistaken for a Friendship sloop, though the longer clipper head of the skipjack would have given her away to anyone familiar with the type.

(c) 2003 Stephen Redmond. All Rights Reserved