The boy who built boats

by Nancy Knudsen on 20 Mar 2011 There was a boy who wanted to build a boat. He came from a town near you or far away. He was eleven, and shy. He went to the local lumber yard to buy the timber. Feeling a little intimidated, he said he was going to build bookshelves for his mother.

'But the truth came out when they delivered the lumber,' he said the other day, a long time later. 'They said to my mother: ‘So, your son’s going to build some bookshelves?’ My mother said, ‘Oh, no; he’s building a boat.’ It was so embarrassing to me I hid away in the basement.' That happened in 1948. The boy built his boat, and then another, and another.

While he was building boats the boy grew up and married a girl called Virgene and they had some children. They went on building boats together.

Today he and his wife have built 29 boats — with another on the way. The most labor-intensive one was the 33-foot ketch they built together in the mid-1970s with some help from friends, neighbors and family. They crafted a vessel made from 7,000 pounds of lead they melted and poured for the boat’s ballast and 30 white oak, hand-sawn and shaped frames or ribs. Add to that the white oak rudder and teak deck.

Today the boy, whose name is Bob Trygg, tells other people, who are fascinated, about the intensive hobby. People gather in groups to hear his tales. Recently he told the tale of the three-year experience building the Tahiti, which also required erecting a building to house it.

'Most boat builders have a dream boat, and mine at the time was the ketch,' he said. 'It was called Tahiti because it was designed during the Depression,' Bob said. 'The idea was that even during such a hard time, a man could built a boat and sail to Tahiti.'

Bob and Vergine drew up the sail plan and had to put it all on a life-size red rosin paper plan to determine the materials needed.

The materials list for the 40-foot, 21,000-pound boat is staggering, outside of the lead keel and 2,000 board feet of oak.
After some calculations, they found they needed:

2,000 board feet of mahogany
30 sheets of marine-grade plywood
3,000 bronze screws
35 gallons of epoxy

Countless hours of drilling holes, sanding, notching and painting. Everything was coated four times.

Another boat, named Seagull was built on the edge of a river. When it was finished in the summer of 1978, the family set sail from the marina there, destined for faraway places. The trip would take Bob and Vergine and children, who were now teenagers, the better part of a year.

'We brought the kids along as an educational experience,' Bob said. 'And it was, for all of us. But we also needed their help to sail. They were great. And they still have fond memories of it today.'

The family began their adventure in August. The trip was often stormy and windy, but it brought them interesting adventures, and a sleepless night or two that tested the sailors’ mettle. There were excursions on shore and a Christmas spent far from home and family.

'Once we reached our faraway places, we took our time,' Bob said. 'But, one day, we realized the kids wanted to get back to their lives at home, so we sold the boat to a man who also wanted to go adventuring.' After all, there was always another boat to build.

Bob and Virgene still are building boats. 'I have a passion for different designs,' he said. 'We’re working on a trimaran. It’s smaller than the ketch, but it’s plenty of fun.'

There are other Bobs and Virgenes, all over the world, and they are part of what makes the world of the cruising sailor so interesting. If you have sailed past your home port, or maybe even if you haven't, you will have met another Bob and Virgene.

The world of the cruising sailor is a rich culture of diversity, and those who love building their own boats make it only richer.

Note:
The Tryggs could live anywhere, but in fact they live in Gladstone in Michigan in the USA, and when they sailed, they sailed through the Great Lakes and down to Florida. During the depression, he built his boat on the shore at Knife River. The original story of the Tryggs appeared in the http://www.duluthnewstribune.com!Duluth_News_Tribune and was written by Christine Holm.