Quote:
Originally Posted by wader-dad
Turns out that Coot was responsible for developing the famous Cuttyhunk wooden Bass Boats. A Montauk fisherman named Otto Scheer first took NJ skiff designs and developed a bass boat named the "Punkinseed" for Montauk. He was one of the first to fish in boats close to the shore and his boat could bounce off boulders. It was lost in the 39 Hurricane and rebuilt. Coot Hall was visiting Montauk and saw the boat and had one built by the Lyman Boat Co. of New Bedford. The boat you see in the video is probably that boat. The boats developed and were perfected by Ernie Mackenzie who made the Mackenzie Bass boats.
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MACKENZIE BASS BOATS
AND THE JONES RIVER LANDING
MacKenzie Bass Boats were lofted and built in several locations in Massachusetts, including Marion, Padanaram, Fall River, Taunton and Hyannis, but none had the history of The Jones River Landing in Kingston.
Ernest MacKenzie built his famous lap strake fishing boats at The Landing from July of 1951 until he moved his operation to Fall River in 1956. During this time many boats were built for the fishing guides at Cuttyhunk. These guides made Mac’s boats famous, catching boat loads of stripers for their clients. In the early years Mac attached the moniker "Cuttyhunk" to his boats and they soon became known as "Mackenzie Cuttyhunk Bass Boats."
During the Landing years, Mac built boats of several sizes. The smallest was 19 feet and the largest was 28 feet. Other boats built at that time included 20, 23 and A 24 Footer. Depending on the owner’s wishes or the intended purpose of the boat, building materials varied from Atlantic White Cedar, Honduras Mahogany and marine plywood to Douglas Fir framing stock and native White Oak. All boats were assembled with silicone bronze screws and copper rivets in the laps. Many boats of this time had their frames assembled with bronze bolts, while others were assembled with galvanized iron bolts. Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of a MacKenzie was the "reverse lap strake" which became the trademark of Mac’s design. This design was said to make his boats "grip the water and track better" than any other boat built at the time. To this day, there are few who would argue that this is not true.
The over all design for these boats was for fishing the rip tides around the Elizabeth Islands, so many were built with no cabin or windshield. This design, with only a spray shield ahead of the cockpit, created a wonderful platform for casting or jigging for trophy fish. Other Macs were built with a windshield and usually had a canvas Navy top to keep the spray and wind off of the crew and clients. Very few boats were built with cabins around this time. One "Kingston Boat" that does sport a cabin is a 28’ Mac built in 1955 as Scram for a family in Duxbury. As the story goes, Mac felt that adding a cabin to his boats would affect the handling and seaworthiness and he refused to build them that way. Scram was one of these boats. Because the owner wanted a cabin, Mac delivered Scram as a hull only and she was finished in the owner’s barn. A favorite at antique and classic boat shows, this boat is still plying the waters of Plymouth and Duxbury Bays as Let’s Go.
Another unique 28 footer was built in the early ‘50s. This boat was built for Carl Haffenreffer, operator of the famous Herreshoff yard in Bristol, RI. This boat was very unique, with a stepped sheer, raised foredeck and custom hardware and fittings. Because he owned such a famous boat building company, Haffenreffer refused to acknowledge that he had gone "outside" for the boat he wanted. Unfortunately, Skidoo was lost off her mooring in hurricane Carol in 1954.
Several other Kingston built Mackenzie’s, in addition to Let’s Go, survive today. Grouper, a 20’ 6" plywood planked Mac resides in Sesuit Harbor; White Cloud, a 24’ mahogany on oak Mac is moored in Clinton, CT; Connie J, a classic 23’ Mac, is kept in Westport, MA; Hey Jude, another 24’ Mac, resides in Fort Weatherall, RI. Other boats built at The Landing surface from time to time, though they are rare.
Described as "curmudgeonly and headstrong," Ernie MacKenzie was in several business partnerships during his boat building years. While at The Landing he was partnered with Dr. Herbert Lotz of Plymouth, then Thomas E. Stott of Kingston. Mac left The Landing for Fall River in the Spring of 1956 for another partnership, this time with an outstanding gentleman named Al Grey who has been a treasure trove of information on these boats.
No matter where they were built, Ernie MacKenzie's Cuttyhunk Bass Boats inspired and spawned a whole genre of salt water fishing boats of a style that is still being built a half century later.
By Chris R. Ward
Commodore, MacKenzie Boat Club
http://www.mackenzieboatclub.com/archive-2.htm
Credit to the old man for digging that up. He had a Jones River MacKenzie (we actually lived about 5min from the landing)
Where's Chet?
editeditedit: The boat in the video is a Mackenzie sans windshield with a forward tiller instead of a wheel.
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