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20-foot Crab Scrape
The Patuxent Small Craft Guild is building a modified Smith Island Crab Scrape as its winter project. This traditional Chesapeake workboat is found in the shallow waters off Tangier and Smith Islands, harvesting the soft shell blue crab. The open boat features a low freeboard, a broad beam, and a shallow V-bottom, characteristics suited to harvesting crabs using a crab scrape, a type of dredge. A sharply rising bow and a box transom help handle the bay’s choppy waters.
Like the building of the typical crab scrape, Darlene, construction follows a traditional method of first establishing a framework that includes keel, chines, and bulkheads on an inverted structure. Next, the sides and bottom are fixed to the frame.
Crab Scrape Darlene at Smith Island
Model of full-size boat
The hull form will retain the distinctive shape of the crab scrape. However, the bottom and sides will not be planked but constructed of marine plywood.
Second Model Showing Completed Hull Form
Sometimes, boatbuilders make a model to help visualize the full-size boat. In a departure from traditional crab scrapes, this version will have an electric motor for propulsion.
The Process of Building a 20-foot Crab Scrape
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Model built for testing
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Model built for testing
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Testing the model
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Testing the model in the museum's boat basin
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Testing the model
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Using a model to plan construction of the boat
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Using a model to plan construction of the boat
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Using a model to plan construction of the boat
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Base that the framework will be attached to for assembly
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A lot of measuring is required when building a boat
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First pieces of the frame being assembled
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First pieces of the frame being assembled
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First pieces of the frame being assembled
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The framework
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The framework
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The framework
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Chines
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Building the keel
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Building the keel
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Chines
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Chines
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Hull assembly
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Hull assembly