A dream realized: '29 skiff is restored

It's every collector's dream. Walk into a barn and find a gem, hidden away, in pristine condition, as though it were made yesterday.

So began Bob Brummer's nautical adventure 20 years ago at Sickles Farm in Little Silver. There he found a 1929 skiff made by Harold Seamons, a member of a Long Branch boat-building family. It was like opening a time capsule.

Structurally, the open 15-footer was absolutely sound, an almost impossible state of affairs in a boat of that vintage. The elements and years take a toll on wooden boats, and older ones often need extensive restoration. But sitting in a barn unused since the 1930s, the skiff weathered the decades, with just cosmetic work to do.

Still Brummer, an Oceanport resident, worked two years to strip the varnish and paint from the boat, and then he "burned out," putting the project on hold.

The boat lay in storage in his garage for 20 years until he brought it out to finish the job. Multiple coats of varnish have been applied. How many? "I stopped counting," he said.

There's a bit more to go, but the boat is already gleaming with its new coat, its original copper rivets holding the planks together as shiny as the day they were new.

As a bonus, Brummer has the original engine, a 20-horsepower Evinrude outboard, just the 40th engine made by that company. It is out of commission now, but Brummer said he can get parts, and what he can't get he'll have made. "It's definitely going to run," he vowed.

This is a boat with roots in the area, and not just figuratively. The cedar for the lapstrake planks and the white oak for the frames was cut right there on the farm, Brummer said.

"It was the race boat of its day," Brummer said of the boat, explaining that it had no pretense of doing work of any kind and was just for recreation. It was the precursor to the Jersey Speed Skiff, a popular racing class that evolved in the Navesink area, Brummer said.

The finish work will be done soon, but Brummer is not overly eager to see his pride and joy get wet.

"You know what -- it may never go in the water," he said. "It should really be in a museum."

But then he thought for a moment.

"I'll probably put it in one time and run it around the river, but it's too nice to leave out," he said.

The boat won "Best in Show" at last summer's classic boat show sponsored by the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association in Red Bank.