Catboat Summers

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 200 pages
• Published by: Sheridan House October 1, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1574091719
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1574091717
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 13.4 ounces

Product Review
My head spun with visions of the blown weekend to come phone calls to insurance companies, hunts for spare parts and the inevitable broadside on my bank account. I had definitely become a member of boating's Major Leagues. How had such a dumb thing happened?

So writes first-time author John E. Conway in his new memoir Catboat Summers. I sensed a Bill Bryson-esque adventure in the offing. Rather than a walk in the woods, however, I was embarking on a 10-year cruise of Conway's life with his 100-year-old Charles Crosby catboat, BUCKRAMMER.

As the book rolls smoothly onward, BUCKRAMMER is the stage for family bonding, shipwreck diving, treasure hunting, a mysterious fog-bound encounter and a series of madcap gunkholing adventures. She also is the catalyst for a remarkable homecoming, and she gives her owners a new appreciation of vintage boats as living history.

Throughout, Conway welcomes reader feedback and offers tips, demonstrating an openness that can be rare among longtime sailors. He never talks down to the reader, and he doesn't talk over anyone's head either. Those who are not tech-minded will still enjoy the play-by-play of wooden-boat ownership, yet there is plenty of meat for the true do-it-yourselfer.

Conway clearly has a love of words. Memoirs are a tricky category, as their authors are often more enamored of their experiences than readers will be. In this case, however, Conway's dynamic writing style evokes images to which anyone can relate. I never had the opportunity to sail a catboat, much less own one, yet as I became engrossed in the BUCKRAMMER story, I developed almost nostalgic yearning for languid summer afternoons, the cheerful babbling of water along the hull and the magical aroma of coffee on a brisk morning. I savored every word.

In Catboat Summers, the anecdotes, discoveries, dangers, frustrations and laughter blend seamlessly together to form a poignant tapestry of boating family life. And it's easy to feel affection for this catboat. BUCKRAMMER grows in stature with every chapter, becoming a full fledged member of the Conway family in her own right. It takes a true craftsman to bring a boat to life on the page in all her throbbing color.
Heather Freckmann --Sailing August, 2004

In the winter of 1993 our family did something impetuously reckless by purchasing BUCKRAMMER, an almost 100-year-old, leak-and-rust-plagued, repair-hungry wooden boat Sound familiar? We thought so.

The humour with which Conway tackles family cruising aboard his 1908 24 ft. (7.3m) Charles Crosby Catboat is guaranteed to keep the reader chuckling, as he slides from past to present and back again, each time drawing in another catboat from his past with its own unique character.

The narrative is real and unfussy and, frankly, funny as he chronicles a decade of cruising New England waters. The useful appendix at the end reveals technical details of the ongoing restoration process of BUCKRAMMER, including the tools involved, the best sources for materials and plans for improvements. Fun for all the family. --Classic Boat, April 2004

This delightful book illuminates one of the least common and most involving of the potential pleasures available to adventurous boat owners the stewardship of a gorgeous and noteworthy antique wooden boat. John Conway is a man who takes seriously his role as caretaker of an irreplaceable treasure.

The author, through a process intimately connected to his personal and family history, acquired one of the historic catboats built at the Crosby yard in the early 20th century. Conway calls his boat a woodpile and refers frequently to the uncertainties and frustrations of maintaining a boat fast approaching its 100th birthday, but his affection for BUCKRAMMER shines from every page.

BUCKRAMMER stays mostly in her home cruising grounds of Buzzards Bay, but her outings are no less entertaining for this constraint. Conway draws from a wide range of experiences, from fairly scary ghostly visitation in a deserted anchorage to some hilarious events in the Boston tall ship parade in 2000.
However, the very best of Conway's stories come from family get-togethers in the catboat. From an expedition to locate a new jumping sandbar with his young nephews to a treasure hunt in Newport Harbor with his teenaged daughters, these are jewels. It's clear that Conway regards his ancient vessel as a member of the family, though one who will probably will outlive many of her former owners. In fact, in one of the book's many touching narratives, Conway is contacted by the son of such an owner, a son who is now in his 70's, but who remembered sailing in the catboat when he was a young man courting his future wife. This is history brought to poignant life.

A number of black-and-white snapshots illustrate the book, and Conway includes an appendix full of advice for others who might want to take on the preservation of a grand old boat as well as description of several of his favorite renovation projects.

Old wooden boats are not for everyone. They require constant attention and respects for the quirks and limitations inherent in such craft. But love is love. And clearly BUCKRAMMER has paid Conway's devotion in the only currency that counts exhilarating experience and fond memories. --Living Aboard, January/February 2004

Product Description
In the winter of 1993 our family did something impetuously reckless by purchasing BUCKRAMMER, an almost 100-year old leak- and rust-plagued, repair-hungry wooden boat. We then set about restoring the old bucket into our family yacht. What were we thinking? Catboat Summers chronicles a decade's worth of adventures in New England waters through a series of short tales, each recounting one of the Conways' many extraordinary experiences aboard their hand-crafted vessel. From the hilariously ill-fated participation of a fleet of catboats in Boston Harbor's Sail 2000 Parade to a chilling, phantasmal encounter amidst fog and darkness and even a pilgrimage to the yard where BUCKRAMMER was born, readers will be enthralled by Conway's compelling narrative and whimsical humor. First the good news: BUCKRAMMER was not in any immediate danger of sinking. Whatever had caused her to flood was no longer at work. On the downside, the electrical system was clearly shot. Sooner rather than later, I'd have to determine where the water came from in the first place. If this happened once, it most certainly could happen again. The pleasures of boating are indeed so many and varied. A useful and instructive appendix reveals the technical details of the ongoing restoration process, including the tools involved, the best sources of materials, and plans for some of the more challenging and rewarding additions (such as the binnacle, skylight, and fireplace).

Reader Reviews
"In the winter of 1993 our family did something impetuously reckless by purchasing BUCKRAMMER, an almost 100-year old,leak- rust-plagued,repair-hungry wooden boat.What were we thinking?" John Conway and his family bought an old 24 foot wooden catboat with one enormous gaff sail, and sailed and repaired, and explored, and cruised buzzard Bay, Cape Cod waters, Long Island Sound, islands, coves, and estuaries. This book is just delightful. It's for anyone who sails, or who would like to sail, or who just likes reading good sailing stories. The star of the boat is an old Crosby Catboat first launched in 1908, and first used as a fishing boat, later converted to yacht use and owned by a succession of owners culminating in the Conway family. Incidentally, the cover pisture is of a Beetle Cat, a 12 foot wooden catboat that John Conway bought used and rebuilt before they bought the big Crosby catboat. This is a fun book and a good read. I enjoyed it and certainly recomend it. Comment | | (Report this)