This tour takes you aboard one of the oldest and most unique freighters to sail the Great Lakes. Constructed in 1897/1898, she was a survivor of the Great Storm of 1913 plus a head on collision in 1965 and a storm-induced sinking in 1979, yet the E.M. Ford was still working hard when seen here in 1986.
I caught up with her at Carrollton, Michigan when she came up the Saginaw River to unload powdered cement. I was invited aboard by her captain so I could deliver his model of the John W. Boardman that he'd hired me to build the previous winter. Since the Cap had been up all night guiding the Ford up the river, he happily accepted the model, took out his checkbook and paid me DOUBLE what we had negotiated and said that he was gonna go get some sleep. "You know yer' way around a boat," he told me as he left for his cabin, "go where ever you like and take your pictures." So I did just that!
I also had brought along a model of the Paul H. Townsend that I was working on. When the Cap saw it he said that the paint color of hull was all wrong. I replied that the actual Huron Cement off-white color was really hard to mix. He looked at the first mate and said, "Go down to the galley and get a couple of empty jars, and then go to the paint room and get Wes here some real Huron Cement paint." I went home with two pint jars full. I still have a lot as I didn't open one of the jars until 2020.
To answer the big question... NO... I do not make model boats for hire anymore. In fact that model of the Boardman was my final one.
17 окт 2021
