Acme Skiff

Cats and dogs have evolved from wild creatures to household pets. Similarly so have rowboats. Before history, rowing craft were built for work: fishing, hunting and trade. The Greeks and Romans devised rowing boats as weapons of mass destruction.

Recreational rowboats first appeared as toys of the noble class. They were 30’ – 60’ long and even longer for the rulers and decorated with fancy carvings, gilt ornaments and uniformed rowers. The owners and their guests passively lounged on cushioned seats. These boats had fabric roofs to shield the passengers from sun or rain.

There was a big jump from the ceremonial recreational boats to the Acme Skiff. The Acme was a typical type in 19th century North America and Europe. You can see similar boats in paintings of Monet, Homer and Turner. The simple unadorned little skiffs had become the peoples’ boat in all the cities.

They were available for rent at affordable prices at boathouses that were designed as fanciful getaways. They had become the most popular recreational opportunity for the working class. These boats offered a quiet, clean, environment in the midst of the noise, dirt and clutter of the Industrial Revolution. The Boathouses were the yacht clubs of the workers and boats like the Acme were the yachts. The ladies would be dressed in a multi-skirted dress and wide brim hat topped with fruit salad.  The gents wore ties, blazer jackets and straw boaters.

The Acme skiff was built about 1900 as a rental boat, just right for two adults, ladies in the stern and gents on the oars. The Boathouses at Lake Union, Lake Washington and Green Lake were escapes from the frenetic city.

The lapstrake construction of the Acme saves weight as the lapped planks are half the thickness of a carvel planked boat. The plank laps keep the boat watertight even when dried out, while the carvel planks, butted edge-to-edge are more likely to separate and leak when dried.

The lines and offsets of the Acme Skiff are in our plans files.