rushton dinghy
The first of two Rushton Dinghies I have built, this one strip planked with a layer of glass cloth.
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This dinghy was found in Ferrisburgh, Vermont where a boat restorer had owned it for twenty-two years. The boat is largely intact, missing just thwarts, but is beyond restoration. Its value today is as a record and artifact of the beautiful designs of Henry Rushton and the skills of the craftspeople who worked for him.
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Henry Rushton was one of America’s most prolific designers and builders of small boats. Based in Canton, New York, he ran a factory producing boats and canoes from 1875 to his death in 1906, though his wife and son would continue to run the company until 1917. The dimensions, construction details, and name plaque identify this as an original Henry Rushton yacht dinghy, Model 190. According to experts, this particular builder’s plaque was replaced by a round medallion in the Rushton factory in 1890; therefore, this particular boat was built sometime in the 1880’s. In a reprint of Rushton’s 1907 catalog the Model 190 was listed in three grades of finish, the top grade selling for $87.50. The boat is 10’ 6” long and 3’ 6” beam.
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The original boat is a classic whitehall style with 1/4” lapstrake planking, fastened with tiny copper clench nails. The planking is white cedar and the tiny bent frames are red elm. I built this replica planked with 1/4” pine strips, sheathed with a layer of fiberglass. I am now finishing a version planked in glued lapstrake marine plywood trimmed with mahogany.
Contact me for pricing.
The original Rushton dinghy as I found it.
The Rushton badge.
Historic photo in the varnishing room of the Rushton factory. Courtesy St. Lawrence County Historical Society, Canton, New York.
The dinghy being rowed with the Rushton factory in the background. Courtesy of the St. Lawrence County Historical Society.
