Midwest - Chesapeake Bay Skipjack 1:28

The Skipjack: A Working Boat With No Time for Unnecessary Curves

The Chesapeake Bay skipjack was not designed to impress people at the yacht club.

It was designed to drag heavy oyster dredges across shallow water, operate economically, and survive years of hard use. Its broad, shallow hull, sharp chines, highly raked mast, and enormous sail area were all there for a reason.

Midwest based the kit on a 48-foot skipjack associated with the Chesapeake’s “oyster pirates”—poachers who dredged protected oyster beds at night and relied on the boat’s speed when the authorities appeared. Maritime history was apparently more exciting before paperwork took over.

That practical hull also makes the Skipjack an excellent next step for a developing wooden ship modeler.

Instead of fitting dozens of narrow planks around a heavily curved hull, you’ll construct the boat much as the original was built: frames over a keel, chine battens, broad side and bottom panels, shaped bow blocks, deck structures, spars, sails, and rigging.

It is still real wooden boatbuilding. There is simply less unnecessary suffering involved.

Why Build the Midwest Skipjack?

Authentic frame-and-keel construction. Assemble the internal structure, install the chine battens, and fit the broad side and bottom panels over the frames.

A more forgiving hull shape. The hard-chine design avoids the complicated compound planking found on many traditional sailing ships.

Quality wood throughout. The kit includes precision-cut basswood and mahogany parts, stripwood, dowels, and shaped wooden components.

A genuinely useful instruction manual. Approximately 80 pages of illustrated, sequential instructions take you through 364 individual steps—from assembling the keel and frames to installing the final oarlocks.

Two full-size plan sheets. The plans show the model at its actual finished size and are used throughout the build for shaping, positioning, and checking components.

Sails and complete rigging materials. Sailcloth, two sizes of rigging cord, brass wire, chain, blocks, deadeyes, and other fittings are included.

Working-boat character. Dredge rollers, centerboard, long bowsprit, raked mast, deck fittings, and the Skipjack’s distinctive sail plan give the finished model considerably more personality than another immaculate admiral’s yacht.

Hardwood display base included. Because after doing all that work, placing it directly on a shelf would seem unnecessarily casual.

Skill Level—Straight Talk

Skill Level 2: Advanced Beginner to Intermediate

This is not a snap-together introduction to modeling. Midwest recommends it for builders with some previous wooden-boat experience.

You will cut and fit stripwood, align frames, shape the solid bow blocks, install hull panels, fabricate small components, paint, make sails, and complete both standing and running rigging.

If you have already built a Midwest Dory, Crabbing Skiff, Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack, or another introductory wooden boat, the Skipjack is a natural next project.

If this is your first wooden model, it is still possible—but patience, careful reading, and a willingness to sand something twice will be useful.

What’s Included

Precision-cut basswood and mahogany components

Keel, frames, transom, deck, cabin, and hull panels

Basswood and walnut stripwood

Wooden dowels for the mast, boom, jib club, and dredge rollers

Sailcloth

Standing and running rigging cord

Cast fittings, brass wire and rod, chain, blocks, cleats, and deadeyes

Two full-size plan sheets

Extensively illustrated construction manual

Hardwood display base

Specifications

What You’ll Need

Adhesives, paint, and basic modeling tools are sold separately. The manual recommends:

Hobby knife with extra blades

Razor saw

Sanding block and 220-, 320-, and 400-grit sandpaper

Wood glue

Thin and thick CA glue

Five-minute epoxy for metal fittings

Pin vise and small drill bits

Tweezers or needle-nose pliers

Push pins, masking tape, and a straightedge

Paints, stains, and brushes

Download the Skipjack Manual

A Working Boat Worth Building

The Skipjack survived because it did a difficult job with the simplest design that worked.

This kit follows much the same philosophy. It teaches genuine wooden boatbuilding techniques, provides unusually thorough guidance, and produces a substantial 21-inch model with the unmistakable character of a Chesapeake Bay workboat.

No gilded carvings. No royal cabin. No figurehead looking dramatically toward France.

It had oysters to catch.