Date: Fri 02-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Leavitt-Larry-ship-model

Full Text:

with photos : A Small Ship Fills Its Sails With Memories

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

With a remote control in hand, Larry Leavitt stands on the shore of Taunton

Lake trying to steer a memory from his childhood back from the past.

The Taunton Lake Road resident has refurbishing a replica of a Canadian

fishing schooner as a memorial to his father, Herbert Walter Leavitt, who

first constructed the boat in Norwalk in 1936.

"My father built the boat without a plan, just out of his head. He built it

with planks just like a real ship," explained Mr Leavitt, who grew up in

Norwalk and has lived in Newtown since 1978. "I wanted to restore it just like

it was because I couldn't have built the damn thing."

He remembers as a young boy watching his father and brother sail the boat at

Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk.

"That was the only time I ever saw it sail," he said.

The six-foot-long ship, nicknamed "The Laura L." after Mr Leavitt's mother,

was constructed complete with bunk beds, stairs, a cabin, a fishing hole (for

sardines) and a compass. Mr Leavitt, an old salty dog who himself looks as if

he could have captained a fishing schooner in his day, reconstructed the

steering wheel out of match sticks and the anchor out of nails.

"It looks pretty much the same as it did 60 years ago, including the original

colors. I wouldn't have made it that way, but that's the way [my father] did

it," Mr Leavitt explained.

Looking to modernize the vessel without forgetting its original state, Mr

Leavitt added a remote control rudder, allowing the ship to be steered from

shore.

"I put in a reduction gear for the rudder using a rotisserie from a grill and

I used a motor from a VCR," he explained. The motor runs on two six-volt

batteries.

Mr Leavitt also gave the restored 50-pound ship three new sails which stand

five feet tall.

After transporting the sizable model ship with a wheelbarrow, the Newtown

resident launched it from the dock behind his house into the waters of Taunton

Lake.

"The wind takes it out and I can bring it back to me," Mr Leavitt explained,

demonstrating his remote control.

On occasion, the wind pushes the boat out of range and its owner has to

quickly jump in his row boat to retrieve the lost ship.

Mr Leavitt said he'll cruise his ship around the lake a few more times for his

grandchildren, but, due to a lack of storage space, eventually plans to donate

it to either the Cyrenius Booth Library or the Norwalk Maritime Center.

Mr Leavitt said he had always intended to work on the old boat once he

retired, and when that day came, he wasted little time on the project. The job

took about three months.