Monomoy boat has long history of surf rescue

For three hours each Tuesday morning, the sounds of hammering, drilling and cutting disrupt the silence of the abandoned Lewes power station on Schley Avenue. In the bowels of the decaying concrete and steel structure sits a 26-foot-long surf boat being brought back to life by a small group of volunteers from the Overfalls Foundation.

The Monomoy boat was once tasked with saving lives, but now it is the one in need of saving.

“It was in sad shape,” said Overfalls member David Bernheisel, reminiscing back to when the group acquired the boat in late 2011. “There was rotten wood, and all the ribs were broken.”

Despite the boat's condition, he said, a group of eight to 10 volunteers took on the overwhelming task of rehabilitating it.

“The project got a slow start, but with good support in the community we've really gotten going,” he said.

Workers now can see a light at the end of the tunnel, as the project nears the finish line. The goal is to have the boat in the water during the 2015 season, Bernheisel said.

Once complete, the boat will be used in the water for demonstrations, special events and education. It will spend most of its time on the Overfalls grounds adjacent to Canalfront Park. A storage area is nearly complete and is designed with a lifting mechanism allowing for easy transition from the boat's cradle to a trailer for transportation.

The foundation obtained the Monomoy boat from the Cape May Maritime Museum. The boats were gifted to the museum from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, Long Island, N.Y., where they were being used for training.

“[Cadets] just beat it to pieces,” Bernheisel said of the condition once the boat reached Lewes.

Monomoy boats were patterned after surf boats used in the rough surf off Monomoy Island near Cape Cod. They were designed to endure the worst conditions the ocean could offer and required highly skilled mariners to successfully compete rescue missions. During Colonial times, Monomoy boats were used by merchants to smuggle cargo onto beaches undetected.

In the early part of the 20th century, they became the standard for surf boats and were used at life-saving stations along the coast. Just under 8 feet wide and weighing about a ton, Monomoy boats could hold about 10 people.

Overfalls volunteer Warren Walls was familiar with Monomoy boats before joining the rehab team two years ago. In 1958, he trained in the boats as part of Coast Guard boot camp in Cape May. He hadn't been in one since.

Walls didn't bring much boatbuilding experience to the table. His grandfather was a boatbuilder, and Walls has experience building smaller-scale model boats, but full-size vessels were not familiar.

“This is all new to me,” he said.

Skill level varies, Bernheisel said, as some volunteers have an intricate knowledge of wooden boatbuilding, while others are there to help in any way possible.

“You don't win a war without foot soldiers, but you have to have your generals,” Bernheisel said.

Many in the group bring general skills to the table, including Lan Mershon, who knows his way around home repairs and furniture refinishing, but not boats.

“It has been challenging; you really have to think about the stuff you're doing,” he said as he worked on new floor boards for the boat. “You also get to meet people who are just great people who have a lot of skills and experience you can learn from.”

Demand for Monomoy boats was high during World War II. At that time, there was a big push to mass produce Monomoy boats so they could be used as lifeboats on Liberty ships, which were tasked with transporting war materials to Europe, but were often intercepted and sunk by German U-boats.

“The whole idea was to save the crew,” Bernheisel said. “Then they could put them on another ship later.”

After the war, the demand for Monomoy boats diminished. Some were used as lifeboats on Coast Guard cutters. It is believed the Overfalls' Monomoy was used in that capacity for about a decade before being sent to the Merchant Marine Academy to be used for training.

The group had its work cut out for it from the beginning, facing many challenges over the years, specifically curving wood to build new ribs. To bend the wood, the group had to build a steam box, steam straight pieces of wood for several hours and then use blocks on a table to slowly bend the wood into place. Once set, they would be clamped down for the night. The group had to produce about 50 new ribs for the boat.

“If you were unfortunate, you would bend it into shape and it would break,” Bernheisel said. “When that happens, you throw it away and start again. We broke a lot.”

Bernheisel estimates about 60 percent of the boat is still made of original material. What could be reused was put back into the boat, but the pieces that were too deteriorated had to be re-created.

To fund the project, the Overfalls secured grants from the Longwood Foundation, the Welfare Foundation and the Lewes Yacht Club. Twelve custom oars from Oregon were also sold for $450 apiece as a fundraiser. Goods and services were donated by Schell Brothers, Wyoming Millwork, West Marine, Lowe's and Cliff Diver. Donors will be honored with bricks on the grounds of the Monomoy shed.