Building a Batteau

The following documents the building of the Anthony Rucker batteau, written by Ralph Smith in 2009. It is one of several resources we will be publishing in an attempt to give interested parties every available advantage to build their own batteaux and to carry on this important Virginia tradition.

Introduction

My intent in preparing and presenting this information is to create a resource which will assist future batteau builders and hopefully be informative and interesting to all who read it. I have provided within this section of the website, some information from Joe Ayers and others who were integral in founding the festival and who actually saw the boats in the basin dig in 1983. This document in particular is my personal experience and opinions based on my experience with the festival and particularly in terms of boatbuilding. I am not trying to portray myself as the sole source of authenticity and the correct building procedures, but rather give 1 person’s experience on the fascinating experience of recreating the batteau of the late 1700’s.

At the time of the writing of this article, we have constructed 4 Anthony Rucker batteaux. The first boat was build in 1988, the second in 1992, the third in 2001 and the fourth in 2009. The third Rucker batteau is still active in the festival having been renamed the Morning Dew and crewed by a group of college age young men including my two sons.

In the fall of 2008 we decided to embark on the adventure of building our fourth version of The Anthony Rucker batteau. At the time we still had a batteau with several years of life left in it, but we had gotten the building bug and really looked forward to the construction. Our hope was to build a batteau in which we would address the mistakes and short comings of the previous batteaux we’ve built and which would provide us with the ability to enjoy the festival for the next 10 or more years. In its maiden festival year in 2009, the 4th Anthony Rucker surpassed even our most optimistic expectations. We may not be objective, but we felt the boat looked majestic in the water with straight lines and the absence of any hogging. It was by far the most water tight boat we’ve crewed, not needing to be bailed out during the entire festival as the evaporation rate was roughly equal to the amount of water leaking into the boat. The 3rd and 4th Ruckers are both heavy boats and this is noticeable in the river, but it was a conscious decision to build heavy and strong and we have no regrets.

Aspects of the Build

In Closing

After building an authentic James River Batteau, the next stage of its enjoyment begins. The week long festival is a highlight of the year for many if not most of the participants. The fellowship among batteau along with the enjoyment of the James River as a wonderful natural resource make this week special to everyone. After participating in over 20 festivals I can honestly say no two have been the same and after well over 2000 festival miles on the James I still look forward to the festival each year.

This 4th Anthony Rucker batteau was constructed in the spring of 2009 by previous crew and friends. We basically worked on it for 2-3 months, a couple of night a week and occasionally on weekends. Some evenings we had 10 people working, more often it was a core group of 2 or 3 family and friends. Often it was more of a social gathering than a work setting. We certainly spent more time than absolutely necessary but we were enjoying working out situations which had created problems in past boats. Much of the fit and finish we worked hard to accomplish was unnecessary and disappeared after 2 weeks at the bottom of a pond. The new boat has logged 1 James River Batteau Festival comprised of 120 river miles. The 3rd Anthony Rucker will participate in the 2010 festival again having been re-named the Morning Dew. After 10 years in the festival it is certainly in its twilight years but still is a sound boat and if maintained still has several years of life left.