Three Rivers

Part 3, Which boat?

Todd Fillingham — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:48:07 +0000

I wrote this in the previous post:

Fully reclaiming the waters of Milwaukee’s 3 rivers for public use would create a powerful and positive change . When a large number of people are able to enjoy the wonderful, relaxing and restorative benefits of recreation on the rivers they will understand the value of keeping the rivers clean, of creating public access and of maintaining this wonderful asset. The more people that enjoy the rivers the more people there will be that will find reason to advocate for the rivers and the more advocacy for the rivers the more opportunities will be opened for people to enjoy them. This will create a wonderful, positive feedback loop.

This is idea is at the core of my mission which is is to build boats that would allow and encourage as many people as possible to fully enjoy Milwaukee’s 3 rivers in a non-polluting, ecologically sensitive way.

The question then is what boat would be best suited for this mission? It became time for me to do some serious research.

Over the years I have been collecting many books and articles about small boat design. I pulled out some of the best and started a review.

I started reading, re-reading, taking notes and re-reading again.

One thing I knew was that the boat had to have a certain appeal, a beautiful look. It had to draw attention to itself to get people interested in getting out on the river. People who may have never thought of rowing or boating might be inspired by the beauty of the boat. I had collected a lot of images that were inspiring me to do this work.

There are a lot of beautiful designs out there to choose from. I had to start thinking about more than just beauty in order to choose the right design.

I know the waters in and around Milwaukee’s rivers and have a pretty good idea of what is needed for a boat to be seaworthy enough to be safe and comfortable here. A primary concern for novice boaters is how tippy a boat feels. One measure of a boat’s stability is the ratio of the length over all (loa) to the beam (a boat’s width). A narrow skinny boat like a sea kayak is very tippy compared to say a wide life boat. That number isn’t the whole story though. Boats have different degrees of stability depending on how far over they are tipped or heeled. Some boats have pretty good stability initially only to become less stable the further over they heel. Others are just the opposite with less stability when on an even keel but gain stability as more of the hull is dipped into the water as the boat heels.

I began to gather as much data as I could about various hull shapes. I also collected images of boats at work in order to get an idea of their stability.

Here’s a boat with a lot of initial stability allowing the lobster-man a good working platform to haul his pots.

I began adding my own notes to images I collected.

Another concern is seaworthiness. How able is a boat to handle a variety of conditions. While the waters in the three rivers are usually very smooth, there can be a few waves and some turbulence near the harbor entrance where the rivers meet. Also, it would be nice if the boats I were to build would be seaworthy enough to navigate out into the outer harbor on nice days. Part of what makes a boat seaworthy is how much free-board a boat has, that is how high above the water the sides are. Too close to the water and waves may slop water into the boat. As with all of the factors I was looking at there is always a balance point. Too much free-board and the boat will be caught by the wind and hard to handle, too little and it may not be seaworthy enough for a modest chop.

A fine entry also adds to seaworthiness. The shape of the boat’s hull as it meets the water when it moves forward or even as a wave approaches from astern is worth considering. A stern with a wide transom, the after end of a boat, adds room and initial stability, however it may cause a boat to be shoved around a bit when hit with a wave from astern. A wide stern can also make a boat harder to row as the water won’t flow as easily around the boat.

Other concerns I had were:

How easy would the boat be to build? I didn’t want the price to be outrageous.
How many people would it be able to carry? I wanted at least enough to make it a means of having a fun outting.
How much would it weigh? The lighter the easier it would be to handle ashore.
Would the boat have a look that appealed to many people? Some designs were beautiful to my eye but may look a bit “unique” to others.
And maybe most importantly, how easy would it be to row?

I began looking at how other builders and designers had solved various issues I was starting to identify. Again, I added notes to images I collected.

I also had to start thinking about how I would get boats I built out of my shop, my shop on the 5th floor of an old industrial building. I created models of various designs in my 3d modeling program and tried getting them into my virtual elevator.

OK, the elevator option didn’t look like the best way to go. So I started thinking about opening a window and dropping the boat down through it. This looked more promising.

I was collecting as much information as I could about the various designs I had my eye on. In order to make this information useful I collected it into one place. I created a Mind Map using FreeMind software. Here’s a screen capture of part of my map:

This application allows you to create links to various locations on your computer or the web for the nodes you create. You can add pictures and of course text. It was a great way to create a data base that was easy to visually scan and to retrieve information from a wide variety of sources.

Here’s a close up of one section.

By reviewing this information all in one place I was able to start eliminating a few designs but I still had many factors to consider and needed a way of comparing the designs that were left.

This begins the nomograph discussion. You may want to skip ahead to the end of this section if this sort of thing doesn’t appeal to you. I actually think it’s pretty cool.

A good way to compare more than two factors in a decision making process is to create a nomograph listing the factors you want to consider on several axes. I happen to keep a template of a basic nomograph in my modeling program. You don’t need the 3d function, but the ability to move points and shift lines helps make the nomograph very easy to create.

Here’s an overall look at my nomograph-

I start on the left side-

You can click on the image for a larger, more clear view of it.

I started by listing all of the designs I was considering on an axis that scales an estimated amount of time it would take to build that design. This is essentially an estimate of relative time and should not be considered an absolute value. The top of that axis has the fewest hours which is marked “good”. The next step is to draw an axis a little to the right that lists the number of people the boat could carry, or “crew size”. A line is drawn for each boat from it’s position on the “hours to construct” axis to the “crew size axis”. This line is then projected to a 3rd axis which is the first of several intermediate scores.

The important concept in using the nomograph is that the “good” end of each axis reverses as you move from left to right. In this case the “good” score of fewer hours to build is on top followed by the “good” score of a large crew which is at the bottom of the next axis. Following a maximum score leads to the end of the the first intermediate score axis, in this case the best intermediate score is at the bottom of that axis.

Now is when you can start seeing the value of this analytical tool. The next step is start from the the point on the first intermediate score axis for any given boat and then to draw a line from that point to a value on the next axis which in this case lists the stability factor (again, this is relative to the other designs) and then to project that line on to the next intermediate score line. This process can be continued for as many factors as you have to consider.

What you come up with is a way of comparing various options (boat designs in this case) using a large number of variables. You can see how that at any given intermediate score axis you can compare one design against the others for all of the factors to the left.

Here’s a look at just 2 of the boat designs run through the entire nomograph.

The factors or variables that I considered were (from left to right)

hours to construct
crew size
stability
weight
seaworthiness
rowing ease

By the way, the final score axis ended up with the “good” at the bottom.

Here ends the nomograph discussion.

A couple of boat designs scored significantly better than others and I focused on those. At this point I started contacting the boat designers and discussed my plans, my mission and ideas. Eventually I arrived at what I think is the best boat for this project. More on that boat in the next post.

Part 2, Build It and They Will Come

Todd Fillingham — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:04:26 +0000

So what changes have taken place along Milwaukee’s rivers?

In the last 10 years there has been an amazing amount of development on the rivers, primarily along the banks of the Milwaukee River.

Above is view across the Milwaukee River near North Ave. This is just about as far upstream as most boats can travel against the current.

A little further downstream.

There is a new Milwaukee Urban Water Trail along this bank as well. Along this section of the trail there are several points of public access to the river including a floating dock where the Milwaukee Rowing Club and Marquette University launch their rowing shells.

A brewery offers seating and more dock space.

As you get closer to downtown you can see many old industrial buildings that once turned their backs on the river have been opened up and converted to condos and apartments. As part of the development the city has built walkways and docks.

The state of Wisconsin has created a new state park right where Milwaukee’s three rivers meet! The Lakeshore State Park is a wonderful addition. Upstream on the Milwaukee River there is talk of creating yet another park. This would occupy the location of the former Melanec’s Wheelhouse restaurant.

There are also proposals on the table for adding green space and park land to the shores of the Kinnikinnick River in conjunction with needed changes to the Hoan Bridge that spans the harbor entrance.

from HNTB Report

These are all exciting developments yet there are a few clouds on the horizon.

Fully reclaiming the waters of Milwaukee’s 3 rivers for public use would create a powerful and positive change . When a large number of people are able to enjoy the wonderful, relaxing and restorative benefits of recreation on the rivers they will understand the value of keeping the rivers clean, of creating public access and of maintaining this wonderful asset. The more people that enjoy the rivers the more people there will be that will find reason to advocate for the rivers and the more advocacy for the rivers the more opportunities will be opened for people to enjoy them. This will create a wonderful, positive feedback loop.

The clouds I mentioned however are the things that would stop this positive feedback loop, that would block ever greater public enjoyment of the rivers. Along with the development of riverside residential units there are new docks and slips being installed. There are limits to the number of boat slips that can be installed along a given stretch of river front. The Wisconsin DNR imposes regulatory limits and there are simple physical limitations. At the same time there is growing demand for boat slips along the river as more people move into the new condos and apartments. These two facts, limits to the number that can be built and high demand, create very high prices for the slips. High prices make it very hard for a lot of people to own or even rent a slip. As the demand for slips goes up the prices go even higher eventually eliminating all but the wealthiest of boat owners.

The Business Journal published a very interesting article about this back in June of 2004. In it Lynn Broaddhus, then executive director of Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers, expressed concern “that the city and the state do not have a long-term plan for pier development along the Milwaukee River, which could lead to the river becoming a parking lot for boats.”

The rivers should be big enough to allow for a wide variety of activities, uses and recreational opportunities including but not limited to slips for expensive boats. With all of the people moving into new units along the rivers it would be worthwhile to encourage more than just the “parking lot for boats” option.

There is a growing interest in canoeing as well as kayaking on the rivers. The Milwaukee Rowing Club offers opportunities to row in their sleek rowing shells. These options may appeal to many people, however there are many more who may not feel comfortable in these sleek and somewhat unstable craft. I keep thinking of the pictures of the old days.

Wisconsin Historical Society

A picnic along the shore. The party easily navigating the river in a sturdy, seaworthy row boat, finding the perfect spot to relax and enjoy a summer’s afternoon.

What if people living along the river now, or anywhere nearby could realize that they too could enjoy the rivers as was once done. All that is really needed is easy access to a decent boat. True, much has changed since the time remembered by my old boss I called Mr. K in my earlier post. However, new parks are being built, public docks are going in, the rivers are fascinating and boating on them, …well, I’m sure many of you know the well worth quoting Water Rat in Kenneth Grahame’s classic “The Wind In The Willows” and remember his advice to Mole, “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Here, take a look at this short, time lapse video taken on the Lake Express as it heads up river for it’s winter dock.

A ride up the river in winter. A trip through the harbor and up the Menomonee River through the heart of downtown and on into an industrial region, which, by the way, is gaining a new river trail, another opportunity for new parks.

The idea -that the introduction into Milwaukee of a decent, stable, seaworthy rowboat big enough to carry at least 3 adults, easily launched and easy to row may have a significant impact on protecting the rivers I love -hit me hard. And I’ve been thinking about it for some time.

Especially since I could build such boats.

Could it really be as simple as “build it and they will come”?

-Todd

Milwaukee’s Three Rivers

Todd Fillingham — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:00:34 +0000

: google maps

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This was first posted on my other blog www.fillingham.wordpress.com .

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Milwaukee was built at the confluence of three rivers on the shore of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic . At present there are 9 miles navigable by small craft before reaching the protected harbor. There is an additional 27 miles or so accessible by canoe or kayak up the Milwaukee River to the dam at Bridge Street in Grafton, Wisconsin.

The three rivers have been used for commerce and recreation for a long time.

: Wisconsin Historical Society

: Wisconsin Historical Society

: Wisconsin Historical Society

Commerce had dominated the three rivers for so long by the time I first saw them that they were just short of open sewers. This was in the mid 1960′s, when my sister and I moved here from northern Virginia to finish high school and live at our father’s house. Buildings along the river fronts had their backs to the rivers, waste was dumped directly into them. The rivers stank much of the time. River front property was less valuable for being on the river.

Around 1967 I took a part time job at the Knickerbocker Hotel Pharmacy, just north of downtown. It was one of those opportunities to experience a very colorful side of Milwaukee. The notorious Sally’s Supper Club shared the ground floor of the hotel with the pharmacy. Working there cracked open a chink through which I saw a world that was slowly dying and I was intrigued and scared by its shadows. This was the last of a seamy Milwaukee of cheap hoods, organized crime, systematic exploitation and violence.

It was in this world that my boss, the owner of the pharmacy operated. I cannot remember his name now, so I’ll call him Mr. K. The straits he was in at the time I was hired were never fully known to me. His swollen face, stooped stance and scurrying gait though were signals of much that lay unseen. He must have been seriously indebted to someone and he had to hustle to stay afloat.

I felt sympathy for this over worked man. He was fair to his employees and never indulged in the exploitation the milieu he was immersed in would have found natural. As a matter of fact he would often give quiet warnings of traps to gingerly step around, such as gifts that were anything but what they seemed. There were times when it was best not to leave the drugstore counter, at least not until the big Cadillacs had left the street in front of Sally’s. Men in garish suits would hang out in the soda fountain area around lunch time or on a lazy Sunday afternoon occasionally making very sexist remarks about the waitress, sometimes bidding her to sit with them to discuss certain propositions. The drug store filled orders that I often delivered by dropping off inside a screen door, under no circumstances was I to knock. A young woman’s residence was around the corner and on occasion I was told to deliver a couple of six packs of beer and “you don’t need to hurry back [wink, wink]” to one of the dorm rooms there . Mr. K. would get irate though about delivering boxes of condoms to another “apartment” in the neighborhood. Somehow he had a more mellow attitude about the daily delivery of a half pint of cheap brandy and a package of Depends to a resident of the hotel (that was a very quick delivery).

Maybe he sensed my nascent grasp of his predicament and maybe my naive sympathy. Maybe I was just a person that would listen. Whatever the reason he began to tell me about his youth and this reflection distracted him from the trap he was in. I was amazed to hear about the days he spent swimming in the Milwaukee River, about the majestic swimming pavilions and the boats that would be rowed on the river to lazy picnics along the bank.

: Wisconsin Historical Society

: Wisconsin Historical Society

Mr. K. also told of the farms 1/2 block from where I was living at the time. That land had been “developed” into housing quite awhile earlier and I had never thought of it as farmland. The contrast between that pastoral land and river of his memory and the city I lived in was astounding to me.

I worked at that drugstore a couple of years and moved on. I went to college at UWM and got a degree in independent film making. I traveled some, was part of a traveling film and dance production (1/2 of it to be exact) and eventually wound up living in an old log cabin just north of the city of Milwaukee for a couple of years.

I had always sailed on Lake Michigan. I moved back into the city, right into the heart of downtown, and my girlfriend (soon to be wife) and I bought an old wooden sailboat which we sailed around Lake Michigan, storing it in a boat yard up the Kinnickinnic River over the winters.

: Our boat tied up along the KK River

I hadn’t forgotten Mr. K.’s stories about the rivers of his youth, yet I found it hard to reconcile those stories with the rivers I saw up close from our boat. The waters were filthy, and even though you would see the occasional musk rat swimming, more often you were likely to see a dead animal floating downstream.

And this wasn’t necessarily the safest place to keep a boat. There were gangs that motored up the river and would steal anything of value from any and all boats tied up along the banks. A group of us boat owners, particularly owners of boats of a certain vintage tended to watch out for each others boats and would have small parties and cookouts along our makeshift docks. We were on a part of the river that could be described as a desolate industrial wasteland.

An aside: As a matter fact, it was few years earlier that I used that area as the scene for a series of photographs I took and submitted as a non-written term paper about the Italian film maker Michelangelo Antonioni. I was particularly interested in his early, neo-realist work. You can get idea of what I’m talking about by seeing this screen shot from his film Il deserto rosso (1964).

I have always been an artist, besides dabbling in film and earning a living at furniture design, furniture making and carpentry. Twenty years ago Milwaukee held a celebration of the rivers that run through it. A celebration that, it was hoped, would change Milwaukee’s view of and attitude toward the rivers. I participated as a sculptor and created a floating sculpture for the event. It was an attempt to add a bit of “jewelry” to the rivers, honor and celebrate what could be. I created a pretty wild looking canoe form.

: Canoe Form by Todd Fillingham 1989

I set up a small display describing the project then floated up and down the Milwaukee River during the celebration in this canoe. It was a small effort, more of a gesture I guess, but it was part of the beginning of a major change in Milwaukee.

Part 2 is here.

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