Ron Rutledge proudly displays a scale model of Paul Teachout’s skiff. Master boat builder Roger Johnson built the model and led the restoration of the original skiff.
Ron Rutledge holds a replica of the reversible seat that Paul Teachout created for his unique skiff.
Ron Rutledge demonstrates how Teachout steered his skiff while sailing by using two lines attached to the tiller.
A closeup of the reversible seat that allowed Teachout to row in two directions.
Under the reversible seat Teachout had a live well.
Many features were attached to the skiff by copper wire.
Ron Rutledge points out the copper rub rail on Paul Teachout’s skiff.
Ron Rutledge and mast boat builder Roger Johnson spend countless hours working to restore Paul Teachout’s 1944-1945 skiff. Johnson made this replica to accompany the display.
Ron Rutledge demonstrates how Teachout steered his skiff while sailing by using two lines attached to the tiller.
Under the reversible seat Teachout had a live well.
A project of this magnitude would not be possible without someone supplying the means. In this case it was Neil and Vicki Bretthauer, whose generous sponsorship made the Key Marco Skiff Conservation Project a reality. The official unveiling of the skiff comes this fall.
Ron Rutledge proudly displays a scale model of Paul Teachout’s skiff. Master boat builder Roger Johnson built the model and led the restoration of the original skiff.
Talk about a great COVID project. In August of 2020, the Museum of Florida History contacted Austin Bell, the Marco Island Historical Society’s curator of collections, about a skiff they had acquired in 1982. It came with a vague description.
“They said, 'We’ve got this thing,'” Ron Rutledge said, 'Do you want it?’ It’s 11-feet long and 4-feet wide. It sat in their warehouse since 1982. The board of directors voted to get it down here. Austin flew to Tallahassee, rented a U-Haul and drove it down here.”
The skiff, built by former Goodlander Paul Teachout, was far from showroom condition. It was a wooden watercraft that Teachout made using primitive tools during World War II. He is purported to have used the craft daily until his death in 1968.
"His craft,” Rutledge said, "Paul actually built this thing in 1944-45. He was living in the swamps outside of Goodland. It’s entirely hand built. Unfortunately, it sat out in Bud Kirk’s yard in Goodland from 1968 to 1982, uncovered. It was in very rough shape. "
Not a lot is known about Teachout, who was born in 1900. The museum has records of draft registration cards from WWI and WWII. They know he worked at Kelly Gant’s Fish Company in Marco, Florida when he was 41 years old.
Some anecdotal information comes from notes taken from a conversation with Bud Kirk, probably by the curator of the Museum of Florida History back in 1982. The notes say that Teachout lived in swamps and was “clever with tools, almost primitive, almost 18th century tools.’ It also said he went to dumps for parts needed. Kirk said Teachout “practically lived in a hollow tree." Kirk let Teachout live at the crab house, a business Kirk founded, for the final two years of his life. Teachout did odd jobs for Kirk. And though his skiff was designed to be rowed or sailed, Kirk noted that the sail was used only once.
Ron Rutledge points out the copper rub rail on Paul Teachout’s skiff.
Teachout died in 1968, at 68 years old. His skiff deteriorated in Kirk’s yard in Goodland from then until 1982 when Kirk donated it to the Museum of Florida History.
"What we ended up with was a giant jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces and no pictures,” Rutledge joked. "Anything that came off the skiff had to be cataloged. It’s cypress, and cypress is extremely durable, but unfortunately, when it was sitting in Bud’s backyard, it was sitting on its port side. It would fill up with water, then drain. We didn’t realize how badly rotted the decking was from the bottom."
MIHS CEO Patricia Rutledge, Ron’s wife, was made an offer she couldn’t refuse by master boat builder Roger Johnson, who now lives in the area. All she had to do was give up her husband for a while.
"Roger was kind of looking for a project,” Ron Rutledge said. "He told my wife, if you volunteer Ron to help with the project, I’ll volunteer my time.”
Rutledge and Johnson then started putting together the jigsaw puzzle. Rutledge found some of the pieces he needed on eBay.
"It had two missing oarlocks,” Rutledge said. "Fortunately, eBay came through for that. I found two that match. I also found a pair of oars on eBay. Great match. Work great. We didn’t get the rudder. We came up with a plan.”
Like Teachout did almost 70 years ago, Rutledge and Johnson fabricated their own rudder.
The hull of Teachout’s skiff is made of a series of cypress planks. The planks were fastened using wooden pegs.
"There’s thousands of them,” Rutledge said of the pegs, "and they’re all hand carved. Some are an inch long, some are four inches long. Every hole you see in the planking represents a hand carved wooden peg called a trunnel.”
One might assume all of the planks are a uniform size. Not the case at all.
“Because he was building this on the fly,” Rutledge said, "nothing is square and nothing is the same size. The planks go from 7/8” to 1 1/8", and they may even taper. So, there is no way, with the time allowed, that we would be able to re-create that. So, we went a quarter-inch thick by one-inch wide. We found a cabinet maker in Gainesville who would cut the cypress planks and send them down to us.”
Teachout even created handmade numbers for the boat, although it appears that it was never registered.
"These numbers exist nowhere in the State of Florida’s registration system,” Rutledge smiled. "On one side the S is backwards. These letters are hand cut out of a copper sheet and tacked on. We don’t know why he thought it needed numbers. But he felt a need to put numbers on it."
Another unique feature of the skiff is a copper rub rail that, like virtually everything on the boat, was handmade by Teachout.
Ron Rutledge and mast boat builder Roger Johnson spend countless hours working to restore Paul Teachout’s 1944-1945 skiff. Johnson made this replica to accompany the display.
Ron Rutledge holds a replica of the reversible seat that Paul Teachout created for his unique skiff.
"The rub rail is all hand formed,” Rutledge said. "What he did was somehow he got a sheet of very thin 16-inch-wide copper. Because if you look at it, every section of rub rail is 16-inches - every one. Which means that he had a sheet of 16-inch that he just lopped off and he reformed all the way around. The two corner caps and the plate under the antlers on the bow is a metal called German silver. Which is neither German nor silver. We buffed that out.”
Perhaps the most unique feature of the very unique skiff is the seat, which turns 180 degrees, allowing Teachout to utilize two set of oarlocks. The ingenious seat sits atop and an equally ingenious live well.
"On top of this fish box is the seat he uses for rowing,” Rutledge said, shaking his head in wonder. “The skiff has two sets of oarlocks on it. The reason for that is that the seat is reversible. He sits facing back and he’s sitting in the standard position for power. The seat reverses 180 degrees and he’s now facing forward. Using the aft oarlocks, he can now row forward and see where he’s going. That’s one of the key pieces we have.”
A project of this magnitude would not be possible without someone supplying the means. In this case it was Neil and Vicki Bretthauer, whose generous sponsorship made the Key Marco Skiff Conservation Project a reality. The official unveiling of the skiff comes this fall.
A closeup of the reversible seat that allowed Teachout to row in two directions.
Many features were attached to the skiff by copper wire.
"The actual display of the skiff in its finished form in its new display case will be exhibited in the new lobby in the fall,” Patricia Rutledge said. "Creative Arts, who have done all of the other displays in the museum, is who we contracted to do the lobby renovation. It’s the last piece of the finishing of the museum. The lobby was saved for last. So now we’re finally going to finish the museum, 11 years later."
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Your comment has been submitted.
There was a problem reporting this.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.