Father and son team up with boat kits

April 15, 2016

Al Jankowski has been enamored with boats most of his life, a trait he passed to his son Kurt. Now the two are sharing that love with others through the Old Mission Boat Company, a startup that sells boat kits. The hook: They say the boats are designed so that someone can start the build one weekend and have it in the water the next.

An avid sailor and marine surveyor, Al owned his own boat shop for years, building and repairing boats at what is now the Inside- Out Gallery. He spent countless hours on the lakes and his son Kurt found himself similarly drawn to the water. From an early age, Kurt told anyone who would listen that he wanted to be a naval architect when he grew up.

“It has always been my dream to design a small wooden boat, and I’ve wanted to be a naval architect since sixth grade,” said Kurt.

He stayed true to his dream, receiving his graduate degree in naval architecture and hydrodynamics from the University of Michigan. Today he works for a naval architecture firm in Seattle.

Meanwhile, his father found another passion taking up more of his time. A multi instrumentalist,

Al plays regularly around the region and also works at Marshall Music. (Kurt plays, too, though mostly at home, where he’s exchanged his drums for guitar.)

Al kept his hand in the boat business and, about two years ago, was hired to teach a class on building standup paddleboards. During that build, he found himself making several alterations to the kit to accommodate the build speed and keep the builders enthused and motivated.

Bogged down by the endless details and time involved in each step, the builders lost motivation. By the time they were ready for the finishing work, they weren’t interested in making it look good, just getting it in the water.

“After I taught a couple classes on how to build our competitors’ boats, I saw people start out enthusiastic, but the wind came out of their sails as time went on. I thought we could do it better and faster,” he said.

So the Jankowskis went to work with the goal of designing a great boat that could be built quickly.

One of the first challenges had to do with fastening the top, bottom and sides together. Other companies used a copper wiring process, followed by filling gaps with epoxy, then removing the stitches and filling in the holes, then adding more epoxy.

The Jankowskis used cyanoacrylate glue (Krazy Glue) instead of wires and found that, not only did it work better, it sped up the entire process from days to hours.

“Just two and a half hours after starting, you’re doing the fillets (epoxying the structure’s supports together.)

“Most kits take several days to get there,” said Al. “When you walk away the first day, you can see your top on, drying.”

The deck is built using two sections of wood. The interlocking scarf joint is done in a custom wave pattern. It ensures strength, as well as emphasizing the nautical theme. The Jankowskis invested in a custom CNC machine to create this.

To protect their investment, the twosome patented the wave scarf and registered the Liquid Stitch process.

Not only is the build much quicker, Al said the craft itself is a step up from most paddleboards. Rather than skipping across the waves, this one slices through them, thanks to its knife-edge bow.

“Most [paddleboards] are designed by surfers. This one’s designed by a naval architect,” he said.

The kits start at $599 for experienced builders who have all the necessary tools and glue. Complete kits are $899 and fit in an 8-foot-long box that is 30 inches wide. The class is $200, though Al is offering it half off this year.

Kurt designs, with prototyping done in Al’s home shop. Assembly, classes and shipping are handled from the shop on Garfield Avenue.

While the standup paddleboard is the only model currently available, the Jankowskis already have plans for two more: a rowing wherry and a small sailboat. Kurt said they have several other designs in development and will continue to expand the selection of accessories.

Their goal of growing the business means Al is hands-on, packaging the boats and leading building classes. For Kurt, the long-term goal is to build Old Mission Boat Company to the point where he can return home and work there full time.

“I love what I do, but I do miss Traverse City and Michigan. I want to move back within a few years and have it be a fulltime job.”