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>> I DON’T KNOW IF I’D CALL MYSELF A SHIP BUILDER, BUT I AM A CARPENTER AND A WOOD WORR.KE DOUG: YOU COULD SAY STEPH.EN DENTTE OF GANDBY IS ALSAO DREAMER AND A VISIONARY. HIS DRM,EA TO HAND BUILD A SAILBOAT WITH THE VISION OF SAILING HER TO DESTINATIONS AROUND THE WORLD. >> THIS IS THE MOCK-UP FOR THE COCKPIT. SO, TH IISS WHERE YOU’LL STEER THE BOAT AND SHE’LL BE A TILLER STEERED. DOUG: IN 2016 STEPHEN FIRST SET SAIL ON BUILDING HIS DREAM. STARTING WITH NOTHING BUT THE TREES ONIS H FAMILY PROPERTY AND HAND TOOLS HANDED DOWN THOUGH THE GENERATIONS STEPHEN SET OUT ON A JOURNEY HE CALLED ACORN TO ARABELLA. HE’S BEEN DOCUMENTING THE ADVENTURE ON YOUTUBE. >> 1:36 – 1:46 WH IENT STARTED, OBVIOUSLY, WE HAD ZERO SUBSCRIBERS. WNO WE HAVE 160,000 AND WVEE’ HAD OPLEPE COME AND VISIT FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD. DOUG: WITH OVER 200 DIFFERENT EPISES, ODSOME WITH MILLIONS OF VIEWS SEEMS PEOPLE CAN GET’T ENGHOU OF ARABELLA’S EVOLUTION. PATTERNED OFF OLD NORWEGIAN LIFEBOATS, ARABELLA WILL BE MORE THAN 37 FEET LONG, 11 FEET WIDE AND WEIGH IN AT JUST OVER 12,000 POUNDS WET. WORKING UP TO 7 DAYS A WK,EE THIS LABOR OF LOVE INVOLVES A LOT OF L.ORAB >> IT TAKES US, I DON’T KNOW, ALMOST A WEEK TO PUT ON ONE PLANK FROM START TO FINISH. DOUG: AND THAT’S JUST THE HULL. HER 4 ½ TON LEAD KEEL MEAD UP OF SCRAP METAL THAT TOOK YEARS TO GATHER. >> THERE’S LEAD PIPES, WHEEL WEIGHTS, BULLETS, BATTERY TERMINALS. IT TOOK OV TWOER YEARS OF SCOURING AND HUNTING TO BE ABLE TO JUST COME UP WITH THE QUALITY OF LEAD. DOUG: THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS PAINSTAKINGLY ACCURATE. TREES FOR LUMBER HAVE BEEN HARVESTED FROM AROUND WNE ENGLAND, SOME FROM HIS OWN FAMILY’S FARM. OH, AND ONE OTHER THING, ONCE ARABELLA FINALLY DOES SET SAIL, IT WILL BE A FIRST FOR BOTH BOAT AND HER CAPTAIN. >>’M IOT N A SAILOR AND I’M NOT AN EXPERIENCED BOAT BUILDER. SO EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT BTOA BUDIILNG IS SELF-THOUGHT. DOUG: THAT’S RIGHT, THE FIRST BOAT STEPHEN WILL EVER SAIL IN WITH BE THE ONE HE BUILT. PEOPLE’S REACTION TO LEARNING THAT FT?AC >> THEY USUALLY TELL IME’M CRY.AZ DOUG: ARE YOU CRY?AZ >> WELL, I THINK YOU GOT TO BE A LITTLE CRAZY TO QUIT YOUR FULL TIMEOB J AND CASH IN YOUR MEAGER RETIREMENT SAVINGS AND GO ALINL ON SOMETHING LIKE THIS, BUT I DON’T KNOW – HERE WE A.RE DOUG: SO WHERE IS STEPHEN AT NOW IN THE BUILDING PROCESS? HE STILL HAS Y AEAR TO GO, WITH A LAUNCH DATE SOMETIME LATE JUNE OR EARLY JULY OF NEXT YEAR. HOWEVER, THE FINAL PLANK WILBEL PUT IN PLACE THIS SATURDAY. IT’S CALLED THE WHISKEY PLANK. BOAT BUILDING TRADITNIO IS TO HAVE A SPOT OF WHISKEY WHEN IT’S INSTALLED. INSTEAD, THERE WILL BE A LITTLE CEREMONY TO MARK THE OCCASION AND YES, LIKE THE ENTIRE PROCESS FOR THE BEGINNING IT’S OPEN TO I’M DOUG MEEHA

Woodworker building sailboat by hand using trees planted by his ancestors

Six years ago, a Massachusetts man started working on his dream. Stephen Dentte, of Granby, is using New England lumber, including trees planted by his great-great-grandfather more than 100 years ago, to build a sailboat by hand. When finished, Dentte plans to sail it to destinations around the world.”I don’t know if I’d call myself a shipbuilder, but I am a carpenter and a woodworker,” he said. The self-taught shipbuilder has been documenting the process on YouTube. He calls the journey “Acorn to Arabella.” “When it started, obviously, we had zero subscribers. Now we have 160,000 and we’ve had people come and visit from all around the world,” said Dentte. Patterned off old Norwegian lifeboats, Arabella will be more than 37-feet long, 11-feet wide and just over 12,000 pounds. Scrap metal for her keel took years to gather and Dentte applies a painstaking level of detail to the construction. “It takes us, I don’t know, almost a week to put on one plank from start to finish,” he said. The final hull plank will be installed on Saturday, but Dentte believes he has about a year to go before the boat can be launched. Once Arabella finally does set sail, it will be a first for both the boat and her captain. “They usually tell me I’m crazy,” Dentte said. “Well, I think you got to be a little crazy to quit your full-time job and cash in your meager retirement savings and go all-in on something like this but I don’t know – here we are.”

GRANBY, Mass. —

Six years ago, a Massachusetts man started working on his dream.

Stephen Dentte, of Granby, is using New England lumber, including trees planted by his great-great-grandfather more than 100 years ago, to build a sailboat by hand. When finished, Dentte plans to sail it to destinations around the world.

“I don’t know if I’d call myself a shipbuilder, but I am a carpenter and a woodworker,” he said.

The self-taught shipbuilder has been documenting the process on YouTube. He calls the journey “Acorn to Arabella.”

“When it started, obviously, we had zero subscribers. Now we have 160,000 and we’ve had people come and visit from all around the world,” said Dentte.

Patterned off old Norwegian lifeboats, Arabella will be more than 37-feet long, 11-feet wide and just over 12,000 pounds. Scrap metal for her keel took years to gather and Dentte applies a painstaking level of detail to the construction.

“It takes us, I don’t know, almost a week to put on one plank from start to finish,” he said.

The final hull plank will be installed on Saturday, but Dentte believes he has about a year to go before the boat can be launched.

Once Arabella finally does set sail, it will be a first for both the boat and her captain.

“They usually tell me I’m crazy,” Dentte said. “Well, I think you got to be a little crazy to quit your full-time job and cash in your meager retirement savings and go all-in on something like this but I don’t know – here we are.”