Peekskill Boatworks Expanding and Seeking Larger Space

currently run through the Youth Bureau, teamed up with the middle school’s eighth grade LEAP program for the fall and spring seasons in an effort to expand their reach in the community.

So far eight students have signed up and two of them are girls, Charlie Gruetzner, Chairman of the Boatworks Board told the Peekskill Common Council at a meeting earlier this month. Gruetzner emphasized the importance of having both boys and girls involved in the program.

The group will build several 14-foot rowboats with future goals of racing them and using them to learn about the Hudson River and the environment.

The Boatworks board is a passionate group of people, eager to grow their program to reach more students and community members. At the Oct. 4 Committee of the Whole meeting they spoke enthusiastically about their plans to create a larger, inter-generational, sustainable and substantial community program that engages the city’s youth for years to come.

Founder Jim Taylor pointed out that Boatworks helps to reinforce many different subjects that the kids learn in school, plus it instills a sense of pride and self-worth. The program provides students with hands-on experiences that incorporate math, technology, environmental sciences and ecology studies.

“It is a mind-expander,” said Councilman Joe Schuder, who has been serving as a liaison for Boatworks and the city.

The partnership with LEAP is a sign of growth, and, as the Boatworks program strives to become its own non-profit entity, it seeks a new space that would be able to accommodate its participants and the larger boats they hope to build.

At the council meeting Deputy Mayor Don Bennett proposed a temporary structure at Peekskill Landing as a possibility. Councilman Schuder said that the spot would be subject to approval by Scenic Hudson and would require financing arrangements. The city has also looked at available commercial space on Water Street but has found it to be above the budget. Gruetzner said they would need about 3 to 5,000 square feet of space to “do it right.”

The group is determined to find a way to accomodate the growing program.

In one of his presentation slides Gruetzner quoted the novel Wind in the Willows that captured the spirit of the program.

"There is nothing, absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

On Nov. 4 Boatworks will hold a fundraiser at the Peekskill Yacht club to raise funds for its filings and beginnings as a 501c (non-profit) agency, which would help provide access to grant funding. The kids will be building a kayak for raffle and display.

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