Over the years the Bayles Boat Shop has undertaken many small wooden boat projects. Whether an individual contract or undertaken to raise funds, these projects ranged from complete new boat builds and restorations of classic wooden boats to small one-time repairs, whether a rotted transom or a cracked hull.  Each year the Bayles Boat Shop also allots time and space for building a small wooden craft of a popular design which is raffled off each Summer during our annual Quick & Dirty Boat Building Competition. This years raffle, a 12' Harry Bryan design, Fiddlehead canoe. 

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In Fall of 2018 we started our Student & Youth Boat Building Program. Working under close supervision with several of our dedicated volunteers, the program is designed to introduce 14 to 18 year-olds to basic boat building skills and techniques. We are excited about this program and look forward to expanding it to include more complex building projects and required skillsets. With the advent of our Whaleboat 1776 Project, the present class of students have been learning a more traditional boatbuilding skill; shaping the six, 16 foot ash oars which will be used on the completed whaleboat. As the project progresses, these learned skills will be expanded upon to include other necessary fabrications. The 2021-2022  student boat build may be seen below under recently completed projects. 

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In Fall of 2022 the boat shop embarked on our most exciting and challenging project to date; building a replica of a colonial whaleboat of the type used in the coastal Long Island Sound skirmishes of the American  Revolutionary War. The project has been undertaken in partnership with the Village of Port Jefferson and it represents the village's early step forward in preparing for America's 250th anniversary celebrations in 2026.  Follow the Whaleboat 1776 Project link for more information concerning our newest project