Fundraising to build ship replica lagging

The nonprofit group building a replica of a 1925 Oyster Bay shellfish dredge says the project recreating a part of the North Shore's maritime history faces delays because of the slow pace of donations.

Construction on the new version of the Ida May started last month with $125,000 from singer-songwriter Billy Joel, who owns a home in Centre Island and worked on an oyster dredge as a teenager.

That money will pay two professional shipwrights -- ship carpenters -- and cover utilities and insurance through the end of the year, said Jack Hoyt of Oyster Bay, secretary-treasurer of the nonprofit Christeen Oyster Sloop Preservation Corporation, which is building the replica of the Ida May.

In recent weeks, more than $20,000 has been pledged by board members and a few individuals to continue the work through January, Hoyt said. But the group still needs to raise almost $500,000 to finish the vessel, he added.

"Money's coming in spasmodically," said Clint Smith, the group's president. "We're approaching a lot of people," and the group has distributed fundraising brochures.

Smith said he remains optimistic about getting enough money to keep the shipwrights working through February so they can cut and install hull frames.

Hoyt said if fundraising doesn't improve by then, the work might have to be completed by volunteers, slowing the project considerably.

But either way, Smith said, "It's going to get done. We're not going to stop."

The organization hopes to complete the replica in early 2013 and turn it over to the nonprofit WaterFront Center for environmental education and fishing trips.

The original Ida May was built by Frank M. Flower & Sons to scoop oysters from the harbor. The oyster dredge, one of the first with an engine, was retired in 2003 to await restoration as a museum vessel but suffered deterioration that proved irreversible and was broken up earlier this year. The group that a decade ago restored the Christeen, a sail-powered Oyster Bay shellfish dredging craft, decided to build an Ida May replica.

The original craft was 45 feet long and 15 1/2 feet wide. The replica will be a foot wider to pass the Coast Guard inspections for carrying passengers.For more information about the project, go to the group's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Ida-May-Project/175025835884519