Watch NCIS? You Will From Now On!
Gibbs with his boyhood model. Image source CBS NCIS
Thanks to fellow Woody Boater Bob Kays for making us aware of the Tuesday, May 13 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) season finale ” Honor thy Father” episode of NCIS on CBS and of course for those of you that watch on web, its available online to view. The lead character, Gibbs (Mark Harmon) has built a sailboat as a way to reduce the stress of his job over the last couple years…..
Get the plans out, I am gonna build me a barrel back! CBS NCIS
Well, this latest episode introduces a new boat that he will be building. Or at least that’s the set up. Maybe in the following episodes he is half way through the project and gives up, tries to sell it on Ebay for 100K…It is a crime show after all. All kidding aside, the writers and director certainly captured the essence of a boys dream boat.
Pre War Chris Craft Barrel Back. Image Source CBS NCIS
There is a lovely line in the show. The Mom says. ” Grandpa says, water never forgets. Anyone with a boat named after them will live forever” Very powerful line, and true..
Nice name.. Moms nick name. Image Source CBS NCIS
Yes it looks like a new model, HERE IS ONE ON EBAY…and yes the lettering is a tad over kill for a father son build. Dad, “No Gibbs, the font needs to be a Royal Script“, “DAD! Really I was thinking of just painting it….
But its TV.. And if he is going to build a barrel back in the basement to relieve stress. HA, does he have a rude awakening coming. It would take the show in another area.. Cop looses it after realizing that Philips head screws are for post war boats! Either way the show goes though, it will be cool to watch how they weave Dads boat into the story. If you want to watch the entire episode online Just click here, and tune in on Tuesday nights on CBS to follow the adventures.. It is really a cool show.
Love NCIS and Mark Harmon’s character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs!
But I’m curious about something…in another tv movie Mark did; John Sandford’s – Certain Prey – there was a model of a wooden boat behind his character’s desk…I wonder if it was the same one?
You know…in my unselfish interest to be as helpful to the wooden boat community as I can…I volunteer to be sent to find Mr. Harmon and ask him if it was the same boat model, if he has an interest in wooden boats and any other questions our inquiring minds want to know!
I did read somewhere that a lot of the tools that are used in Gibbs’ basement are actually Mark’s personal wood working tools…so obviously, this is important and I really should be on my way…like right now! Honestly, I don’t mind…
Rest in Peace, Ralph Waite.
Ranger, I happily volunteer to go with you! Somehow I missed seeing you in Tavares.
Hey girlfriend! I slid in & out very quickly, Randy was working out of town that weekend and the weather on that Saturday…kept me home. Next year for sure!
“Gibbs” has been building wooden sailboats in his basement since the show started 11 years ago.
I stopped watching about 6 or 7 years ago and I think he had finished two by then (maybe was on his second). The show usually uses the “boat building” scenes to lead into or exit the show, showing Gibbs woodworking (with hand tools) as a master craftsman to relax from his high pressure detective work.
Nice that the show is building a barrelback but, if you’re expecting a how-to or even some pointers…. well, that’s not what this show is about.
Not an avid watcher, but have enjoyed the show when I catch it.
Of course Abby is probably my favorite character. Bet you didn’t see that coming.
I saw this show Tuesday night. I hadn’t watched NCIS for a few years and have drifted back to it over the last few months. My curiosity lay in trying to figure out what his father sold in the “store”. I enjoyed the flashbacks to Gibb’s youth as he was becoming aware of the craft of woodworking. Finding the model boat in the box at the end of the episode was almost a “sniffler”. I know its been discussed on this forum and other printed media in our hobby – but again this show caused me to muse about my introduction to boating and wood boats as a child. Somebody should compile a book of the stories we could all tell. Maybe somebody has. Of course the catch line about living forever if you name a boat after yourself has caused me to immediately rename my stable of crafts. I’m kind of interested to see if Alex Watson weighs in on this one.
Interesting storyline…never watched the show but maybe I should’ve.
Incidentally, the HTYC (Hot Tub Yacht Club) is currently encouraging new membership…that barrelback would fit in nicely.
Vintage pond yachts are amazing to behold and ‘messing about’ with them seems to be a natural extension of our love for the bigger ones. (I’ll take a giant-scale gaff-rigged cutter with a huge sail area like they used to play with in the 1890’s- what FUN!)
Here’s a short video about pond yachting…I’d love to spend a lazy afternoon in London’s Kensington Gardens, sailing about with a Guinness and a bag of crisps:
I remember sailing a good sized model sail boat on Cobbossee.
It usually sat on the mantel but one year I decided to give it a try and even though it had no remote it sure did sail nicely.
I had to go retrieve it with an outboard.
I just picked up a neat father/son winter project last week on ebay: a wooden model of a ‘Hooper Island Draketail’ made by Seaworthy Small Ships in Maryland. Very simple build and should be fun…runs on a rubber band like a balsa model plane (really)!
Gotta love those Chesapeake Bay work boats!
Hey guys – PERFECT timing – just so happens I’m building the Dumas Barrelback model as we speak (see attached)! Hope to have it and my real Barrelback up at Tahoe for this year’s for the show (featuring Barrelbacks)…
Ken Slaght
ACBS Socal Chapter
Apologize – here’s another attempt to load a picture of the model I’m building (see reply above)
I just bought my model the other day, love baby bootlegger and she is 34 inches in length.
Actor on hit prime time show is into wood working and wood boats. Actor figures out how to incorporate hobby in to hit prime time show and gets CBS to pay for it.