He turns an artful hand to boat building
Finding his niche, kayak-maker produces custom crafts, By Mark J. Yablonsky FRANKLIN Carl Cipollone came up with an unusual way to get back in shape after surgery. He designs and constructs kayaks, catering strictly to his clients’ individual sizes and abilities. “Building kayaks for me became my new workout after my total hip replacement,” said Cipollone. But he had another reason for custom-designing kayaks. His size. At 6-foot-2 and 264 pounds, Cipollone is literally a big man with a big heart. An avid dog lover, he is a former professional football player who played middle linebacker with the Canadien Football League’s Montreal Alouttes. He calls his 18-month-old chocolate lab Marley one of his “assistants” and best friends. Cipollone’s company Franklin Boat Works, LLC, helps people like himself find the right-size boats. “I found, being a big person, that paddling anything was like paddling a bathtub. Most of the boats they make for large people aren’t really designed for anything of performance. My focus was to design a boat for myself that would challenge me, giving me the stealth and speed of a boat I wanted. Then I found there were a whole lot of people like me who wanted the same thing.” From sports to business After football, Cipollone entered the business world, becoming a national sales training director and project manager for Dunn & Bradstreet. “I got into the strategic side of training, and people learned from me, where you move from one part of the concept to where it becomes a whole,” said Cipollone. Like handling a business deal, maneuvering a kayak takes a bit of finesse and a bit of skill. “The funny thing about kayaking is the boats themselves,” Cipollone explains: “The narrower the beam, the better performances you’re going to get, but less stability. “And not everyone wants a high-performance boat, but one that is comfortable for them. And that’s where we come in.” Hometown Franklin Cipollone, who grew up in Massachusetts, has called Sussex County home since 1979. After first renting it, he has owned the large building at 200 Main Street for 26 years. With about 12,000 square feet to work in, the former car dealership is an ideal spot to build kayaks or to design kitchens, which Cipollone does as well. He’s a skilled craftsman who, while a student at Boston College, apprenticed for a furniture maker. One of the aspects he’s most proud of are the fine engravings he produces on kayaks, including details as minute as blades of grass and freckles on a face. “There are a lot of people who have tried to do what we do, and they do it to a certain success, but they don’t achieve the detailing as ours.” While he’s built many kayaks, his favorite is still on the drawing table of his imagination. “My favorite boat is in the process of being developed. It will be like a totem incorporating a collage of the engravings of all my best friends: my dogs.”