This is the skipper's name for the Boeieraken of the Hollandse IJssel and nowadays a convenient name for almost all Boeieraken.
The IJsselaak was the ship of the Hollandse IJssel, used for the transport of sand and gravel. Whole villages, such as Ouderkerk, were and still are specialized in this transport sector. In the past, the sand was dredged by the skipper himself with the "beugel" from the bottom of the river. The beugel was a bag on an iron band, which buried itself in the bottom and then was filled and emptied into the ship. Beugeling was a certain skill; you had to be handy at it. All in all, it was heavy work.
The unloading was done with the wheelbarrow. To make this work easier, there were removable parts in the den, the raised edge around the hold, installed. Later came the so-called self-unloading installations. The skippers who earned their livelihood in this way were called IJsselmen.
The sails consisted of a large sail with a straight or sometimes curved gaffel and a jib; the larger ships had a yankee. Famous shipyards were Snoey in Ouderkerk aan de IJssel and Duijvendijk in Krimpen aan deIJssel.
The differences between IJsselaken and Boeieraken, from for example Brabant shipyards, are not that great. The latter are sometimes recognizable by the fact that the top edge of the bulwark on either side of the bow rises slightly upwards to a slightly pointed bow; at IJsselaken, the top edge often joins horizontally against the stern.
- bulwark in front and back usually in one line with the hull; sometimes slight bend in the transom
- small type: open
- large type: with a pavilion, small deckhouse or as a deck ship
- mainsail with curved or straight gaff, jib and sometimes yankee
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