Those toy boats you see at McHenry Museum? Toymaker, 87, ready to launch real one

Friday morning, as Joe Maxwell tried to temporarily affix the nameplate to the boat he helped friend Joe Venturini build, it fell off and hit the ground.

Venturini hopes it's not a bad omen. The boat's name — after at least one other idea was tossed around — is Titanic. "We don't want it to have the same fate," he said.

This Titanic, a simple jon boat measuring about 9 feet, 8 inches in length, is no Olympic-class ocean liner like the British RMS Titanic, which in 1912 sank in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg during its maiden voyage. But it's a great deal larger than the toy and model boats Venturini has been building for years.

Those who shop the McHenry Museum's gift store likely have seen Venturini's work. For about four or five years, he estimates, he's built toys that he's donated to the museum to sell.

"Joe is an exceptional volunteer here at the museum," Susan Highiet said while managing the gift shop last week. "... He makes these wonderful little wooden toys — trains, boats, planes — and loves woodworking. We're privileged enough to sell them in the store, and do quite well with them."

Venturini, 87, downplayed his woodworking talent. "It’s just a hobby to keep me out of my wife’s hair."

But a ship model in a display case in his garage tells otherwise. From bowsprit to stern, the 1799 French privateer measures 56 inches. He built the meticulously detailed model working only from a photo of a 14-inch version he saw at a shop in Carmel.

"I worked on it two years on and off, mostly off," he said while standing by the model in his garage shop this week.

The retired Stanislaus County Probation Department employee recalled the moment he unveiled the privateer it to his wife, Diane, about 10 years ago. She asked him what he intended to do with the beautiful but very big model.

"I’m gonna put it in the house,” he said.

After a long pause, she replied, “Whose house?”

And so there it still sits, though Venturini said he'd like to find a good home for it, "to get my shop back."

The garage shop also is where he's built all the toys for the museum and Toys For Tots. After building the privateer and other less ambitious models, "I had all the tools and just kept going on with it," Venturini said. And it's where he and Maxwell built the Titanic, whose length was determined in part by the space they had to work in.

The friends began the project in August, working only from a simple plan hand-drawn by Venturini. He and Maxwell got together a couple of times a week to work on the boat for two to three hours. Just before the start of the new year, they gave it its first coat of paint.

Maxwell said he didn't know anything about building a boat — had never even heard of a jon boat, which generally refers to a flat-bottomed, blunt-nosed fishing boat with two or three bench seats.

"Joe brought me in on the case because I’m an expert — on model boats," Maxwell said. "I build little model boats and so Joe thought we could transfer that knowledge to this, and of course it didn't transfer at all, but I've enjoyed working on a bigger boat."

As for Venturini's knowledge, it's rooted in his teen years, when during summers he would help his grandfather in Sacramento, who built and sold rowboats.

Careful not to overstate his role, Venturini added, "I’d hand him the screwdrivers and pieces of wood and I just watched him do it." Still, it sparked the youth's interest in boats and building them. "I always thought I'd like to build one myself. … It took me a while."

In 1950, Venturini began his education at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, then served in the Navy two years, followed by the Navy Reserve for 20 more. He made his career with probation, retiring in 1977, and all his adult life has farmed almonds, peaches and some walnuts, he said.

He and Diane have two sons. No grandkids, he said, but plenty of toys boats and planes have gone to friends and children in his extended family. "I wore them out" by giving away so many, Venturini joked.

Building the jon boat was a much different experience. Keeping weight in mind, Venturini used a thinner plywood, but Maxwell said it's much more sturdily built than many jon boats he saw in YouTube videos. Waterproofing the hull with resin and fiberglass cloth also added to its weight. Venturini estimated the boat weighs 150 pounds.

He and his son Mark will use the jon boat to fish in spots where there's no ramp for launching, he said. They're waiting for a forecast of clearer weather before putting it in the water.

"We'll see if it floats," Venturini said, "before we plan any cross-ocean expeditions."

Deke Farrow; 209-578-2327

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Those toy boats you see at McHenry Museum? Toymaker, 87, ready to launch real one."