Brooklin builder gets tense TV spot ‘Monster House’ a ‘daunting’ time

National TV isn’t the place many people would choose to come out of semiretirement.

But that was the case for Carl Cramer, who appeared on Monday night’s edition of the popular home makeover show “Monster House” on the Discovery Channel. (The episode reruns at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 18.)

On “Monster House,” host Steve Watson and a crew of five builders take over the house of a willing homeowner and convert it into a theme dwelling in five days. If they successfully complete the project on time, the builders receive a tool package worth about $4,000.

Cramer, who lives in Brooklin and publishes Wooden Boat magazine, has been building boats for 30 years, but, he said deprecatingly, “not well at any point.”

On Tuesday’s “Viking House” episode, Cramer’s project was to build a 22-foot-long, 6-foot-high Viking longboat in the back yard of the California home. At the front of it was a sea serpent-shaped prow that breathes fire, created by fellow team member Ken Von Schlegell.

The vessel’s interior serves as a gathering place with a dining table and cooking area, and its sail converts into a canopy for shade.

Cramer, who doesn’t even own a TV, had no idea what he was getting into when he answered the phone one Friday afternoon at his Brooklin office. It was a producer from “Monster House,” looking for a boat builder.

“I gave them the names of 50 of my boat-building friends, who all declined,” Cramer said. “I gave them my name in case they got stuck, and they called.”

In addition to the boat, the build team also had to create a Viking banquet hall, complete with a rune stone table and ceiling fan made of oars; to install a doorbell that emits a thunderclap; and to build a ship-dock-style patio and a warrior fire pit built of stones.

“They wouldn’t tell us ahead of time what we were building,” Cramer, 57, recalled. “It was totally daunting. Plus I’m a little out of practice.”

On “Monster House” episodes, there is always a certain amount of deadline-

induced tension. But on “Viking House,” there was an added divisive element: Christopher “Dr. Wood” Dow, a prima donna carpenter from Encino.

“It was just horrible,” Cramer said. “We thought he was a plant by the producer. He wasn’t a good worker; he was just a talker.”

For only the second time in “Monster House” history, the build team opted for an addition-by-subtraction strategy, voting Dow off the job in the middle of the fourth day, after he and host Watson nearly got into a physical confrontation.

“He was so divisive, and he just wasn’t getting the work done,” Cramer said.

So the four remaining builders soldiered on, completing their task by mere moments. It was a draining experience, Cramer said.

“It was so hard,” he recalled. “All my buddies were professionals. I smoke cigarettes, and by the end of the week, my thumbs were so beaten up that I couldn’t use my lighter.”

Cramer watched Monday night’s show, along with about 30 friends, in the normally closed pub at the Brooklin Inn. How were the reviews of his performance?

“Everyone was too kind to say it to my face,” he joked.

Looking back, Cramer enjoyed his “Monster House” experience.

“That was totally out of character for me,” he said. “If I had any curiosity about how such a show came together, it was sated. Would I do it again? I hope not.”

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.