Chine bLog

So once more, for now, to the Center for Wooden Boats, getting back the the livery service, from which I got a nice sail in the Cape Ann dory Q'ONA. The service offers both oar- and sail-powered boats in a variety of sizes. I few more I liked:

Lake Oswego Boat
The original 60-year-old boat was found in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Built by a Finnish boatbuilder in Portland as a stock boat, it was made using a half model which a customer brought to the builder. It became a popular boat at Skunk Lake, Oregon (which later became known as Lake Oswego). It may be a copy of the Rangely boat, a sporting boat developed on the Rangely Lakes of Maine about 100 years ago. The unique features (i.e. a flat-bottom plank in place of a keel and a two-part stem with inner and outer pieces) make the boat relatively fast to build. The current CWB Lake Oswego boat was built by students of Eric Hvalsoe.

Love the sheer on this one. I definitely want to take this for a spin on another trip...

Unless I can gather some friends, I'll just look at the gig.

Pilot Gig DAN
This 21’ rowing boat was designed and partially built by the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Townsend, Washington. The school's founder, Bob Prothero, donated the unfinished boat to The Center for Wooden Boats in memory of Dan Dygert, a charter member of CWB. The boat was completed through donations in memory of Dan Dygert. The type is similar to the pilot gigs in the 18th and 19th centuries where fast and seaworthy rowing boats were used to carry ship's pilots to vessels about to enter a port. The planking is red cedar, frames are white oak, fastenings are copper. The Dan is regularly used and maintained by a group of CWB rowers. It also has been used in traditional boat competitions. This type of boat also utilized by rowing clubs in Shelton, Olympia, and Anacortes.

Finally, this one, SILKIE, is for advanced sailors (I'll have to pull together my credentials):

My very first finding at the Center for Wooden Boats, even before my Cape Ann dory sail and my close-up with Haida dugout canoes, was the biggest surprise. I walked into the Center and was immediately confronted by a few folks working away on some skin-on-frame Aleut baidarkas. It sure looked like a class, and indeed it was. Holy smokes, I thought, this place runs boatbuilding classes too? It does offer boatbuilding classes - lots - and a bunch of other kinds of classes too.

It seems they have run this class before, as there were a few finished baidarkas on the floats. I found these to be really lovely kayaks. I confess I am much more a fan of other forms of kayaks - some baidarkas just look funny to me - but these ones worked really well. The class was doing a fantastic job too. They were building the boats entirely with pegs and lashing and the details were great. I was particularly struck by the bows.

It seems that the various classes run the mix from being day or weekend classes to full-week ones, like this baidarka one. This would be a great destination. We haven't even touched on Puget Sound beyond...

My son is in a coop preschool, so the parents rotate being in the classroom helping out. My wife had been doing it all Fall, but after her January session I decided I would take a turn. I also decided to bring a little of that Chine bLog style to the class. What better interest to ingrain in impressionable youngsters than boatbuilding?

I sketched out a fairly generic hull with LOA of about 10" and beam of 4" and grabbed a bunch of scrap wood from my shop. Wood and design in hand, I headed to my local Woodcraft (a fantastic resource for the shop-deprived) and milled the scrap wood into 16 boats and 16 sets of different shaped blocks. Being me, I also cut up dowels to make 16 8" masts and drilled a mast step in each boat.

In the class, I started with a quick intro to boats, shown below. Surprise surprise, no stinkin' Cigarette or tubby plastic thing made the cut! Thanks to the various sites I pilfered for this PPT.

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Then the kids got to sit with their hull, their set of blocks, and a tube of glue and make their own boat. They loved it. The room grew quiet with concentration as creative minds went to work. Check out the output - a fun, productive activity, I'd say.