Students at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding take a short break after moving an entire truck load of lumber by hand! Shown l. to r. are Matthew Shaunessy, Korey Ruben, Penelope Partridge, Alex Finn, Mark Mullalley, Mike Lee, Alden Rohrer, Corey Rodgers, Alan Fenwick and Caleb Underwood.
Boat building has certain challenging physical elements that really help when you have a team ready to complete the task. This lumber was quickly put in place because of the high energy work of this cooperative team of students. Nice work!
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Every year at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding we build an exciting lineup of boats for either commission or for speculation. This year our students have been building the: –
This boat was designed by the American designer H.C. Hanson in 1957 for the US Forest Service as a Scaler’s Boat. Scalers determine the amount of board feet of lumber in each log cut by a timber crew. Three of these vessels were built commercially in the mid-1950’s to this design for the Forest Service for use in the western United States.
Under the direction of Instructor Ben Kahn, students at the School will continue construction on this boat during 2014.
The boat is 28 feet long with a beam of about 8 feet. It has a draft of four feet, and displaces about 4.5 tons.
Our boat is being built as a cruising vessel. It will be planked in aromatic port orford cedar from southern Oregon, over white oak frames. The house sides will be mahogany. The boat is driven by a 54 hp Yanmar diesel engine, and will be customized to the owner’s desire’s before delivery.
This is the first boat in the Sentinel-24 class of designed by Stephens/Waring Yacht Design of Belfast, Maine (SWYD) www.stephenswaring.com .
The Sentinel-24 class is designed to be a comfortable and stylish sloop with the beautiful lines of yesterday’s classics paired with modern underbody design and state-of-the art rigging.
This vessel represents Stephens Waring Yacht Design’s signature approach to distinctive, fun and high performance sailing with more than a touch of historic grace. –
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is contracting with the School for the construction of three traditionally-built Whitehalls to be built as replicas of the boats used by John Wesley Powell and his group during their first-ever descent of the Colorado River in 1869. The BBC will film a reenactment of the voyage later in 2013.
The School is building one 16-foot Whitehall, the “Scout Boat”, and two 21-foot Whitehalls. Though Powell launched four Whitehalls onto the river in 1869, one was lost in rapids shortly after the descent began.
This 62-foot strip-planked day sailor was designed by the renowned designer Robert Perry for a client here in the Pacific Northwest. www.perryboat.com/
Bob Perry has been very pleased with the School’s progress on the boat, and has remarked more than once that he feels we are doing a superlative job on the construction.
The boat was built on molds cut by Turn Point Design in Port Townsend.turnpointdesign.com/
The hull is western red cedar sheathed in 24-ounce fiberglass. WEST System products have been used throughout the project. www.westsystem.com/ss/
Master Boatbuilder Ray Speck drew the lines for this classic Puget Sound small craft while working as a boatbuilder in Sausalito CA. Ray saw that the harbormaster, Sid Foster, was using a particularly sweet little 12′ 5″ lapstrake skiff to row around Richardson Bay.
Ray took the little skiff’s lines with Sid’s permission, and over time, developed them into a range of skiffs from 13 to 18 feet long. Ray estimates he’s built just about one hundred of these beautiful boats so far in his nearly 45 year career as a boatbuilder, many of them while teaching at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. The Sid is an excellent sailor as well as a very nice boat to row. A rare combination.
Planked in red cedar, framed with white oak and trimmed with a combination of Honduras mahogany and Sapele this is the most recent of many built at the school. –
The Davis Pulling Row Boat is carvel planked. The Davis boats were built by a native family in Southeast Alaska. It is believed that they were modeled on the Pelagic Sealing Skiffs and ship’s boats. They were very popular and used in the hand trolling fishing industry of the early to mid part of the 20th century. The lines were taken from an orginial boat that is in the Center for Wooden Boat’s permanent collection in Seattle. – –
Grandy Skiff, lapstrake planked in western red cedar and framed in white oak.
The cross bars (called “cross spalls”) keep the boats shape against the press of the white oak frames until the interior is constructed. — at Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. –
During WWII George Calkins built boats for the war effort. After the war he began focusing on smaller plywood boats. Prams, rowboats, dories, runabouts, race boats, and cabin cruisers emerged from the CalkinsCraft shop at Delake, OR (now Lincoln City).
Over a ten year period George built over 1,000 plywood boats. Besides being successfully built and used by recreational boaters all over the world, BARTENDERS have been used extensively in Australia by harbor patrols, state police, and Australia’s famous surf rescue teams. Several oil companies have utilized the BARTENDER in the offshore oil industry to get them through rough sea conditions that most other small craft would not handle.
Friday November 1, 2013 6:30 – 8:45 at Sirens Pub , Port Townsend
Keeping the tradition of having a party the night before the Port Townsend Woodworkers’ Show alive. You don’t have to be a Woodworker to join us! Just come in costume and ready for a good time.
The Port Townsend School of Woodworking is holding a Ball this year but a Not-A-Ball – which really means a Fancy Dress party and, since it is the night after Halloween, you can recycle your Halloween (or even your Kinetic Costume) with a sprinking of Shavings, Sawdust and Panache.
Admission is by donation: They suggest a $10 minimum. All donations go to the School’s Woodworker’s of the Future Scholarship Fund.
This photo gallery shows students in the 2014 fall quarter working on their basic woodworking skills. They have completed various projects, including spars, mallets, half-laps, dove tail joinery samples, and carving a rabbet into a model stem. Many of these students had little to no experience with tools and woodworking before starting this program. We have a dynamic class of 61 beginning students this year who will be joined by an additional 6 returning students for winter quarter. It’s going to be an exciting year with some interesting boat projects and dedicated students!
A public surplus auction will be held SAT., NOV. 8, 2014 at the NORTHWEST SCHOOL OF WOODEN BOATBUILDING’S “Rubb Shelter,” on the upper part of campus. Included will be tools, boats, machinery, and all kinds of misc. hardware.
This will be a live auction and everything will be sold! Preview will be at 9am with the auction starting at 10am.
LOCATION: 42 N. Water Street, Port Hadlock, WA 98339. For more information visit www.stokesauction.com/auctioncalendar. For questions call 360-385-4948.
Port Townsend author Jim Tolpin will present a program about his latest book, By Hand & Eye. Co-authored with George Walker, By Hand & Eye is a deep dive into the world of history, architecture and design.
October 23, 2013 at 6:30 pm
Jefferson County Library
620 Cedar Avenue
Port Hadlock-Irondale,WA 98339
Tolpin and Walker show how much of the world is governed by simple proportions, noting how ratios such as 1:2 or 3:5 were prevalent in the designs of pre-industrial artisans. By Hand & Eye demonstrates how the principles of good design are learned through exercise and repetition, and how with practice it becomes second nature and your hand and eye work together as one.
The book outlines quick techniques you can use in your workshop, such as how to compose aesthetically pleasing curves and tapers or develop molding profiles, using only a set of dividers, a straightedge, a pencil – and most important, your hands and eyes.
Halsey Herreshoff at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding
Halsey Herreshoff, Naval Architect of production and custom yachts, sailor and former president of the Herreshoff Marine Museum, gave a presentation to students at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding on their second day of school, October 2, 2013. Mr. Herreshoff is part of a remarkable line of Naval Architects, most famous among them his grandfather Nathanael Greene Herreshoff.
“Halsey might be best known for his career as an America’s Cup sailor, having served on many cup defenders of the 12-metre class Era, first as bowman on Columbia in 1958 and concluding as navigator on Liberty in 1983. But perhaps his greatest contribution to sailing has been his development of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.” – Wikipedia
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is thrilled to have been honored with such a visit and looks forward to a continuing mentorship between Mr. Herreshoff and the School. Mr. Herreshoff’s friend, Herbert Weissblum, accompanied him and is shown with Mr. Herreshoff in the photo below with our students. Mr. Weissblum serves on the Board of the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend.
Thank you Mr. Weissblum and Mr. Herreshoff for your input and for your interest in the next generation of boat builders and designers!
Student Corey Rodgers is featured on the front page of the Filson catalog and website! Filson chose the Boat School for a recent photo shoot and has now posted a feature story about the Boat School on their website. You can see Corey Rodgers on the front page of their website at:
You can read the article and see additional photos featuring students Matthew Shaunessy, Alex Finn, Corey Rodgers and Chuck Garrett, as well as instructor Bruce Blatchley at:
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding hosts a series of workshops for community outreach each summer (and throughout the year on occasion).
During the school year most of our workshops are specifically designed to meet the educational needs of our full-time students at the Boat School. However, sometimes a workshop will not fill its enrollment capacity and so we will let the public know that seats are available. The workshops planned for this year include SCAMP Camp and our full-time winter Sailmaking and Rigging Course. More will be added as the year progresses and you can check out the lineup at the following link!
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is pleased to announce that thirty-three students have successfully completed the twelve-month Associate of Occupational Studies (AOS) degree program in wooden boat building and will graduate on Wednesday, September 17.
Friends, family, fellow students, board members and alumni are invited to a ceremony and potluck honoring the graduates at 3 p.m. at the H.J. Carroll Park, 9884 Rhody Drive in Chimacum.
Graduating students are: Rw Barrett, Russell Bates, Alec Binder, Bobby Bowen, Galen Brake, Adrian Candaux, Lafayette Duvall, Reuben Ewan, Alan Fenwick , Alexander Finn, Peter Flint, Charles Garrett, Austin Hatch, Samuel Hunt, Steve Kim, Drew Larson, Mike Lee, Christopher Lindstam, Jeffrey Lydston, Andrew McGilvra, Mark Paxton, Corey Rodgers, Korey Ruben, John Sandoval, Matthew Shaunessy, Jacob Simmering, Bradley Suedekum, Noah Sturdy, Mussa Ulenga, Caleb Underwood, Michael Voderberg, Ryan Wilmsmeier and Jessiah Worley.
Please join us for the ceremony and potluck afterwards. For the potluck, please bring salad, side dish or dessert to share. The School will provide service-ware, lasagna and soft drinks. For questions contact the school at 360-385-4948 or [email protected].
Distinguished as the most active America’s Cup sailor during the 12 Meter era, for over 25 years Halsey Herreshoff was a crewman as bowman, crew boss, or navig…ator in six campaigns, and sailed in four America’s Cup matches.
We are pleased to host this special presentation with a veteran worldwide sailor, member of America’s Cup Hall of Fame, and third generation Herreshoff naval architect and engineer.
Herreshoff’s presentation will review a brief history of the America’s Cup, this year’s AC competition finals (September 7-21), and sailing techniques and boat design from a unique, popular and successful Herreshoff perspective.
Thursday, Oct 3 6:15 PM Northwest Maritime Center
$20 – General Admission
$15 – NWMC/WBF Members
$10 – For students with valid school I.D.
For more information, contact Herb Weissblum 360.341.4140 or Len Maranan-Goldstein 360.385.3628 x111.
Location:
NWSWB Boat Shop
42 N Water Street
Port Hadlock, WA 98339
Education goal
This workshop will concentrate on working with oil, varnish, and enamel paints, all finishes which are suitable for marine applications and friendly to the do it yourselfer.
Description May 20-24, 2013 (5:30pm-8:30pm) – completed
September 23-27, 2013 (5:30pm-8:30pm)
Diane Salguero is a highly skilled local finisher with over twenty years of professional experience. Diane is an engaging and very popular instructor. She will show you how to strip, paint, and varnish your boats, spars, and other related objects and explain how to choose the right products & tools, while teaching you the tips and tricks of the trade. Demonstrations and lots of hands on work make this a valuable class for anyone who appreciates a beautiful finish.
Course outline
Diane’s instruction will focus on selecting the correct tools for the job, how to properly prepare for the task at hand, the right paint or varnish for the task and conditions, and the precise techniques for getting the perfect finish every time.
This will be an intensive class that will be centered on hands-on learning, so students should dress for the work.
We’ll provide the basic safety equipment and the paint, varnish, thinner and tools necessary to learn how to do a good job. While students may bring projects on which to work, we’ll have a boat and several projects that will make good objects on which to learn the basics of the craft as we prepare for the summer season.
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding
(360) 385-4948
The 2013 Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival was a huge success last weekend, Sept. 6-8, 2013. Things started out a with a bit of a challenge as Mother Nature decided to grace us with pounding rain the night before the festival started. It was hard to sleep that night thinking that the festival might be buried under water, but the skies parted, the sun emerged and everything was sparkling clean over a very beautiful, sunny weekend.
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding launched Azulita at the Festival – a Contemporary Wood Composite Boatbuilding project with a cedar strip, cold-molded hull, teak decking, mahogany combing, and beautiful woodworking throughout. Our instructors provided presentations on a variety of topics and the stands were full with interested audience participants. The variety of wooden boats represented was staggering and fun to see! In fact it was a photographers dream to circulate among the boats and the people. We hope to see even more of you next year!
“Azurlita” launches Friday, Sept. 6 at 5 pm – JOIN US in front of the SEA Marine Company at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival to celebrate with our students & instructor – Sean Koomen!
Check out the link above to learn more about the events scheduled during the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival! Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding instructors will be giving boat building demonstrations near the entrance to the festival. Join us if you can! September 5-7, 2014. It’s the greatest celebration of wooden boats on the west coast!
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– Three Sheets Northwest. By Scott Wilson on September 3, 2014 in Business, News.
GloryBe moored at Bell Harbor Marina. Photo courtesy of Betsy Davis
Port Hadlock’s Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding has announced that former Center for Wooden Boats (CWB) Executive Director Betsy Davis has been named as its new Executive Director.
Davis is leaving her post at CWB after 11 years as the organization’s third executive director, but she’s not leaving entirely; she will continue her involvement as a founding member of the Center’s new Advisory Council, and will assist with the transition to her replacement when that person has been selected.
In the meantime, she’ll hit the ground running at the Boat School (as the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is known informally throughout the Pacific Northwest) this fall. More than a decade of experience with CWB as well as corporate management experience with Microsoft and with various non-profit and community-service efforts — not to mention owning her own 100-year-old wooden boat, the GloryBe (which you can see in this weekend’s Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival) — combines a variety of skills, contacts, and aptitudes that are ideally suited for one taking the helm of another institution of Northwest maritime prowess.
– – – PTLeader.com. From Seattle to Port Hadlock, Betsy Davis is leaving The Center for Wooden Boats to take the helm at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. –
“We are excited and fortunate to have attracted such a talented and experienced leader as Betsy Davis,” said David Blessing, NWSWB board president. “Betsy brings extensive experience in business and organizational development, and is the ideal visionary to help lead the school strongly into the future.”
Davis served since 2003 as the executive director of The Center for Wooden Boats (CWB) in Seattle, where more than 150,000 visitors a year are invited to use traditional boats, participate in hands-on workshops and field trips, and build friendships and community. During Davis’s tenure, CWB saw the extensive growth of programs for youth and the public, the addition of two campuses, and the improved stewardship of its collection of historic boats. READ MORE
Executive Director Betsy Davis in front of a George Calkins designed Bartender.
Port Hadlock, WA, September 2, 2014 –
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB) is pleased to announce that Betsy Davis has been selected as its new Executive Director. –
“We are excited and fortunate to have attracted such a talented and experienced leader as Betsy Davis,” says David Blessing, Board President. “Betsy brings extensive experience in business and organizational development, and is the ideal visionary to help lead the school strongly into the future.” – Betsy served over a decade as the Executive Director of The Center for Wooden Boats (CWB), the Northwest’s hands-on maritime museum where over 150,000 visitors a year are invited to use traditional boats, participate in hands-on workshops and field trips, and build friendships and community. During her tenure CWB saw the extensive growth of programs for youth and the public, the addition of two campuses, and the improved stewardship of its collection of historic boats. Betsy played a leadership role in raising over $7 million for capital projects, and CWB received numerous awards for organizational excellence regionally and nationally. She also helped build the collaboration of maritime and cultural non-profits who together have created a new “center for heritage” at Lake Union Park.
NWSWB’s Azulita.
“Betsy’s commitment to ‘raising all boats’ is extraordinary,” notes Catherine Collins, Executive Director of Sound Experience which owns and operates the historic schooner Adventuress. “She has a unique ability to bring people together to reach common goals, and we are thrilled that Betsy will continue to lead in the preservation of our collective maritime traditions.” –
For her part, Betsy is looking forward to the opportunity and challenges that lie ahead. “It is an honor to join the team at the Boat School because it is so highly regarded and recognized internationally for teaching excellence. I know from personal experience that attending boat-building school can be life-changing. With able teachers, I learned skills, traditions of craftsmanship, and most importantly how to approach solving complex problems. I am already so touched by the warm welcomes from the community here, and I’m inspired by the authentic craftsmanship thriving county-wide, the rich maritime trades, and the many opportunities for collaboration.” – Betsy will begin as Executive Director on October 1. She brings over a decade of corporate management experience at Microsoft, entrepreneurship and small business ownership, and extensive non-profit and fundraising leadership.She was a founding member of the South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce and is a Charter Member of the Rotary Club of Lake Union, has served on the board of the Museum Small Craft Association and as co-chair of the Pacific Northwest Maritime Heritage Council. – Sean Koomen, Boat School Chief Instructor, shared, “Betsy’s leadership comes at a wonderful time. Our enrollment has grown significantly over the last year. Her strong vision and regional connections will enable us to grow both in our relationships with the community and within our own organization.” – The school invites the public to join us to meet and welcome Betsy to her new role. A reception will be held at the school, 42 N. Water Street in Port Hadlock, at 5 pm on September 15.
Betsy Davis on the Glorybe.
Also, at this weekend’s Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival (Sept. 5-7, 2014) Betsy is celebrating the 100th year of her own wooden boat, Glorybe, rebuilt after burning in a devastating marina fire. Betsy looks forward to inviting the community aboard!
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is an accredited, private nonprofit vocational school whose mission for 33 years has been to teach and preserve traditional and contemporary wooden boatbuilding skills while developing the individual as a craftsman. A record 67 students are enrolled this year in the School’s 12-month associate degree programs.
For more information, contact:
David Blessing, President
NWSWB Board of Directors
360-385-4948
info @nwswb.edu
Robert Perry – designed Francis Lee built at the NWSWB.
Stephens/Waring Yacht Design – Sentinel-24, a high performance cold molded day sailor on the water.
Port Hadlock, WA, August 15, 2014
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB) in Port Hadlock is excited to announce a new collaboration with the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend. Due to significant growth in the Contemporary Wood Composites Boatbuilding program at the School, the Northwest Maritime Center will host approximately 18 of the School’s full-time vocational students in their Port Townsend boat shop for winter and spring quarters. This partnership will span from January through June 2015.
“We are thrilled about this collaboration with the Northwest Maritime Center. They have made it possible for the School to expand immediately to meet increased enrollments in the Contemporary program. This will give us time to thoughtfully consider how we should more forward,” said Interim Director David Blessing.
The Contemporary Wood Composites Boatbuilding program was started in 2005 as an addition to the well-known Traditional Boatbuilding programs. Students learn modern techniques, including strip-planking, plywood construction methods, cold-molding and epoxy applications.
A recent contemporary boat from the NWSWB is the Stephens/Waring Yacht Design – Sentinel-24, a high performance cold molded day sailor. The boat was built under the leadership of Chief Instructor Sean Koomen. “It’s an ideal boat to build with our students. They gain experience in a variety of different skills and techniques, including laminations, vacuum-bagging, fiberglass in different weights and foam construction,” said Koomen. The boat has teak decks laminated over plywood sub-decks, all set off by a bright mahogany coaming. She was launched at the 2013 Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival and is currently for sale.
The school is accredited through the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) and is approved for Federal Student Aid and Veteran’s Educational Benefits. Students earn an Associate of Occupational Studies (AOS) degree in one year through an intensive schedule of instruction from 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.
Jake Beattie, Northwest Maritime Center Executive Director shared, “The Maritime Center was built to be a resource for this community- and this leverages all of this investment for the greater good. It helps the Boat School accommodate more demand and eighteen more students will be prepared for their next job. This is a partnership we can all be proud of.”
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB) website was designed by Launch Digital Media of Chicago and was constructed by Pamela Roberts, our Student Services Administrator. Launch Digital Media now features the website on their home page with Pre and Post Launch images. You can see them below! The website was a 2013 W3 Gold Medal Winner! http://www.launchdigitalmarketing.com/
Music lovers and woodworkers abound in Port Townsend, so it’s no surprise there are so many people here who make instruments.
Incredible craftsmanship goes into a stringed instrument. In this small town are several people who repair and refurbish instruments, as well as builders who create one-of-a-kind pieces. This is the first in a series of profiles of instrument makers, focusing on two who build guitars and other stringed instruments. In this edition, learn about James Curtis and Jay Gordon. Next week, expect to read about Dave Llewellin and Mark Miller.
Port Townsend is also home to a disproportionate number of the world’s bow makers; stay tuned for articles on that subject later this year.
Students at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding take a short break after moving an entire truck load of lumber by hand! Shown l. to r. are Matthew Shaunessy, Korey Ruben, Penelope Partridge, Alex Finn, Mark Mullalley, Mike Lee, Alden Rohrer, Corey Rodgers, Alan Fenwick and Caleb Underwood.
R2AK – starting June 4, 2015 in Port Townsend, WA
And if you cross the line first you’ll win a pile of cash.
