Author: Oarlock and Sail Wooden Boat Club

The Granville Island Wooden Boat Festival is coming up next weekend, August 22nd to 25th.  We’ll be hosting the dinghy races there, on Saturday the 24th at 11am at Alder Bay.  Georgina and the festival committee have done a great job in organizing and promoting the event, and we should have better participation than last year – and hopefully the weather will be more cooperative!  Please get in touch with Georgina if you’re interested in helping out at the races or our booth (although now that I think of it, she’s off on the west coast of Vancouver Island for a bit – just show up if you can!).

We’ll be moving the Button Swan over on Thursday, and then on Saturday morning a flotilla of boats is getting towed from Heritage Harbour to Granville Island for the races – should be fun!

Despite the slower pace of summer, we’ve made good progress on the Davidson dinghy repair – new ash rub strips have been installed, a bit bigger and more durable than the original, and the hole in the bottom is pretty much finished getting patched, and looking good!  Some creative ‘spring board’ clamping was used while gluing in the layers.

With all the use and enjoyment our boats are getting these days, some repairs have become necessary, the most extreme of which is a new mast for Ragna!  A severe jolt from the wake of a large boat crossing too close in front of her caused the mast to snap at deck level.  Arnt glued up and milled the replacement, and shaping has begun – we should have her ready to sail again in a week or two.

Other work at the shed and on the dock – a tiller extension for Button Swan is nearly finished, with 6 coats of varnish (thanks Ingrid!), and over at North Star, Bruce has been busy carving the name in the new transom planks, which involved him making a chisel from an old file.

Through some serendipity, we’ve learned of Enke’s origin – she was built by David Philips in south Vancouver, from a design by Charles Mower.  David recognized her here on our site, and provided some information – we’ll be getting in touch with him for more info, including some photos from when he was building her!

Our boat shed is looking spiffy again, thanks to a fresh coat of paint, including the signage above the door.

Thanks to all who worked on that, and especially Dale who did a lot (including climbing the ladder from a swaying dock to paint the top edge of the swaying shed!), and Bruce who painted the lettering on the sign.

The Davidson dinghy is coming along, with a good sanding, and a start on the patching job.

And we’ve come across some interesting info on derelict or wrecked boats, put out by Transport Canada – https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/abandoned-boats-wrecks-4454.html.  This will answer some of those questions about rights and responsibilities when it comes to salvaging boat parts.

One more thing – when tying up Ragna after your sail, please use 3 lines – one of them a spring line from the stern to the forward cleat on the dock: this will prevent the paint on the transom and the nameplate from wearing out too quickly.  It’s great to see the boats getting a lot of use!

Ok, just one more thing – the Granville Island Wooden Boat Festival is coming up quickly, as it tends to do – August 23-25.  If you’re around, we would love to have you help out in some way – taking the boats over (Thursday night and Saturday morning), talking to people at our booth (Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday), participating in the dinghy races (Saturday 11am), or taking the boats back on Sunday late afternoon.  Please get in touch with Georgina if you can help out!