Author: Oarlock and Sail Wooden Boat Club

Last Saturday we had a lot of fun bevelling the keelson – at one point we had 5 people attacking the board with planes – good times! We got the rough shaping done in short order, and then fine-tuned it and the stem to the proper gently rolling bevel.

After we got the keelson shaped, we took advantage of the gorgeous mid-winter day, and got all 4 boats out to enjoy some fun on the water! The rowboat made a trip to Granville Island for some beer, bread and cheese to welcome the sailors back to the dock – always appreciated!! What a fabulous day!

This week we did a bit more shaping of the stem, then got busy with the pattern for the first planks, the garboard planks.

We tried out the method of patterning where we clamp or nail a thin batten in place where each edge of the plank will land, then hot-gluing short sticks across the gap, effectively creating a lattice truss. We also glued a piece of thin plywood at the stem to get the shape of the hood end. Taking the assembly off the hull, we laid it flat to determine the shape of the plank. Worked like a charm!

Next, we moved on to cutting a blank for the planks, and scarfing and gluing them to create a full-length plank. The boat is 14′-5″ long, and our plywood is 8′ long. We need to join two pieces end-to-end, and the way to do that is a scarf joint, which is an angle cut across the width of the material, and then epoxy-gluing them together. We made a jig to get the proper angle, stacked 4 blanks (2 for each side of the boat) and then used hand-planes to cut the sloped ends.

The layers of the plywood are a great guide to get the angle nice and even – and it looks cool!

We then laid out the planks end-to-end (taking up much of the shop!), applied the epoxy, and clamped them together. The whole process went very smoothly, thanks to several of our members having experience with this type of construction, and it was a great educational experience for the rest of us!

Next week we plan to cut the shape of the first planks, and quite possibly fasten them to the boat!! We’ve had a great turnout of members the last few weeks as the excitement of the new build takes hold – it’s been great fun!!

Here is a video by our board member Daniel Friesen about the whiskey plank…both the work and the celebration!

http://cwb.org/2017/04/22/dick-wagner-cwbs-true-north/

“The Board and Members of the Oarlock and Sail Wooden Boat Club are sad to announce the passing of Dick Wagner, founder and 30-year champion of the Seattle Centre for Wooden Boats. Our condolences to Dick, his family and his friends. This coming Saturday as we install the last strake (the “whiskey plank”) on our latest wooden boat project we will be raising a glass to toast Dick’s legacy.”

The AGM was held April 13, 2017 and the new board is up and running.  One of our board members left, thanks Peter Pierobon and we welcome Daniel Freisen.  All the rest of us got voted back on and look forward to another year of boating and building.

Leif Arntzen our member in New York with Polaris has his new mast stepped and here are a few more pics leading up to that.

 

The whiskey plank on the Buttonswan is being planned for April 29th if all goes well.
A few pics by Arnt and Georgina Arntzen on work at the dock.

The Martha and Brent team!

Dale…first we bail and then we row!

Is this our new uniform?

The Buttonswan progress!

Also here are a couple of cool links:

*this one of Daniel sailing with Odin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVw6Ilb77Xc&feature=youtu.be

*this one from the Off Center Crew about building a boat over the summer with some kids.  Pay special attention to how to tie a figure eight knot for the painter by the blonde boy …. so hilarious and you will never forgot how to tie it!!

OARLOCK AND SAIL 2017 AGM

Annual General Meeting
April 13, 2017
Vancouver Maritime Museum 1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver, BC
doors open at 5:30 – meeting 6:00 – 7:30
Please contact Rob O’Dea at 604-657-1999 for any questions.

here is our new piece of dock…look forward to making use of this

One of our members, Leif Arntzen has a 41′ Concordia Sloop named Polaris in New York and was lamenting to another of our members Arnt Arntzen, who happens to be his brother how he was feeling a bit overwhelmed re-gluing his mast.  Having helped his other brother, member Tom Arntzen and member Rob O’Dea build a completely new mast for ERN, he donned his cape and flew out east to help out.  Here are a few photos from the fix.

Polaris 2015 ready for the mast

Arnt helped to put the mast up in 2015 as well

here is the 2017 re-glue

with the help of nephew Evan, Leif made all the clamps

Just thought I would share a few photos by Arnt Arntzen of the snow falls at the Heritage Marina.  It is unusual for us to have this much snow in Vancouver for sure.  Last week Arnt and Louise went out sailing in Ragna on the sunny afternoon after working on the Buttonswan and then the next day a lot of our members hit the slopes as it snowed again.

on

Here are some photos taken by Bruce Macdonald (wharfinger of Maritime Heritage Marina and OLAS member) today of Ragna out for a sail.  The sailor today is Arnt who was also the lead on this build.  She sure looks pretty!

Work is continuing on the Buttonswan project.
Photos by our VP, Georgina

prepping the cedar planking

steam bending the planks

riveting the planks

Well this is what the team faced last Saturday when they arrived at the workshop!
Our shop is quite small really and with all the tools, supplies and
a boat hung on the side of the shed it is a lot of weight.

That is some crazy angle!

Arnt and Daniel shoveling off the roof.

We also participated in the Winter Wander festival in partnership with the Maritime Museum and Georgina manning the knot tying station for the few brave souls who ventured out on the stormy day.  Thanks everyone!

Well it has been a great year for progress on the Buttonswan project.  We now have 4 planks a side now and raring to add more.

Dale rivetting

There are new boats on the dock.  One of our members Alesandro brought his wood sail boat around 38 feet to the dock and is working on it. There is also the former 58′ RCMP vessel, Nadon which will be used for tours and meetings.  The Vancouver Maritime Museums’s Executive Director, Ken Burton was the commander when it circumnavigated North America.  (no picture yet) Thanks to Bruce (our member and wharfinger for the update and both him and Sheila send everyone best wishes for the new year!)

Alesandro’s Boat

Nightwind will be casting off this month and a new boat Winsome 111, a Lapworth 36′ built in Vancouver in 1959 by J.P. Taylor will be arriving.

The shed will be getting new windows (finally!!) as John has measured up and bought the wood and will get that project going this month.  Only other dock news is to not turn off the fresh water hose if it is running during the cold snap as it will freeze.  Thanks to everyone for a fabulous 2016 and look forward to lots more events in 2107.