Oarlock & Sail Wooden Boat Club

We’ve got a great start on our Handliner build – our progress in the past couple of months:  

• Lofting
• Lofting completed
• Stem and stern post patterned, cut, and joined
• Moulds patterned, cut, and joined
• Ribs ripped from log (thanks Eric!)
• Rib and plank sample
• Strongback revised for upright construction
• Keel, stem and stern post joined
• Moulds mounted

We completed lofting the plans, which involves plotting out all the points given on the table of offsets on the drawings. This gives us the shapes of the moulds, stem, and stern post which then provided the shape of the patterns for the final pieces. A drafting spline and set of lead “ducks” gave us a fair curve. “Many hands” took the place of the ducks sometimes – participation is high!

Once we had drawn the shape, we pounded in some nail-heads to transfer the lines to the patterns – the indents from the nails gave us the marks for the outline. After that, we cut out the patterns, and used them for the actual pieces.

The stem and stern post are each built up of 3 pieces of Douglas fir, bolted together with sealant. They’re a tricky shape to drill, but with careful positioning on our drill press, and a watchful eye of several onlookers, we managed to get them drilled within tolerance.

We were the happy recipients of a length of English Oak, part of a tree that had been felled in the neighbourhood of one of our members and local shipwright, Eric Fisher. He wrestled the log down the ramp, where we stripped the bark and Arnt ripped it in half with a chainsaw. Arnt then took it home to rip it to strips on his bandsaw. This will become the ribs for the boat. Oak is sought-after for ribs, and ideally is air-dried, not kiln-dried, so this is ideal for our purposes – thank you so much, Eric!!! We got all the ribs we need, plus quite a few spares to make up for breakage.

We did a small sample of rib and plank fastening with a copper rivet, just to get an idea of the dimensions we’ll be working with.

The moulds were cut to shape, the two halves clamped together and smoothed, then assembled into the full shape.

We had initially planned to build the boat upside-down, and had built the strongback for that. In our discussions at the shop, as we were talking through the process, we realized that building it right-side-up would give us better access to the inside when we fasten the rivets. So, we changed course and modified the strongback accordingly, installing a straight 2×6 on edge to hold the centerline assembly (keel, stem and stern post).

This past Saturday we assembled the centerline, and installed it and the moulds on the strongback and squared up the moulds. Next up will be installing some bracing to the upper beam of the strongback to make sure the moulds don’t get distorted as we install the Ribbands, the lengthwise pieces that will give us something to steam-bend the ribs into.

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Other happenings around the shop:

We participated in the Vancouver Maritime Museum’s Light up the Harbour event, where all the boats got decorated for the season, the Museum provided hot chocolate and carolers, and invited visitors to enjoy the harbour at night. We had a great turnout, despite somewhat wet conditions, and enjoyed introducing people to our club and our project.

Christmas treats were plentiful and welcomed, and one of the best was a box of delicious shortbread cookies and a card, along with a generous donation in memory of Gerry Fuchs, our long-time member who passed away a little over a year ago. Thank you Sharen, Jessica and Davita for your thoughtful gift – we’ve purchased a set of drill bits which we’ll use often.

Winter sailing has been excellent, with our boats getting a lot of enjoyment, rain or shine!

Hope you can make it to the shop to participate or check out our progress!

We have chosen our next build – the handliner that the club has been intending to build for a long time – there is discussion in old newsletters from as far back as 2003 (and probably before that – that’s the oldest newsletters I had access to)!

We’re using the “Bus Bailey” plans from Larry Westlake, a former OLAS member who has done extensive research on this type of boat, and has measured and documented a number of them. The original boat (which is still in use) was built by the Luomo brothers near Nanaimo in 1937, and is named after the original owner. The boat has been restored by the current owner, and has been used extensively up and down the coast, including participating in the Port Townsend to Victoria leg of the Race To Alaska in 2016! She’s a highly capable rowboat, designed for the salmon fishing trade pre-WWII.

We’ll be doing carvel planking, using some of the yellow cedar that we’ve collected, and white oak for the ribs – we may even have a lead on some locally sourced oak. For fastening, we’ll be doing copper rivets or clench nails.

On Saturday we started building the strongback, which will form the base for the moulds, and is currently serving as the platform for the lofting. We painted a couple of sheets of plywood so that our pencil lines will show better, and have started to lay out some of the many lines we’ll need. The lofting will give us the shape of the moulds, keel, stems, and other parts.

Over the past two weeks we had the pleasure of meeting the owners of SkyDancer, a 73′ steel schooner which had just come through the Northwest Passage and down the coast from Alaska. They’re working their way around North America, with a stop in the Caribbean for Christmas. We took them out sailing a couple of times in our little boats, and they met up with us in the shop to give us an overview of their trip. It was a wonderful time, and the shed managed to stay afloat with a crowd packed in!

Hope to see you at the shop as we start our new boat!