Oarlock & Sail Wooden Boat Club

The Oarlock and Sail boat shed is a beautiful place to be each Saturday, snow or sunshine (or both)!  Coffee is always brewed, and lately, we’ve had several projects in progress – the Button Swan Providence River boat is coming along nicely, looking amazing!

More knees have been made, these laminated.  Painting and varnishing has progressed, and is looking mighty fine!  Thanks to Rob and Arnt for their extra work in that, coming in during the week, so that the finish doesn’t get damaged when we’re working on Saturdays.

The deck boards were steamed and bent into their curved shape, then set aside when cooled.

We got a start on installing the deck this past Saturday – 3 strips on each side are in place, nailed and glued to each other, and nailed to the gunwales, with a generous coating of sealer between.

Other projects included completing the rudder and getting a coat of varnish on it, installing the gaff jaws on the spars, and oiling the floorboards.  It’s so satisfying getting some of the components completed and set aside, ready for final assembly – it’s looking like a late spring completion!

In the meantime, we had a boat launching on the dock – Arnt had salvaged and repaired a dinghy for his boat, Odin.  She was put in the water and the test voyage was deemed a success!  And our fine boats Vogler and Ragna are being put to regular use.  Lots of action and good times down at the dock!

Some wonderful progress on the Button Swan Providence River Boat.  The yellow cedar floorboards have been cut out and fitted to the boat, held together with white oak battens.

Bob, one of our members, knows his way around sail design, and has done the calculations for our boat.  We decided on some changes to the shape and size of the sails to reduce the length of the boom a bit, as the original design has an overwhelmingly long one, and we’re not sure we could manage the dock space!  This seems a little more practical.

The seats have been shaped and fitted, and got a couple of coats of varnish – so beautiful!!  Thanks to Leif (our member from New York City who was here on a visit) for a few of the photos below.  Leif has been a generous supporter of the club, and was super inspired by our boat build!  He owns Polaris, a Concordia 41, and had help from his brother Arnt with his mast rebuild last year.

And, thanks to Arnt and Rob, we’ve got a start on shaping the spars – the bow-sprit even has a coat of varnish on it!

The boat is looking more beautiful each week!!

And to maintain our workshop, Nick did some great work yesterday on replacing the fascia board at the roof-line of our shed, and installing some flashing to try to prevent the leak which has been a problem lately.  Hopefully this will keep our tools dry!