At the The Wind and Oar Boat School in Portland, Oregon, US, winter projects are underway. As you may remember, this is the boat building school that completed a St Ayles Skiff last summer. There will be another class building the St Ayles soon. If you are interested and live close to Portland, please check the website link above and contact the school.
Peter Crim, founder of the Wind and Oar Boat School contacted me recently to update us on an interesting restoration project currently underway, a 1940's vintage International 14 sailboat.
The International 14 was designed by Uffa Fox as a racing class. It was the first boat to be constructed using the hot-molded method of laminate plywood construction. The hull is made up of five layers of diagonally laid mahogany strips, similar to it's near cousin, Sandy Douglas' Thistle.
This old boat needed quite a bit of loving care and you can tell from the photos that the folks at the Wind and Oar Boat School are the loving kind.
More reconstruction photos of this classic gem can be found here.
This course continues through February with a completion deadline of March 1, 2012. Some woodworking experience is required and I believe they could still use a little help. The course is structured so you can participate as much as you like.
To register:
info@windandoar.org
In another mid-winter class recently offered by Dave Miller, each student made a wooden block plane.
I'll bet that was fun!
Also from the syllabus - Travis Mitchell taught a class in building a Greenland style kayak paddle. Starting with a laminated blank of attractive woods and a pattern, a rough cut paddle was fashioned using a special 8-siding jig, the square blank was then shaped and finished with planes and spoke shaves.
New classes are shaping up for the upcoming spring and summer.
Please contact the nonprofit Wind and Oar Boat School at
info@windandoar.org
1 comment:
The St Ayles skiff is way beyond beautiful. Definately quickens my pulse. With 'Carpenter' style enclosed ends it might make one of the world's premier camp cruisers. Wish I were close enough to get my hands on one. I bet it's a great solo boat if you ballast and trim correctly.
I've been thinking about the multi-layer molded construction for a freight canoe or baby bootlegger type power skiff. It's the same way the British DH Mosquito airplanes were built. It takes exotic materials and vaccuum bagging to meet or beat those old school layups.
Thanks for the dreamboats.
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