Doryman just got back from this year's Depoe Bay Wooden Boat Show and Crab Feed. Being one of the first local shows of the season, the question on everyone's mind is the weather. The participants and visitors to this annual April event are true coastal denizens who know to bring layers of clothing and be prepared for everything from sun to hail to snow.
This year, the weather gods smiled on Depoe Bay and though we felt a
few sprinkles, the sun peeked out from behind scattered clouds often
enough to keep spirits high. The harbor is a tiny hole in the rocks named for old Chief
Depoe, who welcomed white settlers here in the late 1800's. The once
thriving commercial fishery has been reduced, but a lively charter
service thrives on the local bottom fishery and whale watching. There's a
lot of pride in this little coastal town and the residents pull out the
stops to welcome guests with fresh cooked crab and amateur boat
builders come from all around to show their craft and get caught up with
gossip after a long, wet winter.
As for gossip,
Doryman often gets so consumed with visiting, he almost forgets to take
pictures to share with all of you. So here are a few, though to see
all the boats, you'll have to stop in next year yourself. You won't be disappointed, I guarantee it. Don't forget your
raincoat and sunscreen!
On the central Oregon coast it can rain all year 'round. Sun breaks are most holy. If the rain stops for five minutes, everyone comes out. Where are they hiding?
The small coastal community of Depoe Bay, Oregon sponsors a Crab Feed/Boat Show in April which is amazingly popular, considering you might have to wear thermal underwear with rain gear as a top layer.
By Sunday you will shed the rain gear and umbrellas, guaranteed.
Friday we experienced a thirty-knot, on-shore Pacific storm. Saturday morning the early morning mist still remained. As a result, many of the small wooden boats which had been registered to be displayed on the water this weekend, remained on their trailers in the parking lot adjacent to the boat basin. You might notice, this did not dissuade visitors from enjoying the festivities.
Frequent visitors here on DoryMan will recognize the boat building display tent from previous years. This year Boatguy and DoryMan are installing steam bent oak frames to the round-bottomed pram they planked last year, at this same show.
The design for this eight foot, round bottom pram comes from Geoffrey Prout. It is specified to be planked in solid wood, but in this case 1/4" mahogany plywood is used. The frames are set at six inch intervals and they are milled from oak. They are riveted, buy hand, to the hull with copper rivets and roves.
The guide hole for the rivet must be drilled at the plank lap, with a shallow countersink for the rivet head. The rivet is driven from the outside of the plank, then the rove is slipped over the rivet, on the inside of the hull. The rivet is cut off about 1/8th inch from the inside of the plank, then peened-over with a ball-peen hammer. The peened rivet must be hammered into a tight, mushroom-headed shape, to capture the rove and pull the two planks together.
All of this must be done while the frame is flexible from being steamed for about half an hour. The time required to render the frame supple enough to bend in the shape desired depends on the dimensions of the frame. In this case, they measure 3/8"x3/4".
