Plywood Kits for Chase Small Craft range from $985 for a 10-foot skiff to $3,000 for a small daysailer. It all depends on the size of the boat but also the number of sheets and thickness of plywood in the kit. Boats that require a strongback are often much more challenging for new boatbuilders, but Chase Small Craft comes with all the strongback and building jig components in the plywood kit. The jig is mostly chipboard, flat and easy to machine. The parts go together like a big lego! The planks all come with a fancy CNC scarf that eliminates hours of plywood scarfing. Seating, tanks, decking (if there is a deck), and interior structure is all included. Often full size patterns are included for parts to be cut out of solid wood. Even fillet sticks are thrown in. Every detail is thought out in advance to make building a boat so much quicker and much more enjoyable than it used to be. Learn more at the webpage on complete kits.
Rowing the San Juan Islands in a Drake 17
Trip to the Wooden Boat Festival and Beyond
Typical day talking about the sweetest small boats in the world in a beautiful part of the world.
Clint is on an awesome trip to Washington state. He has just finished his first Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. Attendance was excellent, interest in Chase Small Craft was high, and the weather was glorious. Many were engaged with the 17' Drake Rowboat on display, built by Kent Fosnes based in Port Angeles and a Deer Isle Koster built by Steve Borgstrom on Bainbridge Island. Both boats were sold as precut plywood kits and plans packages and cut in Port Townsend, WA.
It is more than likely that I will be back in Port Townsend next year for the 41th Wooden Boat Festival! I loved this event and the people.
Next Clint is off for the San Juan islands in a borrowed Drake 17 but after a little daysail in the Bainbridge Deer Isle Koster.
Thank you to Kent and Steve for your business, support, and encouragement!
Summer Update #3
Professional Results from Oarmaking at WoodenBoat School
I teach a lot during the course of the year. Over the years it has been a thrill to combine my boatbuilding and design training with my training as an educator. A big chunk of my teaching is at WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, ME. This year saw me up there three times. The first two weeks were Computer Design and Family Week. This past week was Traditional & Modern Oarmaking.
The students made beautiful oars this week.
The course begins with a thorough discussion of the design of oars, looking at examples of finished oars and ones in progress. We overview the process of making a good oar and begin parsing through the patterns.
Tracing the patterns on rough-sawn, air-dried Eastern White SPruce
Sleeping oars at the 4-sided, tapered phase after class on day 2.
The modern part of the course involved vacuum bagged, Carbon Fiber blades.
Every students gets their own pattern that meets meets their needs. Throughout the week students whittle down the 2x6 Spruce to something that looks like an oar. Ultimately, they come away with a great set of oars that have the features I have learned are important as a rower and professional oarmaker. More than that, I feel, they leave with an understanding of the process and some enhanced hand-tool skills, as well.
Lookout for next year's Workshops and Classes schedule to learn more about the offerings for 2017.
Summer Update #2
Build Your Own Echo Bay Dory Skiff
The families of WoodenBoat Schools Family Week Build Your own Echo Bay Dory Skiff
It was a very busy, but highly productive week before last at WoodenBoat during the School's biannual Family Week. Four families each build their very own Echo Bay Dory Skiff, a 12-foot sailing and rowing dinghy. The started with cutting out parts, making the parts, assembling the hull, building the interior and two boats are getting readied for paint at home, one in Belmont, Mass and the other in Kansas City. The two others are at the Chase Small Craft shop where they will be prepared for paint and rigged.