Boat Builders' Meetup in Port Townsend - Wooden Boat Festival Sept 8th?

No Judgement
1

Hey folks,

Looks like we’re a little less than a month out from the Wooden Boat Festival at Port Townsend, WA. Is anyone interested in getting together for a while on Saturday afternoon by the Chesapeake Light Craft booth?

I’m just about finished with my 2nd legit boat, a gunter-sloop Passagemaker (non-Take-Apart). My first being an Eastport Pram. I also built a one sheet skiff several years ago, but I don’t count that.

We can talk about things like:

  1. How to incorporate Maslow into your workflow. This could include converting plans into cut files, modifying your frame for larger sheets or being able to cut out to the edges, ways of tiling your cuts, nesting your parts, etc.

  2. Boats we have built, challenges and benefits, how long it really takes to build a boat vs. published hours, etc.

  3. Boats we’re seriously thinking about building - Lots of plans are available at the booth at boat show discounts. The characteristics, pros & cons of the various boat designs available through CLC and others (see our Boat Builders thread).

  4. Specifics - epoxy, fillers, rigging, making vs. buying sails, etc.

  5. Disaster stories (e.g. I have one about capsizing on Lake Union), and what we’ve learned from it.

  6. How awesome the Wooden Boat Festival is and other stuff we’ve seen (e.g. I’ve regularly been able to talk to famous boat building school owner Geoff Kerr down on one of his boats).

  7. Your experience building your Passagemaker at The Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union (I may make an appearance down there with my new PMD).

  8. How excited you are about picking up your new CLC kit in PT with free shipping!

  9. Show & Tell - I might bring a few things, including t-shirt(s). I can even bring some of my home made synthetic rigging.

  10. Sourcing - It may just be easier to get the stuff you need for your boat from CLC, especially if they have a Labor Day sale. I’ve also gotten stuff from Downwind Marine, Fisheries Supply, West Marine, Sailrite, etc. while putting this gunter-sloop rig together.

@Bar, I’m especially hoping you’ll be there to finally meet you face to face and to cover the Maslow side of things and I can handle the boat building side. @Bee will you make it up here for this? There will be some folks from the CLC forum attending also, so it should be a good mix.

2 Likes
2

Hey folks,

I just wanted to follow up on the Meetup. To wrap it up, the festival was awesome. Got to see a bunch of old friends and meet a bunch of new ones.

We talked about the various boats on display and how their various designs intersect with a prospective builder’s needs and experience level. We covered various building techniques (e.g. hollow spars, etc.). We talked a lot about rigging small boats for sailing and I brought the rigging for my two boats to show various aspects like Dyneema shrouds, various ways to rig the mainsheet, bridle/traveller, etc. I also covered Dyneema and 3 strand splicing and the various fids to use for each.

One cool thing was that even though Chesapeake Light Craft didn’t have a Passagemaker in their mix (the boat I just finished), there was a guy who has built several set up right next door to display the one he had for sale, so we had a very excellent example to cover various aspects of the build. He had implemented several of the upgrades I had read on another builder’s forum (before it was shut down) and he also rabbeted his gunwale to cover the plywood edge like I did. Very cool!

All in all a great time. I thought it was a successful demo. The guys at CLC actually had heard about the Meetup, which was gratifying. Maybe next year we can make it a bit more formal and I can even set up a table and do splicing demos or something.

1 Like