Check out this video about The Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle. It features their Lead Boatwright Bradley Suedekum (Class of 2014)! Bradley was always interested in the history of wooden boats and he had a strong wish to work on boats that were of historical value. He stated at one point that his dream job would be working…
As a team our instructors share a devotion to the highest levels of craftsmanship. They are inspiring professionals with years of wooden boat building experience before becoming teachers. This experience helps them successfully guide students in their personal career goals and aspirations. You can see and hear our boat building instructors on video by clicking on the following Youtube…
Student Russell Bates is shown in this video taking the 2014 Grandy out on its sea trials. Russell said he was pulling as hard as he could to test the oars and the boat’s performance. You can see the energy he was putting into it! This is a beautiful boat that was completed in Instructor Jeff Hammond’s 2014 Traditional…
The Batela is a traditional Venetian boat, that is, developed in the Italian city of Venice. It is a flat-bottomed boat with a slight degree of rocker (meaning, the bottom is curved from bow to stern) to make it easier to row and control. Rowed standing up, it is essentially a cargo carrier or ferry. The Traditional Small Craft…
Students Jessiah Worley, Chris Lindstam, and Alan Fenwick scrape epoxy off the interior seams of a boat that has recently been lifted off its mold. The Lake Oswego boat is a wherry developed in Oregon by a Finnish boatbuilder for use on Lake Oswego. Two original boats are known, both maintained by The Center For Wooden Boats in Seattle…
Student Bradley Suedekum helps propel the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding’s boat during the Port Townsend Rhody Parade. Helping are Executive Director Pete Leenhouts at the wheel, passenger Courtney (last name TBD), student Mark Paxton and Director of Education Pamela Roberts.
There is nothing more energizing than a high school marching band at Rhody Parade. Shown is the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding’s parade boat and team!
This Lake Oswego boat was built onto a mold constructed of thin “bead and cove” wood strips. The mold looks like an actual hull, but it really is just the form the actual boat is built onto. Strips of wood veneer are carefully measured and placed onto the mold and edge glued to each other to create the hull….
Student Noah Sturdy demonstrates how to caulk a boat seam. Wikipedia: “Traditional caulking (also spelled calking) on wooden vessels uses fibers of cotton and oakum (hemp fiber soaked in pine tar). These fibers are driven into the wedge-shaped seam between planks, with a caulking mallet and a broad chisel-like tool called a caulking iron.The caulking is then covered over…
Instructor Bruce Blatchley’s class turns their Drascombe Longboat. Students are Rw Barrett, Eric Kay, John Sandoval and Chuck Garrett. Nice work guys! This boat is being built for a youth boating program led by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Baja, Mexico. They currently have a fiberglass fleet of Drascombes. This wooden one should be lighter, stiffer and…
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Founded in 1981, the school offers a full-time 12 month Associate of Occupational Studies (AOS) degree in Boatbuilding, a 9-month Diploma program in Marine Systems, and 5-day Intensive courses in Marine Systems topics.
