St Lawrence skiff

Here are the latest pictures of the boat.
Garry oak stem and stern. A yellow cedar keel and the nicest red cedar planking we have ever seen. I have used this batch of cedar for 10 years. It was a big batch. So far we have hung 4 sets of planks and working on the 5th.

12 double ender

This boat is well on it's way to being finished.

Fresh Varnish

Early this fall we did a varnish job on this Aldin cutter that belongs to SALTS. The boat if for sale and after the varnish she looks very fresh. This is a good time to purchase a classic!!
Check out SALTS website for details on this boat and others foe sale.

New construction

Recently at the last Open Boat Festival a friend dropped off a nice little double ender that Jean and I ended up falling in love with. I believe that it is a St Lawrence river skill and we are almost certain that this boat was a rental boat due to the vast number of repairs done to her. The planking and keel are pine or white cedar and the rails, stem and stern post are oak. The fastners are copper clench nails. Instead of going to the trouble of taking lines off the boat and lofting. We decided to make the molds right in the boat. We straitened up and fared the boat. Then by assembling patterns in the boat we created actual patters of the exact boat. To date we have the molds set up and we are beginning the construction of the new boat.

Rebuilding a ships wheel

Earlier this year we had the opportunity to rebuild the wheel from Duen. A Norwegian fishing boat built in 1939 as a working boat. Most likely Duen's original steering was a very large tiller. At some point this wheel was found and installed on Duen. Likely this wheel that we are working on was from some other ship. The age of the wheel would be between 80-100 years old determined by the the building method and glue that they used.


This is the wheel as it's being taken apart









Building a jig to build all the new pieces was the first job. The jig and router did most of the work. The jig built all the pieces for the wheel and it was essential in keeping all the parts perfect circles. It's interesting to note that the wheel was a very accurate circle to begin with and all the parts were almost identical. It makes me think that this wheel was originally built with a jig and that would indicate that this wheel was built by a ships wheel manufacturer.
After building all the parts for the wheel we used the jig to build a mold for the two bronze rings that we had cast up. Taking in consideration that bronze shrinks we built the rings slightly oversize.


The original plan for this project was to rebuild the steering pedestal and to upgrade the cable to tiller steering to a hydraulic system.
Below is the hydraulic pump built by a Vancouver company Kobelt. The pump and the steering controls are neatly hidden in the tradition pedestal.

Kotick's rebuilt engine

Kotick is a falmouth cutter that we have done a great deal of work to. She is looking very nice these days. Here is a picture of her 1 cylinder Yanmar that Gartside Marine engines rebuilt. Nice job! You would not think that engine was 20 years old.

12' double ender

This little boat is coming along. Its cedar on oak carvel planks. The floor are installed and the rubrail is on. It's now starting to stiffen up and look like a real boat. I'm pleased with the way it turning out. It sure is a lovely design and I'm sure she will be very comfortable. A friend of mine has built a version of this and an extended version 18'. The design belongs to Paul Gartside.