Boatbuilders’ and Sailors’ Blog

The pram is starting to take shape. We have laid the keel plank, set the molds, attached the stern transom and riveted in our first two planks. Everyone seems to love the riveting, which is good, since we will have to set more than 350 copper rivets before the hull is finished. Next steps are to attach the bow transom, plane the two bottom planks and then work on shaping and riveting the remaining 6 planks.

Tags: class

The first week of classes to build the Norwegian Pram started out great. I had built the “strongback” ( a frame that the boat will sit on during construction) the week before the first class. On Saturday, we had 16 students divided into two teams, On worked on lofting the curve of the keel and setting o up risers to hold it. The other team cut the keel out of one of our planks of yellow cedar. Each plank is 12ft long, 1/2 inch thick and 11 inches wide. On Tuesday we shaped the keel plank and cut the hole for the dagger board. Another team worked on creating templates for the transoms ( there are two on a pram) and the knees to attach them to the keel.

Tags: week one

On Sunday, June 22, we took 12 students from the class sailing on Polaris, a restored 34-foot gaff rigged “pumpkinseed” sloop built on San Francisco Bay in 1906. We had some good winds at the gate and put Polaris’ rails in the water a few times. All the students and crew had a great time. Thanks to Captian Bill and Allan for their help. To see pictures go to Flickr.com .

Tags: Polaris

I am sorry that I am just getting around to posting a few more pictures from our last class.

I wasn’t able to get photos of everyone with their project, the students all did great work!

Looking forward to the boat building phase in June.

As we come to the end of this phase I am happy to see how nice the students projects are coming out and all the happy faces. During the break this week, all of the students had a lot of fun touring Polaris, a restored 34-foot gaff rigged “pumpkinseed” sloop built on San Francisco Bay in 1906.

Next week is the last class of this phase and we are all looking forward to starting building the Norwegian Pram in June.

Photos from Class 4 including Jonah demonstrating scarfing a plank

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Here are photos from Class Two and portraits from Class Three of some of the students who have finished their projects.

This is the third week of the class and everyone is having fun (well, I am a little exhausted keeping up with 18 students ages 10 –16). The students have all been great and, except for making me crazy rockin’ the docks during the break time, are joys to work with. We have been concentrating on building three basic woodworking projects: a toolbox, a step stool and a wooden mallet. Since we are using only hand tools, the biggest challenge has been to saw a straight line using a handsaw. The help I am getting from the adult volunteers has been invaluable. Thank you John, Jerry, Matt, Bruce, Geff, Ed, and Holly!

Having the class at Spaulding provides great opportunities to see the skills the students are learning in actual practice. This past Saturday I demonstrated using a hand plane, and then, during the break, Jonah from Spaulding was out in the yard working on his own boat using a hand plane to shape the end of a 25ft long mahogany plank!
I have posted pictures from the second class and the portraits of the students who have already finished the construction of their first projects.
“Hey students, make sure I get a picture of you with your project!

—Craig

These photos were taken at the first class meeting of the Youth Boatbuilding program at the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center in Sausalito.

Tags: class, first day, photos