Current Boats

This Abaco Dinghy was built by students of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. The original plans used were from the Apprentice Shop in Maine but were modified to make the boat larger. The modifications required new drafting, lofting, and setup. The project is a great example of a small boat built very much like a large boat. Winer Malone, the builder who popularized the design in the Bahamas and around the world, built the Abaco Dinghy almost entirely by eye and used only hand tools. It is believed that the Herreshoff 12 1/2 derived its lines from the Abaco Dinghy. There is a following in the sail racing community. The large, unstayed rig makes for exciting sailing.

Sound Experience sails the historic schooner Adventuress to educate, inspire, and empower an inclusive community that works to improve our marine environment and celebrates our maritime heritage. Since her launch in E. Boothbay, Maine, in 1913, the B.B. Crowninshield-designed schooner has traveled the Strait of Magellan and the Bering Sea on an arctic expedition for naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews; served as a Bar Pilot vessel off of San Francisco; patrolled the west coast during World War II; and trained young sailors in seamanship skills in Seattle with Youth Adventure. Adventuress has sailed on the waters of Puget Sound for almost three decades under the stewardship of nonprofit Sound Experience, offering hands-on environmental education and leadership development to thousands of young people annually and partnering with youth-serving organizations to reach at-risk kids. Sound Experience offers programs for all ages and backgrounds and takes pride in providing many levels of training opportunities for volunteer and paid crew. Adventuress is a National Historic Landmark officially recognized as “Puget Sound’s Environmental Tall Ship.”

Named after the extinct penguin-like flightless bird named Alca impennis (commonly known as the “Great Auk”), the hull of Alca i is strip plank on frame heavy construction with keel, frame and floors of epoxy-laminated and glassed white oak with bronze, Monel and stainless steel fasteners. Each piece of the two-inch thick oak strip hull planking was epoxy-sealed prior to fastening and all fastener holes epoxied prior to the fasteners being driven into the frames. The hull was then double sheathed inside and out with epoxy-saturated glass matt, with four layers at the water line, providing additional strength for Arctic work. The hull is provided with 8 water-tight bulkheads, including a double collision bulkhead. Passageways include two bulkhead and three external water-tight doors. Alca i was used for fifteen years to conduct research on behalf of the Smithsonian on the effect of global warming on the growth of algae between Maine and Labrador. She laid dormant under shrink-wrap in Maine for four years prior to being acquired by her current owner in March of 2021. After an extensive refit was performed, Alca i finally set sail on November 1, 2021, for her new home in the Pacific Northwest. The six month passage from Maine to the West Coast began by heading south along the Eastern Seaboard, through the Bahamas, then to Jamaica, the San Blas Islands and through the Panama Canal. Once finally in the Pacific Ocean, we then headed up the west coast of Central America, mainland Mexico and Baja California, finally arriving in southern California in early May. Our voyage to the Pacific Northwest was delayed from May through July so the owner could prepare for the final phase of his journey. Finally departing southern California in mid-August, we arrived in Puget Sound on Friday, August 26, 2022, our new home!

The Aleutian Tern was designed in 1963 by the legendary Northwest designer William Garden, for Seattle builder Warren Teller. Teller built her in the yard at his home in Seattle over the next 3 years, launching her in 1966. She is very heavily built on lines paralleling those of the halibut schooners of the Northwest.

With a wheelhouse aft, a flush deck forward housing cavernous accommodations below, she feels like a much bigger boat than she is. The Aleutian Tern is 38’ long, 13’of beam, and draws 5’. Teller built her for his own use with plans to take her to Alaska regularly. Tragically he passed away before he could realize that dream, but she has been to Mexico and was even abandoned offshore on her return from there as she caught fire and was left to burn.

Thankfully the fire put itself out and she was repaired in California before being bought by her long-term owner Pat Dana, who knew her builder, and had hunted her down hoping to buy her for himself. He and his brother, Buzz Dana, brought her home to Seattle in a rough nonstop offshore delivery from San Diego, about 25 years ago.

Pat took especially good care of her for all those years and only recently decided to sell her to us. The Aleutian Tern is a unique vessel in design and construction. “Stout” would be quite an understatement. In Garden’s own words, “The Aleutian Tern is built of massive yellow cedar construction, she is a far cry from the average glassed in power cruiser, and her plans will be of interest as another man’s solution to the perfect ship.”

This hull was built with a combination of western red cedar and African mahogany laminations. Powerd by a single Perkis diesel, she cruises at 8-10 knots with ample tankage and battery capacity for extended cruising time away from services.

Original family owned 14′ Losvar that was purchased in 1937 from G. Losvar for our our family’s beach cabin at Camano Island. The boat built in Mukilteo WA for rental use. The boat design and type is know as a “Muk” boat typically in the 16′-18′ length. This is the only know 14′ foot example of 4 know built.The Allwright was built and designed by F. B. (Barney) Wright and Jim Wright. With the specific purpose of getting to Alaska Safely. Barney (Jims dad) had made many trips to Alaska starting in 1920 and 1927. He was well aware of what was required to make the trip from Tacoma up to Glacier Bay. Barney and Jim designed and built the Allwright to withstand any condition it encountered along the way.
They designed and purchased the materials starting in 1970 and begin building in 1973. Using old growth from the Pacific Northwest, the wood was air dried and seasoned for 2.5 years before work started. The Keel is cut from one piece of 500-year-old Fir at 40’ in length. They worked on the boat in Jims backyard in Tacoma for three years then launched in October 1976. The following year it made it first of six trips up to Alaska.
We purchased the boat from Jim’s son last year and have started to process of updating it to get ready for its 7th trip to Alaska.

Ama Natura is a 36’ custom gaff ketch motorsailer built by the NW School of Wooden Boatbuilding, launched at Point Hudson in 2008 and used each year since for marine decarbonization demonstration, clean water, wildlife protection advocacy, and exploration.

Under the expert design guidance and deep knowledge of the NWSWB’S Carl Chamberlain, AMA Natura (“She Loves Nature”) was collaboratively designed with the owner, Capt. Peter Wilcox, to be an extremely low-impact NW cruising vessel, and a floating laboratory of decarbonizing green technologies.

The 36′ LOA, 10-ton displacement nearly 14-year-old vessel has consistently utilized 100% waste source biofuels—first biodiesel (B100) and over the last two years Renewable diesel (R99)—in its 48HP naturally-aspirated, slow turning diesel, and the same for heat when needed. AMA’s sailing salmon troller-inspired hull was modeled for efficiency and with its 3:1 gear reduction and 24” feathering prop, AMA sips ¾ GPH or less at a non-cuprous bottom paint hull speed of about 7 knots. Her auxiliary is a modest gaff ketch sail rig with just over 500SF of canvas that both steadies her motion and drives her near hullspeed on a beam reach.

Even the motor oil, transmission fluid, and steering fluid used in AMA are low carbon, low toxicity, and bio-based, the same ones in fact that NOAA has employed in many of its fleet for the last 15 or so years. AMA has a composting Air Head, and 255 watts of solar PV capacity with four carbon-foam Firefly house batteries and an Optimal gel starting battery to meet her electrical needs at anchor or dock. She seldom uses shorepower while underway, and we normally only plug her in at dock for the darkest three months of the year.

AMA is the flagship of the Inside Passage Decarbonization Project, started and led by Capt. Peter and Mate/Decarbonizer Community Builder, Bridget. The “IPDP” has been building partnerships with First Nations, ports, resorts, fuel docks, environmental NGO’s like Greenpeace Canada, and boaters up and down the length of the Inside Passage to implement its 20-year vision of dramatically lowering carbon emissions, eliminating toxic liquids and implementing 100% renewable shorepower throughout the Inside Passage by 2035. The IPDP also researches and advocates for fully recyclable boatbuilding materials, including durable and stabilized woods.

ANJA’s design is based on the legendary Bristol Pilot Cutters of Britain. These boats were able to weather strong storms as well as be sailed short-handed. They would take the pilot out to large ships waiting in the Bristol Channel. Modern racing yachts evolved from this design. Construction is of mahogany plank on oak frames.
Roger Long of Woods Hole, Massachusetts designed this boat in 1976, and two have been built, a fiberglass version in Norway and Anja.

Bought by Arnt and Valerie Arntzen in 2019 and sailed to their home berth at Vancouver Maritime Museums Heritage Dock they started upgrading right away.
-steering wheel removed
-tiller added
-new mast
-new rigging
-cabin added with 7 portholes
-galley and saloon added to the interior

Arnt’s first build was a 36’ on deck steel gaff-rigged Pinky Schooner which he built with his father in their back yard.

Arnt and Valerie sailed this boat in 1980 to Monterey, California, and back. He also worked on the refit of Ancestor, a wood 40’ gaff cutter built in Grenada, WI, his brother Leif’s boat, and was in wooden boat festival.
Arnt built his last sailboat from a salvaged 20-foot aluminum lifeboat with lots of fabulous local wood most cut by himself. He is a master wood and metalworker. ODIN was featured in Pacific Yachting Magazine in June 2008. They sailed this boat for 20 years all over the coast of BC and circumnavigated Vancouver Island with ERN in 2014.  This year we plan to take her up to the Broughton archipelago and then circumnavigate Vancouver Is next year.

My Two-masted spirit sailboat was hand-made in Alaska from Sitka spruce with oak and Purple Heart blocks. The plans can be found in the book called Pete Culler’s boats, titled Skiffs for Maynard and Anne Bray. Unfortunately, Anne never saw the boat,

Roy Jackson and his wife Dolores took on the 50-60 thousand hour build in their backyard and dedicated weekends and evening over the course of 35 years. In the spring of 2021 I was able to convince Roy to allow me to usher his beloved ship into her next season of life- to care for her for a while. Before his passing Roy imparted her story to me, sharing the history of every plank, fastener, and mechanism- each with its own tale. Roy’s love for his vessel never faded but as his age advanced, his ability to meet her demands slowly did. I have taken on her refit with care and am pleased to share her with the world while returning her to her former glory.

Aquila was found on the hard, as a derelict, on Lopez Island, WA, in 2011. Rebuilding her became our complete focus for two and a half years. Rebuild an old wood boat knowing little about it? We rebuilt Aquila in the best way possible considering that we had no money.

We scrounged high-quality logs of old-growth Fir, Yellow Cedar, and Black Locust from logging roads and beaches, and milled them with a band-saw mill to custom dimensions.

All the frames had broken at the turn of the bilge. We discovered ‘Laminate Frame Replacement’ in WoodenBoat magazine. In the article, the area a foot or so above and below where the crack was, is ground down forming a curved concavity. Locust laminates, slathered in epoxy, are pressed into this concavity using jacks and chocks braced against the opposite side of the hull. The resulting glue joint is a sort-off arched 9:1 scarf joint. We found the downed and seasoned black locust and used a band-saw mill to rip the locust into 1/8-inch laminates. Built a new coach roof out of old-growth red and yellow cedar all from the beach.

Whole planks and parts of some planks were replaced and others were splined along longitudinal checks using yellow cedar. Bronze screws and bolts for re-fastening were obtained by burning other derelict boats. Bronze fasteners were supplemented with hand-carved yellow cedar trunnels.

My Dad got a firewood permit to get wood from the logging road behind our house. We got those cords of wood in log form by giving the logging crew a cooler full of beer and a bottle of nice whisky. They pulled out old growth fir logs that had been remnants of logging in the 30s. The fir became a new toe rail, mast block, and a variety of interior wood. The only wood that we bought was the plywood bulkheads and the 1/4 in plywood that we glued over our old teak deck and then fiberglassed.

Years before we had gotten an Olsen 36-ft Yawl for free. She too was derelict. The Olsen was cut apart and all the usable parts then became parts for Aquila. Instead of replacing the floor timbers, we added floor timber sisters made of plate steel welded together and galvanized. They bolted through the floor timbers, the new frames and each bracket had two holes that got new keel bolts in addition to the originals. The new keel bolts, 8 total, got drilled and tapped four inches into the cast iron ballast.

A family friend lent us his corking tools and showed us how to reef out the old stuff and how to pack it back in, He was the first shipwright to see what we had done. Mike said we gave the boat sisters, mothers, fathers, and lovers to the framing.

Many of the planking seams splines of yellow cedar were glued in to create an ideal wedge-shaped seam. Hatches back on fresh paint Aquila was alive again. Despite what all of our Dads and everyone else’s too, recommended that we pay for the travel lift to launch our boat. Instead, we paid the port of Bellingham seven bucks to use their boat ramp.

Aquila weighs 10 tons. So launching it on a boat ramp with 60 ft of chain in between the truck and trailer seemed right up our alley. the launch went as expected, giant party, the boat floated, and 20 bucks to use the port crane to put the mast on. And we were sailing!

Since then she has been in the water for ten years, doesn’t leak, and sails like a Cadillac. We’ve been up the Straight of Georgia, through the Gulf Islands, to Tofino, and around the San Juan’s many times. Aquila is moored out in Friday Harbor, waiting to go sailing.

Ariel of Victoria was built on Vancouver Island in the 1970s at Fred Peterson’s yard near Nanaimo of Alaskan yellow cedar on oak frames. The original decks were Western Red Cedar 2x4s and she still has a marinized Perkins reclaimed from a refrigerated rail car. Since 2009, we have partially replanted, reframed and refastened. Replaced the deck, both cabins, electrical, fresh water, wastewater, HVAC, galley & head, steering & nav systems, bowsprit, and sails, with enough cruising in between to cover 10K miles and host many, many parties. During the pandemic, we decided to remodel the head again. This summer, just prior to the festival, we’ll take her to the Broughtons.

Bad Rabbit was initially a Chesapeake Light Craft Kit pandemic project but since the builder’s husband is over 6’5″ this tandem hull became his boat. In the winter of 2023, the drop-in rowing rig was replaced with an integral rowing rig (sliding seat) to help accommodate the height of the rower (adapted Angus Row Boats plan). The rowing wing is made of bloodwood and the sliding seat stand is made of mahogany plywood.

Canadian Forces Auxiliary Vessel (CFAV) Badger (YAG-319) was one of ten wooden YAG-300 (Yard Auxiliary, General) vessels built for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) between 1953 and 1955. Built for use as auxiliary craft, Badger primarily served as an at-sea training platform for junior naval officers, boatswains, reserve personnel and Sea Cadets at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt.

n 1954 she was built for the RCN as YFM-319 (Yard Ferry, Man) and served as a harbour ferry boat. In 1960 she was re-designated as YFP-319 (Yard Ferry, Personnel) and in 1967 she was transferred to Vancouver to serve as a training tender with HMCS Discovery Canadian Forces Naval Reserve Division. In the 1980s she was renamed YAG-319 (Badger) and regrouped under the control and operation of the Small Boats Unit (SBU) at HMC Dockyard Esquimalt where she was used for seamanship and navigation training until 2007. Badger was offered for sale by the Canadian Government as part of the YAG 300 Replacement Project, which saw the YAG boats replaced by new Orca-class patrol vessels. In 2011 Badger was sold to a West Coast fisherman for $4,680.00 CAD and restored for use by a travel adventure company offering tours of the Barkley Sound, Clayoquot Sound, and Nootka.

11′ 6″ surf style standup paddleboard with a Firefly electric drive. This board is outfitted with a 300 watt motor and 324 watt-hour battery providing the the paddler with an incredible amount of freedom and mobility on the water.

The Hvalsoe 16 is a comfortable and stable rowing boat. Bandwagon began life with a spritsail rig, since converted to a balanced lug yawl. The rig and many details have evolved over multiple seasons of exploring and camp cruising, from southern Puget Sound to the Broughten archipelago in British Columbia.

Barquito II is a Chesapeake Bay dead rise skiff with a D.N. Hylan design hull and a builder imagined cabin. She is intended to be a slow cruising highly efficient camp cruiser.

Barquito II is a COVID-19 project. When it became evident in early 2020 that I would have time on my hands, I ordered the plans and started construction on April 3rd. We rolled the hull over on July 1st and commenced with finishing out the hull. Cabin creation commenced on November 22nd. Barquito II slid out the shop door and onto her trailer on May 17th.

Bear is a 26′ open wooden boat. She is a historic replica from Captain George Vancouver’s exploration of the region in 1792 that built at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. The boats is equipped with 8 rowing stations and 3 sails.

The Hvalsoe 16 lapstrake dinghy is considered by Eric Hvalsoe to be “the great compromise,” as it both rows and sails well. This craft’s fine ends make the Hvalsoe 16 an excellent rowing boat, while it carries enough beam to make it stable under its 85 square foot sprit-sail rig.

Marked by an elegant curved stem and rake wineglass transom, the design is narrow at the ends with a powerful, stable midsection.

The rig is an unstayed, loose-footed spritsail. The spirit rig is a model of simplicity and flexibility. It features a convenient brailing line, spruce spars, and sail assembly that may be stored inside the boat. Mast, spirit, and sail come in a long canvas sleeve for tidy stowage and transport.

These boats will stand upright on the beach with their wide plank keel and are protected with tough, UHMW shoes and rubbing strips. Hull interiors are finished with Seafin Teak Oil, and exteriors are typically painted to the owner’s specifications. But don’t be fooled by all the gloss, as seats, transom, trim, etc., these boats are coated with an incredibly tough, flexible urethane coating. Results over the years have been proven excellent.

This vessel is built of vertical grain western red cedar, clinch nailed on steam bent oak frames. Its backbone is made of mahogany with a teak transom and Sitka spruce spars. The hull was built through a series of classes in 2020 with students at The Center for Wooden Boats. Several generous donors made it possible for Eric to finish the vessel at his home shop during the pandemic. It was launched in February 2021 and built-in memory of David Allman.

You can learn more about the project here: https://youtu.be/TSytGUIkog4

BISH is a Murray Peterson Susan schooner. Port Orford Cedar on steam-bent white oak frames. Teak decks on laminated doug fir deck beams. Hand crank SABB lifeboat engine. All standing rigging is galvey 7×7, parcel and served. Built by Karl Bischoff in Georgetown, Seattle. It’s taken 12 years so far. For each task, I had to do research and take classes… NWSWB for stream bending, surveying, planking… Brion Toss’ loft for splicing/parcel/serving. BISH was my dad’s nickname. He was an armchair adventurer… always studying the Canadien Voyageurs, Wolves, Tugboat Captains of Oakland California, etc. He also loved to start organizations like the American Whitewater Association, American Canoe Association, Square-dance Callers of America, and American Spelunking Association (cave exploring). After living aboard my 37′ cutter for 8 years, I started my first build, a 15′ Whitehall named Leslie Jean (named for my lovely wife). So now there is BISH. I think I’ll name the dinghy Helen (my mom). It’s all in the family. Check out the whole build process at bischoffboatworks.com.

“Bright Star” is a Tolman Jumbo 24, from a design by Renn Tolman of Homer, Alaska. As are all the Tolman boats, she is a plywood stitch-and-glue wooden boat, and light for her size.

The Tolman Alaskan Skiffs began as 18′ open boats, built for fishing in Alaskan waters. The basic design has evolved. Most now are cabin boats 22′-24′ long, with a few built at 26′, and built by the people who plan to use them.

Ray built her on our backporch. It took 2.5 years, from delivery of plywood to launching. We customized ours as a cabin cruiser, for cruising and fishing. Recently, we switched from a chemical toilet to a composting one, and are well-pleased at how it works. Two sleep and live comfortably on Bright Star, and last year we created a bed space for a family member to join us. It worked very well.

The boat is powered by a Cummins diesel MerCruiser 1.7L, 120hp, inboard/outboard. Cruising speed is 18 mph and cruising weight, fully provisioned and stowed, is 3800 pounds. Being light for its size, Bright Star is easy to tow. We use a Dodge Ram diesel 4-door pickup.

This boat gets great fuel economy. With two 36-gallon tanks, we have a range of 300 miles, at speed. So far, we have 7900+ statute miles under our keel. Note: This is at WBF appplication time. More cruising happens in the 2023 season.

Local home area day trips and cruising have been in the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. But most of our cruising has been up north, in salt water. Having a trailerable boat allows us freedom easily to go farther, and get into salt water in Washington and BC. As former long distance offshore sailboat cruisers, we find it great fun to get to places faster, and have more time for fishing, exploring, and in ports for seeing the smaller communities.

We’ve explored the South Sound, spent a lot of time inside, along Vancouver Island, in the San Juans, more time in the Gulf Islands, went up the Fraser River, and north on the BC mainland side. We cruised in the Broughton Archipelago, taking the ferry Coho over to Victoria and driving up to Port McNeill to launch. An outside trip from Port Townsend to Walters Cove, almost to Brooks Peninsula, taught us that when the fishing boats are filling the harbor in Tofino, we should stay put. Ask us how we know this boat can fly.

Cruising was put on hold during 2020 and 2021. With more time at home, Ray began building another boat. Based on a Tolman hull design, it is a 21′ open speedboat, modified to be all-electric, with solar panels and Tesla batteries, built for use on a lake.

More information on the building of cabin boat Bright Star — www.backporchboat.org/

— Ray Brown & Anne Thompson

The boat was rowed at UCI in southern California. It had been sitting for a couple decades collecting dust and deteriorating. I brought it up to Port Townsend a few years ago and had Steve do a complete restoration. The pick up just went under a restoration as well. I have our WA registered horse brand on the side of the truck and it has some unique maritime enhancements such as a teak & holly deck and wood surrounds on the glove box. The truck is 12′ long and the boat is 28′. The two make a great pairing. It seems to have a following. The boat is named after Buster Keaton. There is a funny movie he did in 1927 where he tries to woo a girl by being an athlete. He fails terribly until he finds his niche as a rowing coxswain.

12′ long of Cedar on Oak, built in 1975 at the Concordia yard in Mass. and restored in 20o4 in Portland Oregon. Annual upkeep and repairs since, CAINE is returning to PT for its annual Salt pickling. The Carvel plank traditional boat recently received a new deck canvas, bottom splines and much paint etc. She loves the shallow sandy beaches in Hood River and surfing the west winds and swell with the windsurfers and kiteboarders.

Camas Moon is the first boat built to Tad Roberts’ new CoPogy 18 design. She is 18’ LOD, 24’ LOA, 6’6” beam, and 9” draft. She is rigged as a gaff yawl, with an off-center pivoting centerboard, and has a 6 HP outboard motor in a well. Designed as a trailerable mini-motorsailer for one or two people, she will be equally at home motoring all day in the calms or sailing when the wind serves. Construction is stitch-and-glue around structural ply bulkheads, hull and deck is marine ply, with Douglas Fir for most other elements, including the spars. Extensive watertight storage compartments make the boat unsinkable. Construction began not long after the start of the pandemic and was completed in June 2022.

Ceridwen was lofted in the fall of 1982 at Magner and Sons Boatworks by John and Kevin Magner and Matt McCleary. Matt continued on with the building project along with his wife Stephanie. Ceridwen has a lead keel and steam bent oak frames. Ceridwen was launched in 1994 in Port Angeles, Washington and made her maiden voyage in 1996 to her home in Port Hadlock. Ceridwen was recently featured in Wooden Boat Magazine in January 2017.

Using only the lines drawing from the Dori book we measured and created a sheet of offsets to loft her. Thanks to the Newport Marine science center loft and bandsaw, I was able to fully loft her and then create her sawn frames in 1983. Thanks to Dick Tucker in Langlois Oregon I was able to order perfect Port Orford cedar for plankIng. Jamestown distributors was the only mail order supply company back then for Marine supplies (and linguica sausage)!! Coincidentally Silva Bans was being built in a nearby barn at the same time so had to have her!! The schooner Rueben de Cloux was just launched and sailed in Yaquina Bay to our delight and inspiration! Launched as an open row boat I explored the eirie Pools slough where another recluse boatbuilder was creating a wooden sailing masterpiece deep in the woods.