Hooked On Wooden Boats

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Latest Episodes:

HOWB 047 – Sean Koomen, Instructor NW School of Wooden Boat Building - Interview - 08.09.12 May 29, 2023

Show notes

This past week I interviewed Sean Koomen, instructor at the NW School of Wooden Boat Building. Sean grew up in Minnesota. At the age of 14 he discovered one of Dynamite Payson’s books at the library, and was soon falling trees for lumber to satisfy his boat building curiosity. Fast forward to college and Sean was in serious study mode to become a concert cellist. Spending 5 hours a day practicing was getting to be a little much, so Sean applied for a grant to start his own wooden boat building business. With grant money in hand, Sean launched Red Barn Boats where he built and sold 4 small wooden boats while in college.

Sean knew his boat building skills needed some honing, so in 2003 he attended the NW School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Hadlock, WA and graduated 9 months later. From there it was on to wooden boat gigs in California (Rutherford’s Boatshop) and Maine (Brooklin Boatyard), a couple other stops, and then back to Port Hadlock where he became an instructor this year. Sean has worked on some fun projects over the years including a wooden 135’ steam yacht built in 1901, a fan tail wooden yacht, a 22’ Shorebird Sloop, and other cool stuff.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

HOWB 046 – Jeff Sayler, Wooden Boat Builder and Restorer; Bruce Hebler and Linda Wolf, Proud Owners 1932 Wooden Gillnet Boat Interviews - 08.02.12 May 22, 2023

Show notes

On July 15th, I attended the Annual Maritime Heritage Festival in St. Helens Oregon. It was a really fun festival with a wide range of traditional vessels of all sizes and shapes including the Steamboat Portland, a wooden PT Boat 658, and other fun boats. This is a really fun show that I recommend you put on your calendar for next July! Two of the interviews I did that day are included in this podcast.

The first interview is with Jeff Sayler of Firehouse Boatworks in Portland, OR. Jeff attended a wooden boat program in Maine as a young lad and from there steadily developed his wooden boat building and restoration business. Jeff is one creative dude whose resume includes building a bamboo cargo bike, restoring the Kaleta (HOWB 034) and other fun stuff.

The second interview is with Bruce Hebler and Linda Wolf of Portland, OR. Bruce and Linda have owned the M.S. Wolfe – a ’28 Gillnet wooden boat built in 1932 – for more than 2 decades. They have completely rebuilt her from the garboard up and she is one beautiful rig. Listen to the podcast to hear the history of how these gillnet boats were used on the Columbia River for several decades not only for fishing but for dating, transportation, and other life activities.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

HOWB 045 – Si Miller, 1965 Century Wooden Ski Boat; Bill Weaver, PT658 Wooden Patrol Torpedo Boat Interviews - 07.26.12 May 15, 2023

Show notes

Ten days ago, I attended the Annual Maritime Heritage Festival in St. Helens Oregon. It was a really fun festival with a wide range of traditional yachts, small craft, vintage cruisers, the Steamboat Portland, a wooden PT Boat 658, and other fun boats. If you can make it to the show next year, put it on your calendar – it is a great event. I recorded a total of 6 interviews, 2 of which are included in this episode.

The first interview is with Si Miller of Portland, OR. Si bought at new wooden ski boat in 1965 and he still has it to this day – 1965 Century Resorter wooden beauty. She is in immaculate condition and Si recently spent 50 days placing 50 coats of varnish on her and sanding between each coat. Is Si’s own words – “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t love every minute of it!”.

The second interview is with Bill Weaver, crew member of the PT Boat 658 wooden torpedo patrol boat. She is ’78 long, has three 2,850 hp Packard V-12’s with a top speed of 55 knots. She is the only fully restored and functioning on-the-water PT boat in the world. The boat is a living museum and has thousands of visitors each year at her home port in Portland, OR. She is one awesome looking fighting machine complete with torpedoes and 50 caliber machine guns.

HOWB 044 – Maritime Heritage Festival Interviews: Seth Vore – Wooden Boat Tours; Cody Thompson – Wooden Boat Refinishing - 07.19.12 May 08, 2023

Show notes

This past weekend I attended the Annual Maritime Heritage Festival in St. Helens Oregon. It was a really fun festival with a wide range of traditional yachts, small craft, vintage cruisers, the Steamboat Portland, a wooden PT Boat 658, and other fun boats. I will be sharing several interviews I did at the festival over the next few weeks and displaying some of my photos below.

The first interview is with Seth Vore of Portland Boat Tours. Seth had a vision to start a company that would provide tours on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers near Portland in a traditionally built wooden boat. Seth took his vision to Kickstarter.com and raised $6,300 to begin his business on Memorial day of this year. Best of luck to you Seth and fam!

The second interview is with Cody Thompson, owner of NW Refinishing in Ridgefield, WA. When the construction industry slowed down, Cody’s dad offered to mentor him with his 25 years of experience of refinishing. Cody learned all the gory details of bright work and paint for wooden vessels and opened NW Refinishing shortly after. Cody has done some phenomenal work on vintage Bridgedeck boats (he finished Phanton - HOWB 034), wooden Chris Craft runabouts, a Hereshoff 12.5 sailboat and other fun stuff.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

HOWB 043 – 52ʹ Ed Monk Bridgedeck Wooden Cruiser, Lloyd Shugart owner - Interview - 07.12.12 May 01, 2023

Show notes

Two weeks ago I attended the Center for Wooden Boats 36th Annual Festival and interviewed Lloyd Shugart. Lloyd and his wife Theresa have owned “Flying Cloud” – a 52ʹ Ed Monk Sr. designed Bridgedeck Cruiser – since 2002. She was built in 1937 at the Grandy Shipyard on Lake Union in Seattle for Francis Brownell Jr. (president of First Seattle Bank), WA. When the Shugarts purchased her, she was in major disrepair and over the last 10 years they have completed most of the restoration.

Flying Cloud is powered by twin Perkins Diesels 6-354 and is planked with Port Orford Cedar over Oak frames. She is a beautifully designed and stately boat.

Listen to the full interview for all the details and find how Lloyd and Theresa have remained patient and persevered when their “3/30 Plan” failed.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

HOWB 042 – Darryl Carver, Owner of L. Francis Herreshoff designed ’28 Rozinante Wooden Canoe Yawl Interview - 07.05.12 Apr 24, 2023

Show notes

This week I attended the Center for Wooden Boats 36th Annual Festival and interviewed Darryl Carver. Darryl and his wife have owned “Dulcinea” (nick named “Roz”) – a ’28 L. Francis Herreshoff designed “canoe yawl” since 1999 and are her 3rd owner since she was built in 1983 by Hank Chamberlain on Lopez Island, WA.

L. Francis first wrote about this style of boat in Rudder Magazine after seeing Canoe Yawl style boats around Cape Cod, and was encouraged by the magazine’s readers to design the boat. L. Francis put the design to pencil in his book – The Complete Cruiser.

Roz is a simple but elegant mahogany on oak, ketch rigged beauty. Listen to the full interview for all the details.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

HOWB 041 – Smith’s Boat Shop, 50 years of building wooden boats – Interview with Fred & Ron - 06.28.12 Apr 17, 2023

Show notes

This week I interviewed Fred Smith and Ron Downs of Smith’s Boat Shop on Samish Island, WA. Fred and his brother Don built their first boat in 1960 – a 24ʹ plywood catamaran that could be beached easily on the tide flats in front of their house. Next they built an 8ʹ dinghy with plans they bought from US Plywood for 50 cents. Soon the neighbors began noticing the boats Fred and Don had built and started placing orders for 8ʹ, 12ʹ and 14ʹ prams that were well suited for fly fishing, duck hunting, rowing, and having a generally good time. Next the Smith Brothers went to the local sporting goods stores and made deals to sell their boats on consignment. The Smith Boat Shop was officially born!

Don and Fred built boats together from 1962 until 2003 when Don passed away. At that time, Ron Downs joined his father in law Fred, and they have continued the tradition of building plywood prams for the last 10 years. Over the years, more than 2000 El Toro’s have been built, along with a multitude of Pelican sailboats, and prams.

If you would like to read a great article on the history of the Smith’s Boat Shop, click here: Smith’s Boat Shop History.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

HOWB 040 – Josh Colvin: SCAMP brainchild, Editor Small Craft Advisor Magazine, Sailor, Wooden boater - Interview - 06.21.12 Apr 10, 2023

Show notes

This week’s show is an interview with Josh Colvin, editor of Small Craft Advisor Magazine. I met Josh in Port Townsend during the Pocket Yacht Palooza, and had a blast throwing questions at him left and right.

Josh has been boating since he was a kid, and grew to love sailing early in life. As a young adult, he would sail with his Uncle and others on larger sailboats and was having fun doing it. But there was something about small boats that intrigued him and drew his attention away from larger craft – the simplicity, lower cost and maintenance, ease of use, and on and on. Soon he realized there were no decent periodicals for the small craft enthusiast. So Josh, along with co-editor/publisher Craig Wagner, birthed Small Craft Advisor Magazine in 1999.

About 3 years ago, Josh presented a boatload of his own small craft ideas to John Welsford, small boat designer, to see if John could take all those ideas and put them into one micro cruising SUPER sailboat. The result is SCAMP (Small Craft Advisor Magazine Project). This is one amazing boat! 11ʹ 11ʺ length, 5ʹ 4ʺ beam, pram bow, water ballast, 7ʺ draft (you read it right – seven inches), offset centerboard for roomy cockpit, sleeps 2, multiple water tight compartments, beautiful looks, 420 pounds total, seaworthy, the list goes on and on and on.

So much boat in such a small package – nice job Josh! Josh describes the SCAMP project in detail during the interview.

Click on the green player button above to listen to the full interview with Josh.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

HOWB 039 - Howard Rice, Sailor 'Round Cape Horn in Canoe, Wooden boat builder, Small craft guru – interview - 06.14. Apr 03, 2023

Show notes

This week’s show is an interview I did with Howard Rice while at the 1st Annual Port Townsend Pocket Yacht Palooza in May. I was delighted to meet Howard for the first time and have the extraordinary opportunity to sit down with him one to one and ask any question my probing mind could devise!

During the questioning Howard described how he has been one with the water since birth, and how his desire for adventure runs thick in his veins! Case in point: in the 5th grade, Howard’s elementary school teacher had each student write down 100 things they wanted to do in their lifetime – Howard wrote the list (which he still has) that day, and has accomplished about 1/3 of the challenges he wrote at that curious age of 12. One of the items on the list was to sail around Cape Horn – check....

In late 1989 and early 1990, Howard became the first person to double Cape Horn in a 15ʹ sailing canoe. You can read all the gory details in THIS Sports Illustrated article. WOW!

Howard also talks about his current passion for the SCAMP boat (he personally tested the boat and has chosen it to make a major northern latitude crossing in 2013), his Small Craft Skills Academy Classes which just started up, and other fun stuff – like sailing, camping, and making coffee on his 15ʹ sailing canoe.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

HOWB 038 – 2012 Pocket Yacht Palooza Interviews: Marty Loken, Lee Bjorkland, Pete Leenhouts - 06.07.12 Mar 27, 2023

Show notes

This week’s show is 3 interviews I did while at the 1st Annual Port Townsend Pocket Yacht Palooza in May. First up is Marty Loken of the Island Boat Shop in Nordland, WA. Marty is one passionate guy and shares his thoughts on the first Palooza, his personal boats, and what’s happening at his boat shop these days.

The second interview is with Lee Bjorklund. Lee talks about his sloop OPUS – an 18.5ʹ Wee Seal MK II design by Iain Oughtred. This is a gorgeous lapstrake double ended sloop rig he sails in Puget Sound. Lee also talks about the the Dragon Boat Racing he does thru the Seattle Flying Dragon club. These boats are 42ʹ long, hold 20 paddlers, a steersman and drummer, and can pull a water skier (for a short distance).

The final interview is with Pete Leenhouts of the NW School of Wooden Boat Building. Pete is the interim director at the school, is building a Bolger Clam Skiff, and talks about his 3 decades in the Navy aboard wooden mine sweeping boats.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

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