Ideas & beauty at the 2016 Wooden Boat Festival

Here are photos and related thoughts from the 2016 Wooden Boat Festival. I enjoyed getting up to Port Townsend via mostly-public, very-cheap transport for the first time (via ReachNow-ferry-Shuttle) with Matt Johnson (though Nate Rooks was kind to offer a car ride in an earlier transit scenario). On the way back it was a treat to sail on Tsunamichaser with Captain Thomas, as well as Matt and Tim Yeadon. We had a blast using the Seascape 18’s code zero on a Wharram cat in the WBF final “sail by.” Perhaps we shook things up a bit with that mix of polynesian boat and Euro-sails, but mostly we had a hoot with Thomas transformed by the R2AK from a casual cruiser to a mad-sail-swapping-race-fiend.

One thing we didn’t know about at the WBF is that there is a human-powered boat race. Matt and I were told about it by Steve Chapin (a master builder of Pocock cedar rowing shells). Registration was at 8 a.m. and the race started at 10 a.m. on Saturday. There is a short and a long course. We’ll be there as competitors next year! Though it’s labeled “Rowing Race” in the 2016 schedule, the description clarifies that any human-powered watercraft is welcome:

Open to all human-powered watercraft – Wherries, Dorys, Rowing shells, Kayaks, Longboats, paddle boards, outriggers, Dinghies and Gigs.

Registration was at 8 a.m. and the race started at 10 a.m. on Saturday. There is a short and a long course. We’ll be there as competitors next year!

A stunning dacron skin-on-frame boat

Advantage of Dacron polyester skin is that it can be painted…

Simple way to adjust your foot brace when rowing.

Glorious skin-on-frame rowboat with kevlar guys built in the geodesic aerolite way — http://www.gaboats.com/. Frame was epoxied, rather than lashed. Skin was not ballistic nylon, rather Dacron.

Iain Oughtred designs

Matt noticed that I was admiring aspects of multiple boats — and that they were all designed by Iain Oughtred (about whom I’d not heard previously). The gent lives way up in northwest Scotland and certainly has an ethic of elegant simplicity which resonates with me.

Iain Oughtred cockpit. The mast is stepped by pulling a belaying pin, rotating the aft part of the upper step, inserting the mast in the lower mast step, and pivoting the mast up. Much safer/easier than trying to lift the mast vertically high enough to insert through the upper mast step!

Much cheaper than main- or jibsheet tracks! Nifty solution for boats on which it’s tough to construct a mainsail bridle or traveller that works over all points of sail.

A simpler solution than pintles and gudgeons? Brass rod runs through 3 hinges.

Plans and news from an Aussie distributor/site

Plans and books from a UK distributor

Books from Amazon

Propeller and pedal drive innovation from the UW Human-powered Submarine Group

Bentley and the UW team gave a couple presentations at the Festival. I attended most of one and took these notes and photos.

ANSYS Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling software used to guide hull form
Fewer blades = more efficient
Avoid bubbles! (Exhaust from SCUBA tanks caused propeller inefficiencies in previous years…)
Long & thin propeller blades are good, but material & safety limited
Controllable pitch propeller blades
400 rpm constant, resistance tuned by
Openprop modeling software from MIT guided propeller design
Top speeds 5.5/6.1 knots by UW pilots fe/male

Bentley and team presenting the wooden hull that will become their next (2-person) human-powered sub. Interestingly it turns out wood is a good material because it is strong, but also buoyant. The exterior is a mahogany veneer… stunning!

Pedal-powered sub gears inside variable-pitch propeller hub.

Canoe carving and chisel sharpening

Flattening a sharpening stone on a diamond block.

Sharpening a chisel on 150 grit sand paper adhered to a glass plate.

Maybe same role as bow bulge in angyaak ?

Head canoes had longer waterline and less turning ability

Less ability to turn may have caused transition to non-head canoe

Canoe model bow 2. — Model bow of a head canoe

T T waterman wrote about Makah canoes, 1922

Steve brown lived in Neah Bay; made 4 canoes in museum with young Makahs

5-6′ wide, length =~3-5x max beam

Water+chalk mixture is used to match bow & stern pieces to hull to make watertight join

Bottom only ~1.5″ thick even on 50′ canoe

N of Vancouver different style: smaller maybe due to spruce rather than cedar up north (eg near Rangall) cane on scene approx 1800; Skagway museum? Rangall museum has Good example but made from cedar… Has bow reminiscent of sperm whale head and “long tail.”

Canoe model bow 1. — Model bow of a non-head canoe

General good ideas, beautiful boats, fun people

A novel hardwood tie down for a kayak hatch cover. Looks like the bungie is whipped and then heat-shrunk. The hook could be stronger if the grain aligned orthogonally to the stress…

Nifty in-cockpit sewn stowage reminded me of Mike Dougherty’s craftiness. Drain slots on the bottom, velcro attachment to the engine box?

Some Boeing retirees built Airpower — something similar to Thomas’s Seascape 18.

Marty has a nifty, quickly-removable outboard motor bracket. It slides inboard a bit and then lifts off!

Alex and his oar & sail boat. Note the nifty steering mechanism, trolling motor position, etc.

Miss D details. She had lots of hemp and wooden block simplicity I admired.

Nice alternative to a plastic rub rail, and cool way to finish the end of the line (with whipping, leather, and a bronze screw). [and 5200?!]

R2AK central on Fri/Sat featuring Colin’s Rowcruiser and Tim’s rowsail dory.

Brass finish on a skin-on-frame stitching job.

Stunning clench-nail frame, but how to clean the skin interior after a trip?!

A custom stabilized double kayak showed up on the small-boat beach with a nice homemade paddle.

Triak iakos and attachment to hull and mast step.

Triak iako held a through-bolted leeboard.

Triak iako was through-bolted to ama, similar to in Richard Wood design. But how much of a drag and spray will it generate?

Tardis, a Matt Laydon Paradox

Thomas in Paradox. It first caught my eye as a possible way to close in a HItia hull… view from pedaling station and a hatch that slides aft? (or forward if the a-frame mast is stepped on bows)

Thomas checks out a Matt Laydon Paradox.

Mar Azul

Thomas and I liked the practical-yet-beautiful balance struck in Mar Azul out of Bandon, OR. We didn’t have a chance to talk to the owners, but supposed they were productive welders!

Oregon boat with LOTs of custom welding and scrappy ideas.

Mar Azul’s simple, open, box beam mast! More drag, but lots of flat surfaces for mounting winches, cleats, etc.

Thomas and I wondered at how much custom welding had been done… and whether we should go down that road as home builders…

Richard Woods trimaran

Richard Woods iako-ama or beam-outrigger connections. The beam is in two parts, pinned centrally, doubled and lashed at the gunnel, and throughbolted on the ama.

Angus Rowcruiser (R2AK)

After pondering ama-iako connections with Matt, I took a few close-up photos of the beams on Colin’s boat so we can emulate or improve upon the design.

Colin’s aft ama-hull connection from the bow.

Race to Alaska blazer party

It was wonderful to hear about the new prize that will be offered in the 2017 R2AK. Each arriving boat will have 5 minutes from when they ring the bell to decide if they’d like to sell their boat to the race organizers. If they say no, then the next arrival gets the same opportunity. I think it’s a brilliant way to incentivize the “little boats” to keep on going — both persevering during the race and continuing to innovate in the design, building, and racing of economical, human- and sail-powered boats.

Jake announces a prize for the littler guys.

After all, as the Waterlust folks shared recently – “The big boats get the glory, but the small boats make the sailor.” (quote from Peter Montgomery) Now one of the small boats may get some additional glory as well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSPUl4Wys5s

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