Hooked On Wooden Boats

Today’s podcast episode is a recording I made for HOWB002 (October 2011) about a 16.5ʹ Mill Creek kayak that I built and sold. It is a fascinating story because of the circumstances surrounding the person who purchased the kayak (he called it a canoe) who lived in a high rise building in New York city.

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with Korey Ruben and Christina Cogan. They moved from Florida in September 2013 so Korey could attend the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, WA. Before moving from Florida, Korey was pursuing his helicopter pilots license so he could become a commercial pilot. Christina was working as a microbiologist at a large company in Florida. Kore...

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with Pete Leenhouts of Port Ludlow, WA who is the Executive Director of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, WA. Pete is a retired career U.S. Navy Officer, and was the Captain of a Wooden Mine Sweeper for several years. After retiring, Pete moved to the Port Townsend area, enrolled in the Boat School and took all three boatbuilding c...

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with David Nichols of Austin, Texas. Nichols has been building and designing boats for almost twenty years, and is the author of three books: A Working Guide to Small Boat Sails; Lapstrake Canoes; and Building the Sea Eagles. He’s written articles for WoodenBoat and Boatbuilder magazines, as well as writing and producing boatbuilding videos. David also taugh...

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with Buzz Scott, President and Founder of the Oceanswide.org research organization in Newcastle, Maine. Buzz’s maritime adventures began as a young fisherman growing up on Matinicus Island, Maine. His love for the ocean grew greater with time and his parents provided him with his first boat at the age of 12 – small double ended boat called a peapod that came...

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with Terry Learned of Learned’s Boat Shop in Pacific City, Oregon. Terry grew up on the Oregon coast fishing and building boats with his grandfather and father. The Learned’s Boat Shop was officially launched in 1975 and has been building (mostly) 22ʹ surf launched, plywood dories (designed by Terry’s father) since that time. Three generations of the Learned...

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with Tom Jackson, senior editor of WoodenBoat Magazine in Brooklin, Maine. Tom built his first boat at the age of 10 while living in the mountains of British Columbia, and his interests then and since have included woodworking, boatbuilding, maritime history, nautical archaeology, sailing, and rowing. He worked as a journalist in Oregon and Washington after...

Today’s podcast episode is an interview with small boat builder, adventurer, and author Tom Pamperin. Tom is originally from Wisconsin and currently on assignment teaching English in Kuwait City, Kuwait. Tom built his current boat – Jagular – a few years back and has experienced a series of adventures (or “(mis)adventures” as Tom calls them) in this $300 sailboat. Tom is writing a book about his f...

Today’s interview is with Chartered Engineer Russ Bulley of Northhampton, England. Russ contacted me by email to tell the restoration story of his 35ʹ LOA, 1954 double ended wooden sloop (convertible to cutter rig) Garnet. She was restored over a 3 year period ending in 2011. My email response to Russ went something lik this: “Let’s do a podcast!” to which Russ quickly obliged. It all started with...

Today’s interview is with Sam Johnson, Executive Director of the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, OR. Sam grew up on a ranch in California messing about on ponds, streams and creeks with his own raft and other small makeshift boats. In the summer his family would vacation at Capitola, CA by Soquel Creek where Johnson would get his boating fix on the local rowboats. While pursuing a PhD d...

Today’s interview is with Dennis Armstrong of The Knotted Line in Redmond, WA. I met with Dennis at his home and got a tour of his shop/garage which is chock full of materials and products he has made over the years. How did he get started in the knot business? While visiting the east coast as a young adult, Dennis met a Coast Guard Quartermaster who showed him how to tie a Turks head. Next Armstr...

Today’s interview is with Eric Hvalsoe of Hvalsoe Boats in Shoreline, WA. Eric grew up in a boating family, and has been involved with small wooden craft design and construction, marine carpentry and fine woodworking since 1981. Hvalsoe was trained as a professional boatwright at the Bates College in Tacoma, WA. He has been designing, building, and repairing boats, and teaching wooden boats skills...

Today’s interview is with Gayle Brantuk , proprietor of Glen-L Marine in Bellflower, CA. Gayle is the daughter of Glen L. Witt who started the business in 1953. At the age of 95, Glen still visits the office to see how the company and employees are faring. During the interview, Gayle tells the fascinating story of how her father wanted to build his own boat (to save money), but had a hard time fin...

Thanks to your support and the support of hundreds of other wooden boat lovers, HOWB has completed its second full year with flying colors. This Episode is dedicated to looking at the Great Happenings of 2013 a my Plans for 2014! Highlights of 2013 I attended 5 Boat Festivals- Olympia, Port Townsend, Seattle, Bainbridge Island, Lake Chelan Started phone interviews: Doug Hylan (087), Pat Lown (094)...

This episode is an interview with renowned small boat designer Iain Oughtred of the Isle of Skye in Scotland. To listen to a previous interview with Iain about his life journey to designing and building small wooden boats, listen to HOWB116. Iain has over 100 boat designs to his credit, most of which you can buy online at WoodenBoat.com. There is also a biography about Iain titled – A Life in Wood...

This episode is an interview with renowned small boat designer Iain Oughtred of the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Iain grew up in Australia and discovered sailing in his teens. He began sailing on a wooden Vee Jay sailing dinghy, next he was onto an Australian Scow Moth, and then to a Gwen 12 sloop. Iain raced Gwen 12’s for 6 seasons, quit his model maker job, and built 7 Gwen 12’s of which he kept 3...

This episode is an interview with myself on building the SCAMP micro-cruising sailboat. I started the boat in June 2013 and completed the assembly of the kit in October 2013. Go to Launch to see a video of launch day I spent a total of 208 hours building the boat from a kit purchased from Small Craft Advisor Magazine (who is the brainchild for the SCAMP). The cost to build and assemble the kit was...

This episode is an interview with Russell Brown on the ins and outs of marine epoxy – which most boat builders will use at some point in time. I drilled Russell with a plethora of questions that have come to my mind since I began using marine epoxy in the early 1990s. Russell and I had a great time discussing the gory details of how epoxy works, the best way to use it, and why it is probably the b...

This episode is an interview with myself on building the 12ʹ Sassafras Canoe. I started the canoe in January 2012 and completed it in May 2013. Go to Launch to see a video of launch day I spent a total of 140 hours building the boat from plans in The Canoe Shop book (available on Amazon). It took approximately 60 hours to assemble the boat, and 80 hours to glass the bottom and inside and finish th...

This episode is an interview with Chuck Leinweber of Harper, Texas. Chuck and his wife Sandra are the founders of the highly successful Duckworks Boatbuilding Supply and Duckworks Magazine. Chuck is a self admitted wooden boat addict, having built an average of one boat per year for the last 30 years. It all started when as a youth, he picked up his dad’s Sea Scout Manuals, and couldn’t put them d...

This episode is an interview with Pete Bergstrom of Monticello, IL. Pete emailed me a few months ago saying he enjoyed the podcast, and also that he was doing a mentoring program at his Church by building a wooden boat together with the youth. And he said he would be glad to do a podcast interview if I were interested in that topic. Well, I jumped all over that opportunity and Pete and I had a gre...

This episode is an interview with John Welsford recorded while we I was at the NW Maritime Center during SCAMP Camp in August of this year. John is my New Zealand correspondent and will be bringing us occasional updates from his home country including this one today. During the interview, John discusses plane sharpening, SCAMP Camp, the Small Craft Skills Academy, his Boat Design Business and what...

Today’s podcast is an interview with Skin On Frame building expert Corey Freedman, owner of SkinBoats.org in Anacortes, WA. This is the sixth of my Interview The Expert series of podcasts focused on 6 methods of boatbuilding: Carvel, Lapstrake, Cold Molded, Stitch and Glue, Strip Planked, and Skin-on-Frame. I discuss each of these methods of construction in my eBook Get in the Wooden Boat Game: A...

Today’s podcast is an interview with Laura Prendergast of Pygmy Boats in Port Townsend, WA. Laura has been with Pygmy since 2011 and wears many hats including the director of marketing. Laura grew up in the hill country of Texas kayaking and tubing on the local rivers. After attending Saint Edwards University in Austin, Texas, she moved to Colorado to enjoy the Rocky Mountains and beautiful outdoo...

Today’s podcast is an interview with Cold Molded building expert Sean Koomen, instructor at the NW School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Hadlock, WA. This is the fifth of my Interview The Expert series of podcasts focused on 6 methods of boatbuilding: Carvel, Lapstrake, Cold Molded, Stitch and Glue, Strip Planked, and Skin-on-Frame. With Cold Molded construction, 2 or more layers of wood veneer a...