40 WESTERNMARINER.COM AUGUST 2019 CANADA’S COMMERCIAL MARINE MAGAZINETony Grove Custom Woodworking
At Gabriola Island-based Tony Grove Custom Woodworking,
work continued over the past year on the Victoria-built cutter
Dorothy (top left in the photos below). Designed by Linton
Hope and built in 1897 by J.J. Robinson, the vessel is the oldest
registered sailboat (and believed to be the oldest purpose-built
yacht) in Canada and is now owned by the Maritime Museum
of British Columbia. Tony Grove completed a major restoration
of the hull including replacing half the garboards, as well as
keel bolts and floor timbers, and is now awaiting a decision
from the museum as to whether the vessel will become a float-
ing exhibit or a dry display/storage, as the two approaches
need different levels of attention.
A comprehensive project that wrapped up in the past few
months was the restoration of a 12.5-ft carvel-planked sail-
ing rowboat that was originally built some years ago at the
Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding using cedar plank-
ing on oak frames. The owner inherited the rowboat from his
son, who passed away after building the boat, and he had Tony Grove restore it in his son’s memory. It had suffered some
deterioration and Tony renewed the breast hook, centreboard trunk and transom, among other work. Once the vessel was
finished (photo below at top right) it was launched and the owner rowed it back to Cedar from Gabriola.
A current project on the go at Tony Grove Custom Woodworking is the fish boat lilly H built by Peder Sather on the
Fraser river in the late 40s. After a series of owners Tony Grove acquired the vessel in a trade, and with the hull finished it
is now ready to be put back together (bottom photos). Once
the summer woodworking school season wraps up, Tony
will be bringing a wooden folkboat into the shop for resto-
ration. –S.H.DAVID CONN PHOTOSPHOTOS COURTESY TONY GROVE CUSTOM WOODWORKING