CRAFTSMANSHIP
virtually rebuilt, mostly by Florien Meier, a German boatbuilder who
had trained in the USA. “We also get students involved in some of
those commercial projects,” said Mike. “It benefits the industry,
benefits the student and benefits the client because we can afford to
charge slightly less with a student working.”
Florien was by no means the only American-trained boatbuilder
who had worked at the centre in recent months. The Australian
Wooden Boat Festival is held 25 miles away in Hobart every two
years, and each event has a “partner nation”. In 2019 it was the USA
and, as part of that, seven boatbuilders (all graduates of the
Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Townsend, USA)
had arrived at the centre a couple of months earlier. They brought
with them a partly-built Haven 12, planked in western red cedar,
which they then completed with local timbers. When I visited, that
boat had just been taken to the festival which was due to open three
days later but the Americans had started to build a second Haven
using celery top pine for the ribs and planking. In doing so, they
emulated the production method developed by Nat Herreshoff – the
Clockwise from Top: Finished boats for sale in the front-of-house shop; Percy 11ft
5in clinker dinghy in-build with Jacob and Paul; the second Haven 12.5; Zelectra; the
first Haven 12.5 on show at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival with her buildersboat’s original designer – by building upside down with each rib
steamed over its own temporary mould and the planks then screwed
to the ribs.
While I was there I also talked to Madeline Borlase who has been
vonunteering at the centre since 2014 when it was bought by the
Franklin Working Waterfront Association and incorporated as a
community organisation. She told me that normally the centre would
be much busier with visitors – “probably about 200 a week in summer,
and just over 100 in winter” – enjoying half-hour guided tours, but
forest fires which were burning uncomfortably nearby had led to
various road closures in the area.
The tours are conducted by volunteers of which there are about 40
in total, some of whom also make “wooden spoons, Huon pine cutting
boards and nautical-looking knick-knacks in both Huon pine and king
billy pine for us to sell in the front-of-house shop to keep the place
going. Our volunteers are amazing.”woodenboatcentre.com