Four-Sweep Yawl Boat Ready for Sea
By Bob Young
Reprinted from The Ash Breeze - Fall 1995
RiversWest Small Craft Center has completed its 24’ yawl boat designed by Joseph C. Dobler, N.A., of Manhattan Beach, California. This skiff is constructed of marine-grade fir plywood with taped-seams. Using the fiberglass-cloth “patch” method, 8’panels, ¼” and ½”, were easily scarfed together.
RiversWest is a nonprofit, membership-supported boatbuilding and small craft cruising club with a 2,500 square-foot boat shop located on the grounds of Portland Oregon’s public Oaks Park (*), one of the of the oldest continually operating amusement parks in the United States. Oakes Park is on the east bank of the Willamette River just three miles upstream from downtown Portland. Its waterfront includes five hundred feet of sandy beach where RiversWest holds an annual wooden boat show each September. In 1994 forty-nine boats were exhibited.
Joe Dobler has carefully designed the yawl boat to be very inexpensive to build. The original of this yawl-boat design was constructed in Marietta, Ohio, approximately three years ago. RiversWest took over a years to build theirs because it was used for a series of classes in taped-seam construction. Like the group in Ohio, RiversWest intends to encourage other groups to build this design so that boatbuilding and rowing will be encouraged. For RiversWest, Dobler designed a centerboard version that will carry a cat/ketch rig.
This year RiversWest plans to take its yawl boat to several rowing events including the annual Astoria Row-in in August. Some of the more ambitious members are planning to row the boat one hundred miles down the Columbia River from Portland to Astoria. Crews will change at overnight camping spots during the four-day trip. Last year the Astoria Row-In’s sponsor, the Columbia Maritime Museum, hosted thirty or so craft ranging from small kayaks to two recent reproductions of historic, multi-oared ships’ boats built much as they were two hundred years ago.
Should you wish more information about RiversWest Small Craft Center, Inc. or opportunities for cruising the waterways of the Pacific Northwest, contact TSCA member Bob Young…
Bob Young has been a long time member of both RiversWest and the Traditional Small Craft Association; The Ash Breeze is TSCA’s publication, a quarterly journal, which is distributed to members all over the world.
There was a TSCA Chapter in Oregon (Sam Johnson was the President until recently) but now is inactive though thirteen members of the Oregon Chapter are currently listed with TSCA.
Some TSCA chapters around the USA have affiliated with other boat clubs. For example the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle has a loose cooperative arrangement with the Puget Sound Chapter of TSCA. Bob suggests that some sort of affiliation with the RiversWest Small Craft Center would benefit both RiversWest and TSCA. The Ash Breeze journal alone would be worthwhile.
RiversWest is a nonprofit, membership-supported boatbuilding and small craft cruising club with a 2,500 square-foot boat shop located on the grounds of Portland Oregon’s public Oaks Park (*), one of the of the oldest continually operating amusement parks in the United States. Oakes Park is on the east bank of the Willamette River just three miles upstream from downtown Portland. Its waterfront includes five hundred feet of sandy beach where RiversWest holds an annual wooden boat show each September. In 1994 forty-nine boats were exhibited.
Joe Dobler has carefully designed the yawl boat to be very inexpensive to build. The original of this yawl-boat design was constructed in Marietta, Ohio, approximately three years ago. RiversWest took over a years to build theirs because it was used for a series of classes in taped-seam construction. Like the group in Ohio, RiversWest intends to encourage other groups to build this design so that boatbuilding and rowing will be encouraged. For RiversWest, Dobler designed a centerboard version that will carry a cat/ketch rig.
This year RiversWest plans to take its yawl boat to several rowing events including the annual Astoria Row-in in August. Some of the more ambitious members are planning to row the boat one hundred miles down the Columbia River from Portland to Astoria. Crews will change at overnight camping spots during the four-day trip. Last year the Astoria Row-In’s sponsor, the Columbia Maritime Museum, hosted thirty or so craft ranging from small kayaks to two recent reproductions of historic, multi-oared ships’ boats built much as they were two hundred years ago.
Should you wish more information about RiversWest Small Craft Center, Inc. or opportunities for cruising the waterways of the Pacific Northwest, contact TSCA member Bob Young…
Bob Young has been a long time member of both RiversWest and the Traditional Small Craft Association; The Ash Breeze is TSCA’s publication, a quarterly journal, which is distributed to members all over the world.
There was a TSCA Chapter in Oregon (Sam Johnson was the President until recently) but now is inactive though thirteen members of the Oregon Chapter are currently listed with TSCA.
Some TSCA chapters around the USA have affiliated with other boat clubs. For example the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle has a loose cooperative arrangement with the Puget Sound Chapter of TSCA. Bob suggests that some sort of affiliation with the RiversWest Small Craft Center would benefit both RiversWest and TSCA. The Ash Breeze journal alone would be worthwhile.