Last Chance to Sign up for the Bronze Casting Class

Members and friends of RiversWest,

We are extending the deadline for signing up for our Bronze Casting Class next month, due to a flurry of last minute interest. As of now we do not have enough people signed up to make the class happen. If you would like to attend you MUST sign up and put down a $100 deposit before this Friday. This should be a fascinating class; if you are interested this is a great opportunity!

The class size will be limited and it is already half full. The goal will be to learn to use the casting equipment that RiversWest has at the Boat Shop under the direction of an expert, and a long time associate of RiversWest, Sam Johnson. Class members bringing small casting projects to the class can cast these items, but if you don't have a specific project in mind the class will surely bring up lots of ideas. Here are some of the specifics:

• Dates: Oct 18-19, two full days
• Cost: $250/student
• Maximum class size is 10-12 students; five have already committed
• $100 deposit must be paid before Friday, 9/19 to reserve a spot

To sign up go to Bronze Casting Sign up

Can your boat come out and play at the RiversWest Boatshow?

As dockmaster of this year's woodenboat show on September 13-14th, I'm trying to get a feeling for how many boats we will have at the show.

We can accommodate boats:

• on trailers in the parking lot,
• on sawhorses/stands (please bring your own if possible) in the parking lot,
• on a pad on the ground in the parking lot or on the upper grassy slope,
• in the water at the dock.

I launched my uncompleted boat Wednesday September 3rd at the 42nd Avenue ramp and motored it down to the dock, just to sort of start the process. It looks lonely down there, so please plan on bringing as many of your craft (even half finished ones) as you can, even if we've seen them before, and let's try to make the place overflow with our wooden boats.

If you plan to bring your boat/boats, please email me at dockmaster@riverswest.org letting me know what size and kind you're bringing so we can plan where to display it.

Thanks very much,
Mark Neuhaus
Dockmaster for a weekend

PORTLAND WOODEN BOAT SHOW

Location: Pier 99 on Marine Drive
Dates: Saturday Sept 13, 10:00-5:00
Sunday, Sept 145, 10:00-4:00

RiversWest will be celebrating our 25^th anniversary at our annual Wooden Boat Show on September 13 & 14, 2008. The show will be located at the RiversWest Boat Shop at Pier 99 on the North Portland Harbor of the Columbia River just upstream from I-5, at 1441 North Marine Drive in North Portland, Oregon.

From I-5 either direction, take exit 307 to Marine Drive and go west. As soon as you're on Marine Drive, make an immediate right into N. Pier 99 Street, make another right (almost a hairpin turn) and follow the road back under the freeway. You'll be at the Boat Shop as soon as you come out from under the freeway.

Featured in the show will be new and classic wooden boats of all sizes ranging from wooden strip built kayaks, canoes, and rowboats to larger cruising boats and sailboats. RiversWest has come a long way since last year when we had just moved into our new space at Pier99. There is a lots of boat building activity at the shop every weekend, with eight boats actively under construction. Several members will be bringing along boats they are building at home. There have been some significant donations of equipment as well. This will be a perfect opportunity to see how RiversWest has blossomed in this new location.

Boat exhibits will be both on land and in the water, with free rides in the Hall Templeton “ferry” up and down the harbor all day both days. Attendees will able to tour the RiversWest boat shop where wooden boats in various stages of construction and using different methods of boat building can be observed. A favorite each year is the children’s model boat building event where kids can construct their own model wooden boat.

Exhibitors can register their boats for the show by contacting Jim Litton, Boat Show Coordinator, at 503-631-3268, or through e-mail at Jim Litton , or on the day of the show just by showing up. Boats still under construction will be of special interest to a lot of our members.

Activities and Fees

• Free admission

• Children’s boat building--small donation appreciated

• Free rides in the Hall Templeton

• Memberships collected at the show will be valid through 2009

• The new RiversWest burgees will be available for sale

• Hotdogs and pop will be for sale

• Fees:

  • Show one or more boats: Members $10, non-members $20

  • Sell a boat: $30

  • 
    
  • Commercial exhibitor: $75

Portland Wooden Boat Show

RiversWest 25th Anniversary

Portland Wooden Boat Show
Sept 13-14 2008
at the Boat Shop at Pier 99

Starts at 10am
Food/beverages
Kids boatbuilding
Boat rides
Shop open house
Green boats
Knot tying
Boatbuilding demos

Check back later for more details.

Bronze Casting Workshop at RiversWest

Rivers West Small Craft Center is offering a 2 day workshop in Bronze Casting in the boat shop at Pier 99 in North Portland Harbor, October 18-19.

Sam Johnson from the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle will introduce the basics of pattern making, sand molding and bronze casting during this engaging hands-on course. Students will make patterns of their design to cast tools, boat hardware and other objects in bronze.

Boat builders in particular often need special bronze fittings which are not available but can be cast without great expense. Anyone who has ever lost an oarlock will appreciate learning how to make copies of original hardware.

Learn how to build an inexpensive furnace and how to use all the tools necessary to cast hot metal using sand-casting technology.

Cost: $250 for members, $300 non-members.

Class size is limited.

To sign up go to Bronze Casting Sign up

Our New Web Page Is Live

The RiversWest Website Committee has been working on getting a better web site that is both accurate and timely. This page is the first phase of a three phase effort. Over the next few months we will fill out the web page to include a calender of upcoming events, a links page, a moorage/dockage page, a currents happening in the boat shop, a RiversWest history page and more.

With any transition of this sort, there will be problems. If you are experiencing a problem or have a suggestion or praise for your long suffering RiversWest Website Committee members, please email us at webmaster_at_riverswest.org. Just change the _at_ to an @ in the email address.

Every Saturday at the Boat Shop

Members and Friends of RiversWest,

There is a lot of activity at the Boat Shop these days. We have members at the shop every Saturday right now, not just first, or even first and third Saturdays. Several members are working on a 12 ft plywood cartopper. Any assistance is welcome, and observers who want to encourage the builders are welcome also! They have cut out the sides and bottom out, next is forming the stem. The instructions for this are missing, so anyone with expertise in this area will be especially welcome!

Another ongoing project is the restoration of an all-wood (ie, NOT plywood) boat. This is intended to be a classic restoration, and the people working on it are ready for consultations from others on how to maintain the classic nature of the boat, or whether that's even a good idea. Maybe it would be better to start mixing epoxy. . .opinions on this topic are being actively solicited.

We are also looking for member's ideas about how best to build a small boat storage structure to span two slips of the Pier99 marina. This is a project that has been in the planning stage for a while now, but it is a big step and we would like as much membership input as possible.

If we have enough people to make it worthwhile we are considering taking out the Hall Templeton for a little cruise in the early afternoon.

We have been organizing out library at the Boat Shop. We have a complete set of Wooden Boat magazines, as well as some extras which are available for members to borrow. In addition there are lots of nautical books and a collection of boat plans.

Thank you,

The RiversWest Board