RiversWest Small Craft Center

Tom Cashman, Executive Director of the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum in Tacoma WA will be speaking at an event for the Columbia River Maritime Community which includes Riverswest among others on Saturday June 19th, 2010. The event runs from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hilton Hotel 301 W 6th Street Vancouver WA 98660. Lunch will be provided. Informal session — feel free to come in work clothes. Tours of PT658 and LCI 713 will occur after the presentation. Contact Chuck Kellogg for reservations and question. kellogg.chuck@gmail.com
or 503.781.6469. Please reply by Monday June 14, 2010

The mission of the Foss Waterway Seaport is to celebrate Tacoma’s rich maritime heritage — past, present, and future. For more information on the Foss Waterway Seaport visit their website at http://fosswaterwayseaport.org

1. Attendees: John Bouwsma, Chuck Stuckey,   Jim Litton, Bob Meehan, Steve Mahoney, Russ Smith
2. Minutes:
3. General Topics—Chuck Stuckey
   • Swap Meet
     • One RiversWest  boat and trailer sold for $200
     • Total of $441 taken in
     • General feeling that we could do better in a better year, with more advertising,  and if we did not schedule it on the opening day of the yachting season
   • Use of Club Boats
     • Agreement by the board that we should allow members to use the club owned boats
     • Chuck Stuckey to write up a liability waiver to be signed by anyone borrowing a boat, as we no longer have on-the-water liability insurance
     • Members only can borrow boats
     • There will be no charge for the use of the boats
   • Alan Hoag has resigned from the board.
   • Russ Smith was voted onto the board.
4. Treasurer’s Report:  Chuck Stuckey (still acting as temporary Treasurer pending a volunteer)
   • Overall the finances are looking better
   • Income vs outgo is balanced now that we don’t have to pay for the phone or port-potti, and with the reduction in the cost of insurance
   • Decision to be made next month about whether to continue the FreshWater News ad
   • Our landlord will be giving us back the two East end bays, for $112/mo.  These can be rented for $120/mo each.  We have someone waiting for a bay now.
   • Check from Intel for $1090 arrived, as matching payments for volunteer time by an Intel retiree.
   • All rents are current, no delinquencies.
5. Oar Making Class
   • Two people have signed up so far
   • Lumber has been purchased, but can be resold to members or used on club projects, such as fixing up our own boats
   • John B to focus the next FreshWater News ad on the class—repeat of last month’s ad
6. Newsletter: John Bouwsma for Stu Whitcomb
   • Newsletter is nearly ready to send out
   • Still waiting for Chuck to write a brief paragraph on the Intel matching payment
7. Creation of new class of membership:  Honorary Member for Life’
   • The board voted unanimously to create this new category for members who have made outstanding contributions but are no longer actively involved
   • No dues required from Honorary Lifetime members
   • Two Founding Members were voted into this category:  Bob Young and Sam Johnson
8. Shop Committee:  Steve Mahoney
   • Boats we need to decide what to do with
     • Hall Templeton needs major repairs, but without on-the-water insurance these should take a lower priority; agreement to renew the bottom paint and hold off on structural repairs
     • 2-3 boats on the dock that need cosmetic cleanup only, if done these could be used by members—this is high priority.  One option would be to allow members to take them home, clean them up, and bring them back
     • 3-4 boats need major repair—no plan at this time
     • 2 Bevin’s Skiffs—agreement to sell these on Craig’s List
   • Steve was authorized to buy four more rails for the pallet racks on the west wall for $15 each
9. Family boatbuilding at Riverfest
   • Riverfest has talked to us about having a 2 day Family boatbuilding activity.  Festival to be held 8/21-22
   • Agreement to provide staff, expertise, and kits for this activity if funds are provided
   • Chuck to work with Maritime Museum and Riverfest; they have agreed to fund this activity;  need decision and plan by them by June 1
   • If this is a go we will need to devote 1^st and 3^rd Saturdays to building the kits and planning, this will be a complex activity and time is short
   • Agreement that we will use plans for the Salt Bay Skiff from WoodenBoat’s Starting in Boatbuilding” section.  We will purchase plans for $50.  More detail of this design in Woodenboat and at www.Brucekingdesign.com
10. Upcoming events
    • Messabout:  Paddle/row/sail around Ross Island with the Audubon Society on June 13
11. Potential involvement in Riverfest August 21-22

Members and Friends of RiversWest,

First, our landlord his giving us the use of his porta-potti, so we have reduced our monthly expenses by $80 by giving up the one in the boat shop. The new porta-pottie is located at the top of the dike, near the office. It uses the same key as the door to the docks, which is hanging on a post in the boat shop near the new steel racks.

Second, we are actively soliciting items for the next RiversWest newsletter, and for the web site. Launchings, letters to the editor, links to your web sites, photos, building tips, information about green boating events; anything relevant to RiversWest is welcome.

Upcoming events:

Visit to Foss Waterway Seaport in Tacoma, April 22

We are planning a trip to visit the Foss Waterway Seaport in Tacoma. This organization has been very successful in raising money to expand their maritime activities, including a Maritime Museum, water acess, and classes. Several members of the RW board will be visiting them on April 22 to get ideas for how we might expand our activites. We will be carpooling, and are planning this as a one day excursion. If you are interested in coming along, please call Jim Litton at 503-631-3268.

Swap Meet, May 1

Our annual maritime Swap Meet will be held on May 1 at the Boatshop. We will be selling quite a few items from the Boat Shop that are never used. In addition we encourage members to bring items they are no longer using. We are charging $10 to set up a private booth, and $25 for a commercial booth. Admission, as always, is free. Setup is at 9:00 AM and the sale is from 10:00 AM until Noon.

Messabout from Wilammette Park to Ross Island, May 15

We willl be paddling, rowing, and maybe sailing, from Wilammette Park sround Ross Island. Details on time will be sent later, but mark your calendar if you are interested.

Oar Making Class Starting June 5th

This is a classs in making oars for row boats to a Pete Culler design. The class will include three all-day sessions. The first wil be June 5th, as an orientation and sharpening session. Students will build at least one oar the weekend of June 12-13, probably at least getting stared on ths second oar. More information will be available soon; if you are interested mark your calendars.