Build a Boat With Sean Kooman

Sean holding a steam bending workshop.

At the Southern end of Port Townsend Bay, the famous centre for the wooden boat community in Washington State, USA, is the North West School of Wooden Boat Building.

In 2019, lead Boatbuilding Instructor Sean Koomen and a team of alumni from the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB) embarked on a unique journey, having been invited to represent the USA at the 2019 Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart, Tasmania. With the support of the Tasmanian Wooden Boat Center, they completed construction of a Haven 12½, Joel White’s centerboard version of the classic 12½ designed by Nat Herreshoff, which went up for live auction at the festival.

Now almost five years later, the School‘s Lead Boatbuilding instructor, Sean Koomen, has been invited back to be a guest instructor at the Wooden Boat Centre in Tasmania, Australia. He will lead students in constructing two wood sailing dinghies during a three-month course beginning November 2024. 

The design chosen is the Sid Skiff, which will be built of local timber. One hull will be built utilizing traditional, carvel plank on frame construction, and the other will be built of wood composite, cold molded construction.

A Sid Skiff- Photo Lawrence W. Cheek

Once completed, the dinghy will be launched at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival being held in Hobart, Tasmania in 2025. The Sid Skiff will then be sold privately or through an auction at the Festival.

If a prospective student wants to experience the entire boat building process, as well as the satisfaction of that process from lofting to launch, they can sign up for the whole course. If they want to polish up and refine only their lofting skills, they can just sign up for that shorter, individual course.

Sean teaching framing

Course Program and Modules

Students can complete all modules or choose individual or groups of modules.

LOFTING INTENSIVE - (1 WEEK) 25/11 - 29/11 2024 - 12 STUDENTS

During this course, students will work through the entire lofting of a small sailing vessel. This will include accurately setting up the grid, lofting the master lines, fairing the hull sections, and creating developments for the backbone, moulds and transom.

Students will use a specific lofting sequence that can be applied to any boat, and will learn to use tools specific to lofting-such as battens, bundle battens, pickup sticks, and bevel sticks. Utilizing the lofting and these tools, students will also create patterns to build the backbone, moulds and transom.

BACKBONE SETUP, MOLDS AND TRANSOM INTENSIVE - (1 WEEK) 2/12 - 6/12 2024 - 8 STUDENTS

Setting up a boat building project accurately is just as important as the lofting itself. During this intensive, students will practice making components of a typically wooden boat backbone. In addition to that they will make station moulds and a transom, allowing them the opportunity to set up the boat and witness the 2-dimensional lofting come to life as a 3-dimensional boat.

COLD MOULDING & VACUUM BAGGING INTENSIVE - (2 WEEKS) 9/12 -13/12 & 16/12 - 20/12 2024 - 8 STUDENTS

Many wood composite boat hulls are built using multiple layers of thin pieces of wood-also called veneers. Being able to mould, shape and adhere these veneers to the hull requires the technique of vacuum bagging. In this course, students will learn about the basic setup of a standard vacuum bag for boat building, as well as learn how to efficiently fit veneers and cold mold them to the hull.

SMALL BOAT INTERIORS & SPARS INTENSIVE - (2 WEEKS) 6/1 -1 0/1 & 13/1 - 17/1 2025 - 8 STUDENTS

Once the wooden boat hull has been built, loads of work still remains to finish the boat for its intended function-whether it be by sail, oars or an engine. During this intensive students will learn the finer side of boat building-finishing off the interior. This will include accurately installing longitudinals, thwarts, centreboard trunk, knees, oarlock pads, breasthook, rudder and the remaining details throughout the boat.

In addition to the interior, students will also learn about various ways to build spars-particularly the mast and boom of a small vessel. Students will explore different construction techniques, as well as learn about the geometry of spar making in shaping a square spar blank to a specifically tapered round spar.

SMALL BOAT RIGGING, SAILS & HARDWARE INTENSIVE

(1 WEEK) 20/1 - 24/1 2025

8 STUDENTS

A crucial step in building a small sailing vessel is understanding the layers associated with the sails, rigging and hardware. And not only understanding the layers, but the function and accurate installation of each component. In this intensive students will gain experience installing sails and rigging on a small sailing vessel, as well as selecting and installing appropriate hardware to support the sails and rigging.

FINISH WORK INTENSIVE - (1 WEEK) 27/1 - 31/1 2025 - 8 STUDENTS

The final phase of most any wooden boat is the finish work. During this course, students will practice fairing and preparing a wooden boat hull for both paint and varnish. We will discuss the different options and brands of finish, as well as best practices for applying finish. Students will also learn about which finishes best suit a particular component of the boat, including the pros and cons of using a wipe on oil called “boat sauce”.

Registration is open now.

The Sid Skiff project in 2024 builds on the success of the earlier program and further cements the relationship between the three organizations:

• Wooden Boat Centre - Tasmania

• Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding based in Port Hadlock, Washington State

• Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart