Above is the troller Anna B, built in 1968 at Maderia Park by Fred Crosby. Apparently Fred built 5 or 6 boats in the late 60’s, but that’s about all I know of him. The Anna B is the only one I can find in the Ship’s Registry.

Other boats built by Fred Crosby include;
Forus Built 1963, 14tons gross
Aqua Prince Built 1975, 25 tons gross
Abuptic 2 (Attributed to W.Reid Garden Bay) Built 1966 original name Hazel R. II
Sylou Built 1960, 14.33 tons gross
Edna F (Attributed to Withey’s Silva Bay) Built 1964, 14.79 tons gross
Diane Louise Built 1977 fiberglass, 16.15 tons gross
Sea Gold Built 1976 fiberglass, 13.99 tons gross

What’s notable about the Anna B is her fine entry with lots of rake to the stem, high deadrise, and long easy exit with a fair amount of flat bottom under the stern (below the chine). Note how the stern chine or knuckle runs forward. Her rudder is about as far aft as possible.

Now let’s compare the fine lined Anna B with the much chunkier appearing 1966 Remmem troller Alaskan. Measurements and tonnage for the two boats are practically identical, with the Anna B a couple of inches wider and an inch deeper than Alaskan. But look at Alaskan’s bluff entry, lower deadrise, and vestigial chine or knuckle at the transom. Her run is steeper, the rudder is further forward, and there is a lot of rake to the keel. It just shows that within a given box there’s a lot of room for variation.

George Bruigom built boats in Comox from about 1970 to 1985. Senang Hati, the 45 footer above, is rumored to have been his last boat.

I didn’t know George but I did stop by his shed a few times. George was a busy guy, I remember at least once going by and finding three boats under construction in the big shed. He worked alone most of the time. He would not stop to talk, just a wave and “Go look around.” It was a noisy, windy place, right on top of the hill next to the Air Force Base.

George apprenticed with Tom Taylor in Vancouver, from 1964 to 68, then moved to Comox to start his own shop. He cranked out a bunch of boats, some good sized. He liked to just build the hull, deck, and perhaps the house, then let owner’s play about with the time consuming systems, interior, and rigging. For George it was all straight ahead boatbuilding, with no time for fussy detail.

Auriga II of Victoria, built 1964, 3.8 tons gross
Stormhaven Fishboat, built 1972, 5 tons gross
Daemon Herreshoff Marco Polo (modified to 12′ beam) Built 1971, 23.23 tons gross
Another Marco Polo, not sure of the year
Meriah Herreshoff Mobjack (45′) ketch, built 1969, 18.46 tons gross
Candlewin Another Mobjack launched 1976
La Picaresca Atkin Clione (35′) 1982, Fir on oak frames
Rhiannon another Clione, launched ?
Grischuna another Atkin I think, launched 1981, 10.4 tons gross
John Muir 64′ clipper bow schooner, launched 1976, 39 tons gross
Beowulf (?) 62′ fishing schooner
Sage (1977) 32′ Harrison Butler design, sailed by my cousin to Nova Scotia and Alaska, I sailed her in Maine.
Senang Hati Launched 1985, 15.93 tons gross, Red Cedar planking on White Oak frames
Kloshie Bay Launched 1986, 32′ by 12′ with 5′ draft, double-ended heavy power cruiser
There are others…….

Below we see the standard Bruigom construction setup. Some would call this “backwards” boatbuilding but I imagine George figured it saved time. The ballast and backbone were set up right side up with the molds erected on top and well braced to the roof of the shop. Over the molds were run the clamp, bilge stringers, and some ribbons. Then the ribs were bent over the set-up instead of inside (east-coast style) and planking could proceed.

The Falcon Rock was built for the Minister of Fisheries in 1960 at the McKay-Cormack Ltd yard in Victoria. She served the Department for 37 years, much or all of it out of Prince Rupert. I believe she had 2 or 3 sisters, all built in BC yards around the same time.

The design was done by William M. Reid. Mr. Reid had a distinctive style, the squared off pilothouse was, at the time quite modern I suppose. And the four windows across the front unusual. These Rock class boats are interesting in that they are designed as patrol vessels, they have more than the usual power but shallow and rounded underwater sections. I can imagine them rolling a lot. The stern is a bit narrow and very round, both in plan and profile, someone was thinking about running off in a big sea, perhaps in the Hecate Straits. These boats have more flair in the bow than almost any fishboat on this coast, but overall I think they are very good looking.

William Reid was a draftsman for Sterling Shipyard and BC Packers in the 1940′ and 50’s. In 1959 he opened his own office specializing in Fish boats, Tugs, and Patrol craft. I’ve never come across a yacht design by him. Reportedly the Vancouver Maritime Museum has drawings for 140 designs by Reid. As he died in 1970 that’s a prodigious output if all those drawings were done in 11 years! (It could be they have 140 sheets for an unknown number of boats)

Registered dimensions for Falcon Rock are 47′ length (approx 50′ overall), beam 14′, depth 5.3′, gross tons 25.96, draft will be about 6′ at the stern. Power is an 8V-71 of 240 HP.

The Norgale is a William Reid design built in the Williams Boat Works shop in Sointula and launched in 1964. Actually this is the second Norgale built by the Williams family, the first one (41′ troller built by Albert W. Williams in 1949) became the Evelyn Gale. This Norgale is a big boat, 46′ by 14′6″.

The photo above illustrates just one of the designer’s and builder’s problems. Note the run of the sheer and the odd upswing to the main guard at it’s forward end. This is the result of flaring bow sections and trying to leave the guard to lay along a natural curve. From some angles it will look fine, from amidships back to the stern. But from forward it just runs oddly. This is why I’m thankful for my 3D modeling software (Rhinoceros). You can see the only cure for this is to change the sheer if you must retain those flaring sections, perhaps that’s why the Wahl boats (among others) developed such high and full sheer lines.

Summer has flashed by once again with one quarter of the anticipated projects actually completed. We did have a fair amount of painting weather this year and I got almost the entire outside of the boat painted. A slow leak gradually worsened causing great worry until I bit the bullet and we kedged across the harbour and dried out for a tide. Luckily it was a daytime low almost big enough to completely dry us out. The culprit was one butt down low in the planking. In this double-sawn frame hull there are no butt-blocks, the butts are all on frames and thus no inside access. Another problem is our full interior ceiling so if there’s a leak you can’t see it……And then once you find where the water is coming from inside you need to guess again outside……..Anyway we ended up reefing and caulking two butts in the correct general vicinity, right underneath the outside cooling pipes of course….student built boats! The one butt had nothing in it but a bit of mud….. We just have one piling to use as support here but she stands up (a bit bow down due to rake on the keel bottom) rock solid in the mud. So it’s nice to go into winter with a non-leaking hull. Of course the rains came last week and water poured in from the top, but things will close up again soon. Had a fire (in the stove) all night last night, first time for that this year…..

After writing the above someone asked, “Kedging, seriously?” Yes, kedging seriously. We are not just maintaining and restoring an old boat, we use the skills, equipment, and tools appropriate to the jobs undertaken. These skills will not be passed on by pictures in a book or a drawing in a museum; they must be used and seen to work. I would guess that for the 40 boats in our bay (weekenders and charter boats, all plastic I might add) it’s the first time they ever saw anyone kedge anywhere.

Technically the kedge is just a small anchor carried for the purpose of kedging. Cruising boats no longer carry such equipment but 40 years ago it was considered essential.

It’s a lost art, seemingly relegated to use after you end up aground. In that case it is very useful, but just moving the boat without an engine kedging comes into its own. I recall how impressed the boys were when I showed them kedging the first time. They found moving the 40’ engineless cutter Cresset a breeze with two 15lb Bruce anchors on light line…..just like threading a needle with all the tourist boats at anchor and of course the tide running…..but very satisfying to inch silently past them at dawn…..Hours later they’re up in the cockpit rubbing their eyes….”How did that big black boat get way up there?” It takes only a moderate pull to move a large boat very slowly, a winch is too slow and not at all necessary unless you are aground or in a gale needing to go upwind.

The momentum is considerable but no…….to get the kedges in the right place we use the longboat. Work up-tide as much as possible so you can always just stop. Two anchors, a 66lb Bruce and a 45lb CQR, on 300′ and 200′ of line, no chain. Two men, one on deck and one in the longboat, as you come up to one anchor and hoist it the other is already down out ahead. We only have about 30′ of water here at high tide so it’s pretty easy….but does wear out the old guy…me…

Well…..I was up every night for a week worrying about the leak getting worse….after I’d had enough of that…..The night before we hauled the main anchor and chain (110lb Northill, by hand) and moved to a mooring so we were ready for the morning. At 5:00am I ran out the first anchor, probably a dozen moves to get our longest line on the piling. Warp the boat in against the piling and re-set the kedges forward and aft to hold us in place. Then we had breakfast as the tide started to drop, then started work and finished about 3:00pm for a bit of rest (I think I had a nap) before kedging back out about 8:00 and re-anchoring just at dark(high-summer)……I was exhausted the next day. The boys were great……I didn’t take a single picture…..

The 1889 built tug Valerie K in the Johnston Straits.

The story of two engines and five boats. My friend Bill Page has a couple of old marine engines that should be busy pushing boats around. But which boats?

The first engine is a Hundested type B/L, 39 HP single cylinder hot-bulb diesel that operates at 425 RPM and has a variable-pitch 31” propeller. The engine weighs 4000 pounds, has a 27” flywheel and stands 50” tall above the shaft line. Bore is 5” and stroke 6.25”. The engine was shipped from Denmark to the US in 1985 and it has run though it’s never been installed in a boat. 30 years old yet still brand new.

The second engine is a three-cylinder, 463 cubic inch Easthope, built in Vancouver just after the second world war. At one time this engine powered the William Garden designed (and owned) 62’ Tlingit. It weighs about 1800 pounds, has a forward-reverse gear, idles at 150 RPM, and produces 20HP at about 550 RPM burning 1.5 gph. It will turn a 24” by 26” propeller.

When Don, another friend, suggested we needed to find homes for these engines, I started thinking and sketching. The first idea for the big Hundested was a tug takeoff based on my Dad’s boat the Valerie K. The Valerie K was built at Dickie Brothers Shipyard in San Francisco in 1889. She was originally called the J. W. Dickie and had a 30 HP Vivian installed in 1930. I assume that she would have been a steamer originally. In 1956 she got a 72 HP four cylinder Cummins diesel, the engine which was in her when my Dad had her in the 1960’s at Cracroft Island. Her Gross tonnage was 4.62, Net was 3.14, and registered dimensions were 24’ by 8’ by 2.5’, her official number was 130559. She was actually 2-3’ longer than the official measurement, and she had a beautiful fantail stern completely hidden under water. As far as we know she sank and became landfill in Coal Harbour around 1975.

But a pure tug can really only do one thing, tow….and in this world versatility is required. So my second thought was to build a simple big power scow, see the sketch below. She is 32’ by 12’, all Fir, cross-planked on the bottom with straight planked sides. A house aft over the engine, with the all mechanical controls right at hand, a big mast and boom midships, and towpost aft with deck winch forward to get the work done. Easy to beach and able to carry a load, she could find paying work among these islands and bays.

The last idea for the Hundested was an amalgamation of the two previous thoughts. This is a combination traditional tug and workboat, 28’ by 10’ with 4’6” draft. With steamed frames and nailed on planking she would be more complex than the scow, but also a bit showier for the PR appearances. The mast and boom is for lifting moorings and loading freight onto her deck or on the hoped for scow that belongs to a proper tug. Though a bit of a toy compared to the crude big scow, she would still do a day’s work as required.

The 36’ double-ended cruiser is a bit of a crossover designed around the big Easthope engine. She has reasonable accommodation, plus a big open cockpit aft with towpost. This offers the opportunity to do some work shifting boats etc, but her primary use will be as a home and economical cruiser. Accommodation includes a double berth in the bow, a bunch of storage, a nice pilothouse with seat over the engine, and a galley and dinette with private head arranged aft around the engine. Very simple boats like this used to abound on the BC coast and I’m convinced they can still be created at reasonable cost even today. All that’s required is considerable skill, some dedication, and a non-perfectionist, Fir and cedar and galvanized nails and roofing tar are good enough attitude. I believe this boat could be built new for considerably less than a similar sized (and accommodation) Sea Ray could be purchased for.

The final boat in this bunch is the 40’ double-ended lapstrake plywood dory below. Inspired in-part by Garden’s Tlingit, this will be a lot easier to handle when it comes to moorage costs. She has absolutely minimal accommodation for her length, all of it wrapped around a big engine room midships. She would slide along in any coastal weather at a steady 8 knots, burning one quarter the fuel those in the their short and fat boats are burning. Living space is split, with sleeping forward and the galley way aft with access to the aft cockpit as an eating area. A pleasant way to visit some coast and pass a few weeks in summer.

The double-decker Chelsea Lake, built as the Great Northern 3 by A.C. Benson Shipyard Ltd. in 1947. Design is probably by Robert Allan of Vancouver.

For a few short years big double-decked seiners were the ultimate West Coast fishing boats. Starting in the 1930’s and ending less than 30 years later in the late 1950’s, an amazing fleet of massive bent frame wooden boats were built in just a few select shipyards. Between 70′ and 75′ on deck, about 20′ in beam (which varied a lot), and not particularly deep, they were on average about 100 gross tons. Typically 250-350 HP slow-speed diesels were originally installed. In BC four shipyards built the majority of these boats: Star Shipyard, Benson’s, Menchion’s, and Boeing of Canada.

Built mainly for the herring fishery on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and Sockeye fishing in Juan De Fuca, these big boats were too awkward to set off the beach in the back-eddies of the Johnston Straits. With 12-plus feet of freeboard forward, the pilothouse crouched behind a high-solid dodger, and the sheltered working deck with massive bulwarks, the double-decker epitomizes the capable West-Coast fishboat. This was the boat you head off to the Bering Sea in, or South America, or the West side of the Queen Charlottes.

The boats were characterized by their arrangement, the hold stretched over 1/2 the length of the boat, with engine room in the bow. Usually all accommodation was on deck with the crew sleeping in the forward lower house, while the skipper had his own cabin behind the pilothouse.

Here’s my list so far, I’ll add detail as it comes.

Cape Mark – 1947 – Star Shipyard
Renown – 1957 – Benson
Blue Pacific #1 - 1957 – Star – Sister of Sleep Robber, Garden Design
Waldero – 1950 – Benson
Western Girl – 1942 – Menchions
Northern King – 1944 – Star – also named Pender Isle and BCP51
Western Mariner – 1943 – Star
Western Monarch – 1937 – Tara Bros., Ladner, – Now called Dor Mar
Western Pioneer – 1936 – Martinac
Ocean Star – 1955 – Matsumoto
New Queen – 1953 – Harbour Boatyards Ltd. Robert Allan design
Naflo – 1941 – Marpole Boat Works
Belina – 1951 – Benson
Allaverdy – 1939 – Menchion
Adriatic Star – 1937 – Boeing Tom Halliday design
Sleep Robber – 1956 – Star – Garden design
Nanceda – 1950 – Menchion – Robert Allan design
Bligh Island – 1938 – Boeing Tom Halliday design
Midnight Sun – 1938 – Boeing Tom Halliday design
Pacific Sunrise – 1945 – Benson
Chelsea Lake – 1947 – Benson – originally Great Northern 3 – May be Robert Allan design
VanIsle – 1929 – Boeing – Also BCP 50 and now called Pacific Grizzly Tom Halliday design
Western Warrior – 1949 – Menchion
Corregidor – 1942 – Pacific Boatbuilding – May be Garden design.
Pacific Belle II – 1955 – Matsumoto
Northern Dawn – 1960 – Matsumoto
Sunnfjord – 1957 – Matsumoto
Blue Ocean – 1957 – Matsumoto
Northview – 1951 – Harbour Boat Builders Ltd. (R. Allan design) sunk 1961
Western Producer – 1945 – Marine View Boatworks (USA)
Quadra Isle – 1944 – built Seattle – originally Cape Karluk
Maple Leaf C – 1929 – Atagi Boat Works
Vicisle – 1943 – Menchions – originally Tatchu
Miss Cory - 1956 – Matsumoto – Miss Geraldine, Tracy Lee, B.C. Mac
Snow Prince – 1937 – Boeing Tom Halliday design
West Isle – 1938 – Boeing ex BCP 52 Tom Halliday design
Phyllis Cormack – 1941 – Marine View Boatworks (Tacoma Washington) originally Ambassador Her name was changed when she came to Canada in 1958. Famous protest voyage to Amchitka (Alaska) in 1970.
Carina No1 – 1962 – Sather Boatworks (New Westminster) Built as halibut boat, lost at Nitinat 1985
Kaare – 1951 – Harbour Boatyards Ltd. became Istra
Ocean Wonder – 1972 – Frostad Boat Works
Cape Douglas – 1940 – Tacoma Washington
Misty Moon – 1951 – Johnstone Brothers
Cape Canso – 1941 – builder unknown (RCAF 1941-49)
Elling K – 1952 – Sterling Shipyards Ltd.
Ocean Pride – 1951 – unknown – sank 1967 Principe Channel
Skardale – 1944 – Tacoma Washington (J.O. Edwards, Westhawk, Paulina II)
Silver Viking – 1956 – A.C. Benson Shipyard Ltd. (A.P. Knight, Arrow Post, I.F. Mariner)
Terena K – 1937 – Terminal Is. California (lost 1966)
Western Crusader - 1942 – Victoria Motorboat & Repair Works
Western Ranger – 1938 – Vancouver (wrecked 1977)
Good Partner – 1936 – Fenner & Hood Shipyards
Alaska Queen – 1952 – Vancouver (lost 1970)
Aurora - no information
Mermaid II – 1943 – Harbour Shipyards Ltd. (Became Alaska Queen II in 1971)

The Richmond Star is a 40′ by 12′ troller built by Ernie Wahl in 1977.

Below are the few lines drawings of real troller hulls that I’ve been able to gather. There are some shared features to these hulls, drag to the keel, a long parallel mid-section, and considerable reverse in the sections aft. The sections are quite similar thought the boats vary in size and proportions. Good flair just under the sheer forward, vertical topsides midships with a hard bilge turn well under water, and considerable deadrise throughout.

The first drawing is a 40′ troller drawn by Francis (Frank) L. Fredette of Victoria BC in 1961. The boat is shallow, drawing only 4′6″ to her design waterline, and narrow with a beam of 10′3″. Design displacement is only 20,700 pounds.

The next hull is far heavier and more burdensome than the lightweight Fredette boat. This is a 45′ by 12′ design from south of the border.

Next we have two boats by William Garden. The first is 37′ by 10′, drawn and built in 1948, she shared Chrysler Crown gas engine power with the Fredette boat above. The last is a 48′ by 14′ design with half-load displacement of 80,000 pounds, almost four times the weight of the 40′ Fredette boat we started with.

The double-ender Early Spring was built in Sointula, by Edwin Peterson, in 1941. Gross tonnage is 10.63, she’s 37′10″ long overall, beam is 9′8″, draft is 5′6″, and displacement 17tons. Power is a 3-71 GM with a Borg-Warner gear and she is Cedar planked on Yew frames. Son James changed some planks under water and recaulked the bottom this past winter. With a new hatch cover and some other work she could go back trolling, or be an economical historic cruiser. A very pretty boat in the old style. Currently moored in Sechelt, owner is asking $18,500. Contact me for further info.

I believe the Fraser was originally the Fraser Belle, built in 1959 by Masao Kamachi at Kamachi Boat Works at Queensborough. Masao owned the boat until 1961 so may have fished her those first few years. Her Official Number is 311271, registered at New Westminster. Gross tons 12.0, dimensions – 32’ x 10.3’ x 4.8’.

The Kamachi Boat Works yard existed for about 20 years, from 1956 to 1986. Later Masao was a partner in Queensborough Marine Equipment. The Kamachi yard employed other family members, including Shigeaki and Masaji Sho Kamachi, who also built and owned various boats in their own names.

Note the running gear tucked up tight, almost in a hollow under the stern, and well forward away from the net.

Here’s builder and owner toasting the launch of the gillnetter Alpha at the Kamachi Boat Works in 1978. Mas Kamachi in hat and glasses, boat owner Tojiro Suto in suit and tie.

Her name is Georgina, a very old picture of a troller, perhaps before gurdies, for sure no davits. No exhaust stack so probably Easthope power. It’s mesmerizing how these old boats would slip along at 5 knots with no wake at all. Photo courtesy Don Macmillian, from his mother’s collection. Likely taken on the North Coast, otherwise I know nothing about it.

Gillnetters at Cassiar cannery waiting for the season to start. All painted up, some of these are new boats, one or two built at the cannery and others built by Wahl’s in Prince Rupert. No chimneys so these boats had no heat. This was post Easthope, boats were running Chrysler Crown’s or Ace’s. The flat-transomed boats in the foreground are newer, bigger, and faster than the smaller double-enders behind.

Luoma Loon, BC Handliner built by the Luoma Brothers at Shack Island probably in the 1930’s. She’s 13′2″ x 4′ to the outside of her 1/2″ planking. 12 strakes of red cedar, six per side, on 1/2″ x 1″ bent frames spaced 6″.

The Luomas built dozens of these between the 1920’s and 1940’s. At one time they were everywhere around Nanaimo. There were certainly other builders but the Luomas were well regarded and considered the finest rowboats by fishermen. This particular boat was found on Protection Island many years ago and saved by Steve and Graham Ellis. It was used by Wayne Gorrie to build his mold for fiberglass versions produced in the 1980’s.

Once again our Federal Government is selling off what I think are irreplaceable assets at a bargain price. Five of the 65′ x 17′ Post Class Patrol boats were built by Philbrook’s Boatyard in the early 1970’s. The next few days will see what I believe is the last one still in government service, the Sooke Post, sold at auction by crown assets.

The Kitimat II sold a few days back at $225k, minimum bid on the Sooke Post is $195k. This is close to what they cost new in 1974. To replace today would be several million dollars.

These are good boats, not inexpensive to run but strong and pretty comfortable. With new engines and electrical/plumbing systems, new deck cranes, etc, they would be fine for another 40 years.

The design was done by William Garden in 1972, he mentioned they would be better if 10′ longer, everything else the same. But that’s true of most any boat. Bill liked wedges under the transom and you can see these boats have them. At a guess I’d say the wedge is 1.5″ high and 12″ fore & aft, running completely across the transom. Anyway I think it’s a shame we’re getting rid of these, to replace them with 108′ cutters. The bigger boats require a larger crew, are more intimidating to the public, and a lot less handy in smaller harbours, etc….

Storing gillnetters ashore for the winter, at Cassiar Cannery outside Prince Rupert. These were probably taken either before or during WWII, some of the boats have round front proper pilothouses, but many are still the little square one-man box. Also they all seem to have the outside horns on the stern roller, before the taller outside rollers came along. We see the vertical boat hoist in action and the hand dollies and haywire tractor used to move the boats around. Many of these boats were built by the Wahl’s in Prince Rupert, but a few were built right in the cannery. Photos from the collection of Don Macmillan.

Above is the beautiful gillnetter Bee, built 1933 at Osland. She might be double-ended or round-sterned, but hard-chined (vee-bottom) which is very unusual. It’s launching day. There’s another boatshop in the background, along with one or two houses and a substantial deer fence. This may be one of the earliest streamlined pilothouses. Photo from the collection of Don Macmillan.

Osland is a small Icelandic settlement on Smith Island in the mouth of the Skeena River, the village has almost disappeared today. After seeing the sleek Bee, and reading Ryan Wahl’s account of how the Wahl shipyard adopted a Sakamoto hull model when the Sakamoto’s were interned during WWII, I can see a group of brilliant inovators. Bee was well ahead of her time and I would love to know how she ran.

Below is from the “Living Landscapes” website
Sakamoto Brothers (Minoru, Toshio, Toshiyuki, Katsushige, Koichi)

Osland
The Sakamoto family moved from North Pacific Cannery to Osland in 1931. Risaburo and his wife Hatsue had six children, five boys and one girl. The sons formed the Sakamoto Brothers boatbuilding shop. Around 1933 they purchased a floating hangar from Prince Rupert’s first locally-based, but unsuccessful, seaplane outfit. The Sakamotos had the hanger towed to Osland and transformed it into their boat shop. They built a number of gillnetters every spring. One year, according to the youngest brother Koichi, they launched as many as thirty boats. One of the brothers, Toshio, designed some of the boats, including the Dorcas, a gillnetter which was on display near the Museum of Northern BC in Prince Rupert for many years. Koichi also remembered that he designed the Bee, the first ’speed boat style’ fishing boat. A departure from the fishing boats was the Hazel Point, built on the lines of a pleasure boat as a dispatch boat for Oceanic Cannery. In later years it was used as pleasure cruiser and was docked at the Prince Rupert Yacht Club. Unfortunately, the names of the other boats they built are not known.

In 1916 Douglas P. Urry was serving (probably RCN) in the North Sea. While reading off watch he came across mention of “the Cogge Thomas,” and started to wonder what that ship might look like. He wrote to his brother, F. Wavell Urry, in Vancouver, and Wavell started sketching. These drawings are the result, the wonderful ketch Nonsuch. The drawings were later published in Yachting 1925, and Good Boats by Roger Taylor in 1977. Nonsuch was big, 56′ on the waterline, 16′ beam, and 8-9′ draft. This proved far too expensive for the brothers to build at that time. They designed another smaller version, the Coggette, 42′ x 12′, but she also proved too expensive in the midst of the great Depression. So they instead built the 40′ cutter Cresset. The Nonsuch remains an un-built ancestor to all the various cogge ketch designs, including our own 50′ Blackfish.

Wooden boat building, like all construction methods, continues to evolve with availability of skills and materials.

But I have to come down against the wholesale replacement of bent oak ribs with UHMW-PE. As a semi-temporary sister frame repair in isolated cases, the use of UHMW-PE makes perfect sense. It’s easy to install and holds fasteners well, providing plenty of strength to hold the planking in place. I’ve used it myself to sister one frame in the tight bends of a double-ended fishboat stern.

I see a couple of problems with UHMW-PE. The first is not all UHMW-PE is created equal (kind of like wood), its mechanical properties vary with the resin used and the consolidation process. These variations will not be obvious to the eye. The tensile yield and ultimate strength of UHMW-PE is about half that of reasonably dry oak. This is probably not a huge issue as traditional wooden boats are overbuilt. The major issue I see is that UHMW-PE is roughly 1/8th to 1/10th as stiff (E modulus) as dry oak. This of course makes the UHMW-PE easy to use with light use of a heat gun, no steam required. Traditionally oak is steamed and bent to the sectional shape of a boat, as it cools the wood holds that shape really long term. UHMW-PE does not do this; it can be bent and re-bent. So the ribs of UHMW-PE are not going to hold the boat’s shape as well (lacking the stiffness) as steam bent oak.

A boat framed completely with UHMW-PE will need to rely (at least somewhat) on other structural members to maintain her shape. These would normally be the bilge stringer (or stringers), if any, clamp/shelf, and the planking itself. This changes the stresses on various hull parts. Probably the use of multiple bilge stringers (as advocated by Bill Garden among others) supported by a number of stiff bulkheads will adequately support the UHMW-PE ribs. That’s a slightly different solution than just substituting plastic for wood.

Assessing the significance of a vessel
From: Recording Historic Vessels by National Historic Ships, UK.

The goal of researching a vessel’s history is to gain a fuller understanding of the
significance of:

A) The vessel’s uniqueness or typicality in terms of its type and function. Is she a
surviving example of a once-common type or is it a one-off design?

B) The vessel’s uniqueness or typicality in both a national and a local context. For example, the last local type of fishing boat to be built in a particular yard; the last of its type to trade or operate in a particular locality or a vessel such as a lifeboat involved in a famous rescue.

C) The vessel’s contribution to a broad under standing of maritime history. For example, an 18th century warship may illustrate much about the practicalities of fighting under sail.

D) The vessel’s contribution to technology, including her handling characteristics. Is she the sole surviving example of a particular type of propulsion unit; an important variation on a construction method; or a typical example of a certain type of sailing rig?

E) The vessel’s contribution to social and economic history, locally, nationally or internationally.

F) Any parts of the fabric, fixtures and fittings that are unique or rare survivors; or are typical of the type of vessel under consideration; or are of technological, social or economic importance.

Sister Keelson installation by Sterling Shipyard. The sister keelson’s were a west coast substitute for floor timbers, adopted to do the floor’s job and deal with some other problems. Floors do at least two things; connect the two sides together across the centreline, and connect the keel to the hull bottom. The sister keelsons do those things too, as well as adding a lot more longitudinal strength and stiffness, which was important in boats that often had unplanned encounters with terra firma. The other advantages are the lower shaft line possible, and the open alley along the centreline for all the fish guts to accumulate in an easy to clean out area.