The Living Boat Trust is committed to preserving and passing on knowledge and skills to do with boats and boat building. The LBT committee has decided that embarking on a programme of creating and delivering courses in traditional boat building as well as other types of boat construction, tool making, repairing and maintaining boats, oar and yuloh making will assist with this mission.

We have started this process off by building an Acorn dinghy, one of Iain Oughtred’s beautiful and functional designs. This course, running one full day per week for 15 weeks commenced Monday January 11 2010 with 4 students and has just completed. The result is a very beautiful and lightweight boat that rows beautifully. Photos of the course activity and boat development can be seen here. This boat was launched at 1.30pm on Saturday May 1 2010 after our Daggy Dinghy day.

Peter Laidlaw is the boat builder who has taught the course and he is now keen to run several other courses including another of his popular Making Bush Furniture courses in the near future.

We will be utilising the skills of various boat builders to deliver various courses. Ideas from prospective participants about courses will always be welcome.

The next course to be completed was an oar making course run by John Young and started on Monday 10 May for four weeks of four hour sessions. The course covered the theory and history of oars and each person made a pair of oars. While we hoped that there would be some donations to the LBT every one fell in love with their oars and took them home. Most of the course participants are active rowers of our Grebe dinghies so our old oars will get less wear and tear as a result.

All courses are at our workshop on the Huon Highway Franklin, next to the Wooden Boat Centre. Kitchen and toilet facilities are available for use at all times during the courses. Some have meals provided.

Future courses include:

A spoon making course

Quick and easy but learning useful skills about shaping and working with wood with various hand tools . Morning tea and light lunch provided.

1 day - 6 hours 10 people @ $100 Saturday 14 August 2010 at 10 am

Repair and restore a solid timber carvel hull

Work with Peter Laidlaw to complete an unfinished project; the Gabriola, and learn the skills required to achieve your own renovation. Gabriola is a 24 foot carvel sailing hull who has had her backbone mostly repaired and now needs some sternpost fixing, lower planks replaced, a new deck and cabin built. This course will give you the confidence to tackle a big project and learn how to take care of and operate hand tools,to  work with wood to achieve an impressive result.

20 weeks at 1 day per week for 3 people @ $300 Saturday 21 August 2010 at 10 am

Making greenwood furniture

Learn to use traditional tools to split timber from recently felled trees and construct everything from spoons to fine post and rung chairs with woven seats. An exploration really; going into the bush, getting the timber and shaping it into something practical and beautiful. Start off making something of your choice, shaving horse, chair whatever. There has to be at least a five day gap in work days so the rungs can dry out before being assembled into a chair. Peter has run quite a few of these courses and is looking forward to another.

5 days for 6 people @ $450 Friday 24 Septmber 2010 at 10 am

Make a post and rung green timber chair

You will need a shaving horse to do this, easily made if you join the first of these courses above.

A traditional wood working tool, surprisingly ergonomic and comfortable to use. Effortlessly shape wooden implements and shapes with spokeshave and drawknife. This course will result in you building your own shaving horse, using hand tools to do so and enabling you to better use them so you will then need to get - spokeshaves, planes and drawknives.

3  x 6 hour days @ $250 Friday 24 September 2010 at 10 am

We are also looking at building a dedicated “plywood tinnie” rescue boat as well as building a dedicated sailing expedition boat to replace the Capricornia after her lease runs out in 2011. The committee are interested in ideas for designs.

Other future courses by Peter Laidlaw are building a PVC bilge pump, making a trug, and we are interested in providing a course for families, probably around building a strip planked boat or kayak.

Expressions of interest are welcome.

The little Acorn dinghy Eileen after completion. She was launched on Saturday May 1