Growing up on the waters of the Puget Sound and surrounding lakes left me with the firm belief I need to be on the water as much as possible. And to my way of thinking that means having a wood boat…or two. And judging from the number of boats in our area, plenty of other folks agree with me. But why choose a wood boat?

The Common wood boat question… or is it really a question?

Any wooden boat owner knows the most common question from folks is “Isn’t it a lot of work?” Now I believe this question is really more of a rhetorical statement with a variety of meanings such as “You are an idiot” or “You are a strange, strange person.” I used to try to rebut the question, since it isn’t so much the wood that causes the work as they age. Old stuff wears out, end of story.  Those with “Fiberglassics” can attest to spending as much time on their fiberglass boats as we wood folks do. And oddly enough, I never hear anyone questioning the sanity of people who buy older homes built of wood.

The better wood boat question

Very rarely, someone asks a different question that actually seems to want an answer “Why wood?”.  You will probably get a different answer from each wood boat owner you ask. For some it is nostalgia, for some it is the history, for some it is the uniqueness, for some it is the community and for some, like me, it is to work on them. Now these are not the only reasons, but I believe most people fall into these categories and most fall into all of these in varying degrees. Let’s break them down a bit.

Can a wood boat create nostalgia? First, what is nostalgia? A quick internet search gives you this definition: A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past. Now if there is bitterness involved then would a person really want to be part of that? Probably not, but if there is sweetness, then certainly. I fall into the “sweet” camp. I enjoy the feeling of longing for the past and it does not need to be my past, just a past that I find interesting. Some are definitely trying to recreate their youth but others are just trying to create an environment or experience  from yesteryear that they think they might enjoy.

What about wood boat history? This could be interest in a specific boat or a boat builder or both. When we bought Jonta I became very interested in the builder Grandy Boat Co. This was a local (Seattle) builder that started operations in 1922 on Seattle’s Lake Union and closed down in 1967. I spent hours digging through the internet, interviewing past employees and even created a website (with help! But now discontinued) to record what I had found. For anyone who enjoys a mystery, or some nautical archeology this is a great way to spend the winter months.  Imagine tracking down as much information as you can about the owners, builder and history of a specific boat built decades ago. It could keep your sleuthing gene occupied for hours and hours.

What is unique about a wood boat? To start, there are a limited amount. While new wood boats are being built, it is a tiny percentage of all news boats each year. Plus many of the older boats were of limited production. It is not uncommon to find a boat that had a production run of one or boats built by a small to medium size builder that only produced a handful. Now for sure there were some builders that built a large number of boats, such as Chris Craft, Lyman, Grand Banks to name a few, and these tend to have large dedicated, followings. But I think the biggest factor to a wood boat’s uniqueness is that if something happens to it and it is destroyed, there is no replacement. Most of the physical items in our lives if they are destroyed, we can just get another one. Those items we cannot replace are the items we tend to value the most.

The wood boat community:

Communities grow up around all sorts of interests. People like to get together and talk about what they are interested in. Just look at the number of clubs in your community-you probably don’t know about most of them. The community around wooden boats is no different. People join in for the socializing, the resources, the opportunity to show others what you value and to know those people understand you. The wooden boat community is pretty diverse proving that you only need one thing in common to get along with someone and enjoy their company.

Finally, wood boat work:

 I suppose I could have gotten into building furniture or restoring cars which I did try once. I rebuilt a 1966 VW Karmen Ghia. Finished it, sold it immediately and last I heard it was in Belgium, which might not be far enough away. Boats give you variety, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and most importantly, wood, paint and varnish. Many people winterize and ignore their boats during the cooler months, but I get 12 months of enjoyment out of my old wood boats. I boat all spring, summer and fall and work on them all winter. Sometimes projects are pretty straightforward and other times, due to the age of the boat, you might have to do some serious digging to come up with a repair plan.   Learning how to do something new stretches you and frequently introduces you to new people and resources. The planning, organizing, implementation (and the do-overs) can be challenging, rewarding and generally great fun.

So back to the question “why wood?” My answer? I really don’t like fiberglass dust.