Boatbuilding Courses

Get crafty with woodworking in the Museum's Watercraft Center. Classes are available for all skill levels. Build a boat in a day with a team of friends or family members, or brush up on varnishing techniques.

Knotting and Splicing

Rigging and operating your boat in a safe seamanlike manner requires practical knowledge of the proper use of a variety of knots and splices. Learn hands-on how to make the various basic knots, bends, hitches, and splices, and, just as importantly, when and where to use them. Class Fee: $70, 10% discount for Museum members.

Lift Half Model Making

This class is recommended as the place to begin a woodworking, model making, or boatbuilding experience. Students are taught how to read a set of plans and use the basic woodworking tools most commonly found in a boatbuilder’s tool kit to shape a lift half model of a North Carolina Shad Boat. The lift model is one of the easiest and most accurate of half models to make. The class is organized in such fashion that the models are completed in a step-by-step procedure ready to start applying a finish. (12 hours) Class fee: $100,  10% discount for Museum members.

Lofting

Boatbuilding plans usually come as scale drawings and tables of numbers on a few sheets of paper. Lofting is the process of taking that information and using it to produce full-sized drawings for patterns from which a boat can be built. It is the first step in boatbuilding and the most common stumbling block for anyone starting off on their own. Students loft a boat following a sequence of steps which is reusable for any boat to be lofted in the future and gain a working knowledge of the terminology and the process. (12 hours) Class fee: $75, 10% discount for Museum members.

Painting and Varnishing Class

Students will learn finish removal and surface preparation methods, examine the properties of various finishes and practice their application, and find out about a variety of special techniques to obtain the best possible results. This class will appeal to both boatbuilders and everyone seeking high quality finishes with paint or varnish. (16 hours) Class fee: $95, 10% discount for Museum members.

Spar Making

Students study the materials and hardware used for spars and learn a variety of techniques for laying out and constructing both solid and hollow wooden spars in this hands-on class. Students construct a hollow spar to be divided among class participants for a variety of decorative applications. Alternatively, participants in our boatbuilding classes may take this opportunity to make spars for their boats (materials NOT included in tuition cost). (12 hours). Class fee: $130, 10% discount for Museum members.

Sail Making

Students learn about the layout, lofting and building of sails. Repairing and re-cutting sails is covered as is machine sewing and handwork technique used by sailmakers. Students may use the techniques they learn to complete a ditty bag, or use the class to make the sails for a boat constructed in one of our boatbuilding classes (materials for these sails NOT included in tuition cost). No prior experience is required. Bring your own sewing machine if possible. (12 hours)Class fee $125, 10% discount for Museum members.

Oar Making

While well-crafted oars are increasingly difficult to find or to afford, making them oneself is enjoyable. This class examines the basic principles of oar design and construction and explores the many varieties of oars suitable for use in small boats. Students lay out and make their own pair of well-balanced oars during the class. (12 hours) Class fee: $130, 10% discount for Museum members.

Nine-Day Boatbuilding Class

Each student builds a traditional flat-bottomed skiff or a small round-bottomed boat over a one-week period. Class participants will build their own flat-bottomed skiff or small round-bottomed boat, either carvel or lapstrake planked, up to 15 feet in length, with an expert’s guidance. Students must discuss the boat they wish to build with the instructor before the class begins and receive his approval. They take home their boats, which will be ready for primer, at the end of the class. The class price includes the cost of all materials. Tools are supplied, but participants are encouraged to bring their own battery-operated drills (including charger) and palm or orbital sanders. (64 hours) Class fee: $1,770.

A Boatbuilding Carpentry class is a prerequisite for this class. The extra materials (excluding sails) required for a sailing craft add $750.00 to the class fee. (By pre-arrangement only, a discount of $1,000 is available for those wishing to take the class but not take home a boat.)

Contemporary Boatbuilding Carpentry

This class teaches skills essential for building round-bottomed boats. Students learn to derive shapes of frames and planks, plank both carvel and lapstrake hulls, and understand traditional construction techniques. They also examine and experience the properties of various boatbuilding materials, the advantages and limitations of different construction styles, and the properties of the range of fasteners and adhesives for boat construction. (12 hours). Class fee: $135, 10% discount for Museum members.

Traditional Boatbuilding Carpentry

Traditional techniques, developed to solve woodworking problems unique to vernacular boatbuilding, are taught in this hands-on workshop. Participants work as a team to construct a twelve to fourteen-foot version of a traditional “rack of eye” flat-bottomed skiff. In the process they learn how to set up the boat, spile and bend planks, plane bevels, erect framing, and explore fastening options and the characteristics of traditional boatbuilding woods. (12 hours) Class fee: $135, 10% discount for Museum members.

Build a Boat in a Day

Each adult and child team uses the stitch-and-glue technique to assemble a prepared kit for a small flat-bottomed plywood boat suitable for rowing or paddling. The boat is 7’ 10” long, 32” wide, and weighs about 40 pounds. By the end of the class each boat will be completed to a watertight condition and clear-coated with epoxy. Detail finishing and painting is the responsibility of team members and may not be undertaken in the Watercraft Center. Teams are limited to a maximum of 4 persons, at least one of whom must be an adult. The minimum age limit for this class only is 8 years. (6 hours). Class fee: $300 per team, 10% discount for Museum members.