MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS take place on the 3rd Wednesday of each month starting at 6.30 pm in the Honeymoon Lake Community Club House, 4343 Honeymoon Bay Road, Freeland, WA.

The meetings begin with drinks and appetizers, followed by a short business meeting and conclude with the presentation from a guest speaker. Non-members are welcome to attend.
BOARD MEETINGS are held every 2ND THURSDAY of every month at 5.30 pm at the same location. Members are encouraged to attend.

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Boatwright Tour

Once again our SWYC had an opportunity to see the fine craftsmanship of Whidbey Island’s only Boatwright, Brad Rice. Ten of our members showed up on a mild but wet morning in his boat barn to chat with Brad about wooden boats and take a look at his latest projects. As usual, Brad has several projects going at the same time.

Most interesting was his project to restore an old sloop for a family that used to sail it decades ago. This is a 37 feet LOA C – class racing sloop built in 1937 in Chester, Nova Scotia. It has a full keel and narrow beam with long overhangs in the style of larger racing yachts from the turn of the 20th century. When Brad picked it up, all that was left of it was the hull and cockpit. After digging around a bit into the history of this boat, Brad found that this was the second hull out of only six boats of this type built in Chester. Four other boats from the same manufacturer have been restored at one time or another, but the sixth one has not been found yet. Given the bad shape its in, restoring C-2 will take a few years of loving work that will stretch Brad’s considerable Boatwright skills to the utmost.

There were two other boats in early stages of construction. One was a 30 feet long beamy custom motor boat for a customer in Ballard to be used mainly for ferrying people from Shilshole to various places in Puget Sound. It will have an inboard/outboard modified Volvo diesel engine of 264 hp. The other is a curious 26 feet long recreational fishing boat with a pilot house forward and an offset mast, kind of like a mizzen, whose boom will be used for hoisting up crab pots and the like.

Brad also showed us the completed 11 feet long motor runabout built in the style of the wooden motor boats of the 1940/1950 era. It is equipped with an inboard engine and a bench seat and car-like steering wheel. Fortunately for us, the boat has not been picked up by the customer yet so we were able to see one of Brad’s finished products. It is a stunning example of Brad’s flawless workmanship.

Brad Rice’s boat barn is located at 4785 East Harbor Rd. in Freeland and visitors/helpers are always welcome.

Kes Tautvydas.11/12/08