Woodworking

What does it take to transform a 10,000-pound Douglas fir log into a sleek, hand-carved masterpiece ready to conquer the Missouri River? 

Join Tom Elpel and Churchill Clark—descendant of the legendary Captain William Clark from the Lewis and Clark Expedition—as they bring history to life in the form of Belladonna Beaver. 

Whether you’re a history buff, an admirer of woodworking, or simply a lover of the outdoors, this journey will leave you inspired by the enduring bond between craftsmanship and nature. 

Don’t miss the final reveal and the breathtaking launch of this incredible dugout canoe!

2024 Door County Maritime Museum Classic and Wooden Boat Festival - Part II

One of many weekend festivals and events on the peninsula is the Door County Maritime Museum Classic and Wooden Boat Festival.  We've been attending over many years as our schedule allows.  Most of the time hosting guests over the weekend.

A subset of the festival is the Sikaflex® Challenge Build-a-Boat Cup series. Sponsored by Sika at similar festivals every year these exciting competitions challenge contestants to design, build, and race small boats using plywood and lumber, zip ties, and fast-curing Sikaflex®-291 adhesive & sealant to keep their watercraft afloat.

This year was especially exciting as it was the first time we've attended where not a single boat disintegrated and sank in the bay.  One boat capsized at launch, the crowd howled for a Mulligan.  A relaunch was attempted to no avail - boat capsized.  

Disqualified!

We all agreed that 2024 not only brought the best selection of creatively-designed wooden boats; but some of the sturdiest and fastest marine engineering in memory.

Here are some selected photos and videos.....

Boat From Outer Space

This is so totally cool.  It looks like something from outer space.

See more pictures at this link.

Wooden Boat Festival - Redux

Some pictures from the Door County Maritime Museum's Classic and Wooden Boat Festival...

RMS Titanic

Door County Pot Heads

The Commando

The Boatmobile

And the ever-vigilant USCG

click on images to enlarge

Wooden Boat Festival

More about the Door County Maritime Museum's Classic and Wooden Boat Show.  These boats were constructed of 3/8 inch plywood, zip ties and Sikaflex (an adhesive caulk).

During the sea trials some of these vessels capsized immediately, one broke in-half on the return leg of its maiden voyage and others completed their sea trials successfully.  Albeit slowly.

Here are some before and after pictures...

click on images to enlarge

 

Learn more about the Sikaflex Challenge here.

Wooden Boat Festival

A selection of photos of classic wooden boats from that past weekend at the Door County Maritime Museum's Classic and Wooden Boat Festival.

Enjoy...

click on images to enlarge

Wooden Boat Festival

One of the mainstay summer events on the peninsula is the Door County Maritime Museum's Classic and Wooden Boat Festival.

Classic wooden boats, a wooden boat-building competition, fun on the water and much more.

This morning as we were putting our 'aluminum' boat in the water a guy with a German Amphicar drover out of the water, up the ramp and out of sight.

No trailer, no nuth'n.

Later on The Frau and I rendezvoused with Sid and his Frau to watch the fun.

Check back this week for a taste of the festivities.

You can learn more about the Amphicar here.

Wisconsin Ship Building

Bay Ship announced that they've secured a contract to build a couple of these boats.

This is a PSV - Platform Supply Vessel - to be built for delivery to the Gulf Coast supporting off-shore drilling activities.

Fincantieri Marine - the Italian owner of Bay Ship - is doing pretty well.  Sister company - Marinette Marine - is building ten of these.

This is an LCS - Littoral Combat Ship - built for delivery to the US Navy.  One of two LCS designs - this boat will support littoral (close to shore) operations.  It's a stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats with an emphasis on speed and flexible mission capability.

This puppy can move at a walloping 50 knots at sea!  That's a mouthful - but you can get the straight scoop here.

Then there is this vessel.

This is a 60 foot research vessel  - designed by naval architects at SeaCraft Design in Sturgeon Bay and built by Burger Boat of Manitowoc - for delivery to the State of Wisconsin.

Sturgeon Bay will be home port to the R/V Coregonus.  Duties will be conducting research in Lakes Michigan and Superior to support commercial and sport fishing. 

Sport fishing alone generates about $420 million annually and sustains 5,000 jobs.

The Coregonus will replace the the aging research vessel Barney Devine - originally a fishing tug - also built by Burger 75 years ago.

Research Vessel Coregonous is a thoroughly modern vessel.  Powered by a pair of Caterpillar C12 diesels its semi-planning hull will allow it to cruise at up to 20 knots.  It also sports modern safety features such as watertight bulkheads and compartments, an automatic fire suppression system in the engine compartment, heated rear deck (to prevent icing), cold water survival suits, a USCG-approved ten man life raft and emergency positioning beacon. 

Learn more about the Coregonus here and be sure to click on the videos detailing the assembly process.

Boat building in northeast Wisconsin appears to be doing fine.