The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is a non-profit vocational school located in Port Hadlock, Washington. Their mission is to teach and preserve the art of wooden boatbuilding and traditional maritime crafts. They build commissioned and speculative boats to US Coast Guard standards while teaching adult students the traditional wood and wood composite boatbuilding skills they will need to work in the marine trades. They also sell boats to help support the school.
One of the boats they were commissioned to build was an exact replica of the Rogue River Driver, which was commissioned by novelist Zane Grey in 1903 for a trip down the Rogue River in Oregon. The boat was built of redwood and nailed together over a wooden form. It was not intended to last for more than a few trips down the river but for unknown reasons, it was never taken apart after its journey down the river and now remains a historic artifact stored under a rude open shelter deep in a wilderness area.
Roger Fletcher, who documented the boat in his book “Drift Boats and River Dories”, states that the replica built by the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding had to be strong enough to make it through miles of river travel through Class III rapids to get to the resting place of the original boat.
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding can be contacted through their website at www.nwboatschool.org or by calling them at 360-385-4948.
Posted by Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding on 2014-04-27 14:38:18