All Videos » Wooden Boat Restoration & Repair

We explore a broad range of practical approaches to wooden boat restoration and repair. Draw inspiration for your own projects as you watch shipwrights, pro boat builders and seasoned mariners tackle their own wooden boat repair and restoration projects.

Get a personal lesson from a master caulker, learn the ins and outs of refastening or follow the restoration of classics from Herreshoff S-Boats to a Grand Manan wooden lobster boat. We’re surrounded by masters bringing incredible vessels back to life, and we hope our wooden boat repair and restoration videos and posts inspire you to tackle your own projects with enthusiasm.

Title
Fiberglassing an Old Wooden Boat – A New Life for CHARLENA: When it came to the lobster boat CHARLENA’s situation, it was either the burn pile or reviving her with fiberglass and...
A New Zealand Boat Shop Visit to Brookes Boatbuilders: One of our favorite past-times is visiting boat yards to take walkabouts with talented boatbuilders, and Peter Brookes o...
RIPTIDE – A 1927 Cruiser Coming Back to Life: The roaring '20s were a boom time for recreational boating and nowhere are the joys and aesthetics of the time more enjo...
Scribing & Maintaining a Waterline, With a Batten and a Pull-Saw: Havilah Hawkins shows us how to make and maintain a classic looking waterline on your wooden boat....
Removing Paint from a Wooden Boat – Rhythm, Heat and a Scraper: Pride in one's work is never more evident than here-watching Havilah Hawkins take on the task of removing paint efficien...
WIZARD – Herreshoff’s Fishers Island 31: The restoration of the Herreshoff designed and built Fishers Island 31 by boat builder Brion Rieff not only achieves a s...
Restoring Mink, a 1914 Buzzards Bay 25, Part 4 – A New Set of Old Style Sails: In our final visit aboard MINK, we learn about the new suit of old-style sails made for the 1914 Buzzards Bay 25. Sailma...
Building Momentum, Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding: Eric Blake joins Head instructor Sean Koomen for a tour of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock,...
Restoring Mink, a 1914 Buzzards Bay 25: Part 3 – Putting Exact Period Details in Place: We visit with MINK's owner and chief researcher to learn about how they put exact period details in place on the 1914 Bu...
Restoring MINK, a 1914 Buzzards Bay 25, Part 1 – An Uncommon Approach: Over the last century, the Herreshoff Buzzards Bay 25 has lived a storied history indeed.  Now, one of the five boats t...
Handsaws for Boatbuilding, with Harry Bryan: When it comes to handsaws, whether you're working with plywood or natural stock, Harry Bryan knows which saw is the be...
Schooner BOWDOIN Gets a New Deck: When OCH visited the schooner BOWDOIN to see the progress of her new deck, a job which called for the precise joining of...
DAVID B – One Boat, Two Hearts: A skilled mechanical tinkerer and a gifted naturalist/cook turn their combined talents to the restoration of an ancient...
Boats Worth Restoring, PORPOISE Gets New Frames: What makes a good candidate for wooden boat restoration? Meet PORPOISE: A one-of-a-kind, handsome little pocket cruiser...
SPARKLE: The Boat to Beat: In 1947, two NASA rocket scientists started playing around with sailboat design. The result was SPARKLE: the boat to bea...
Installing Floor Timbers in a Wooden Boat, Part 1 – Making the Pattern: It's better to have a whole boat, rather than two halves. Installing floor timbers in a wooden boat ties everything toge...
Installing Floor Timbers in a Wooden Boat, Part 2 – Cutting & Fitting Big Oak: Handling big oak timbers is an art unto itself. Peter Buxton passes along valuable tips while he's installing floor timb...
Installing Floor Timbers in a Wooden Boat, Part 3 – Fastening with Drift Pins & Screws: Fastening the newly shaped piece of oak with drift pins to the keel, frames and planks is the final step of installing f...
Caulking a Wooden Boat, Part 4 – Tying Up Loose Ends: The Caulking a Wooden Boat series concludes with Geno taking us through some of the odds and ends of caulking. With an u...
Caulking a Wooden Boat, Part 3 – Oakum Caulking: In this segment of our wooden boat caulking series, we talk about oakum. With Part 3 being entirely dedicated to this wo...
Caulking a Wooden Boat, Part 2 – A Deeper Look at the Craft: Geno takes us through some of the intricacies of caulking a wooden boat, enlightening us to what a professional caulking...
Caulking a Wooden Boat Part 1, Tools and Basics: Geno Scalzo is a master caulker out of Owls Head, Maine. He has over 30 years experience caulking wooden boats, and he's...
Wooden Boat Repair — Refastening, Part 3 — New Screws & Bungs: The thrilling conclusion you have all been waiting for: New screws, tight bungs, and finishing touches get the refasteni...
Wooden Boat Repair — Refastening, Part 2 — Removing the Old Screws: John O'Donovan and Patrick Dole show us how to remove the screws from a 50-year-old Concordia 31. They show us the tools...
Wooden Boat Repair — Refastening Part 1 — Scoping Out the Job: Every wooden boat owner knows that refastening is in their future; but where do you begin? John O'Donovan and Patrick Do...
Wooden Boat Building Techniques: Steam Bending Oak Frames: Watching hot oak timbers go into a boat is fascinating. Join Maynard Bray as he describes how Brian Larkin reframes the...
Quick Wooden Boat Repair of a Stem and Plank Ends: So you've got a soft, rotting stem and plank ends? No problem! Eric Blake shows us that sometimes a load of common sense...

 

Related Guide Posts

Author	Title
Maynard Bray	Tapering Molded Sheerstrake Endings, Step-By-Step: Those swelled-out Herreshoff sheerstrakes, so admired, don’t come into being without a clear idea of what their final...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 10: Sailing: Our friend, Claas van der Linde, shot these photos from his NY-30 ALERA last summer as WIZARD sailed through the WoodenB...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 9: Completion!: The home stretch with a goal to meet. The shop like a beehive, Brion and his crew accomplished an amazing amount of work...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 8: Cabin, Keel & Interior: Although some months have elapsed since my last Guide Post covering WIZARD, work on her has been chugging along once the...
Walt Ansel	BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 10 — Windshield, Trunk Cabin & Side Deck:   It’s been a great spring on the BONNY B. My dad left for Maine in March, so I was back to single-handing, with...
Walt Ansel	BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 9 — Skylight, Floors, Bulkhead Repair: Walt Ansel shares the progress of BONNY BRIDE's ongoing restoration...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 7: The Deck: The restoration of WIZARD continues with a new deck...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 6: The Circumnavigation: Restoration work slowed during the summer, but not before the teak deck was laid. I'll cover that and more later as the...
Maynard Bray	Carvel Construction; John’s Bay Boat Co. Builds a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part I: Some 40 years ago, Peter Spectre, then of International Marine Publishing Co. engaged me to edit Royal Lowell's manuscri...
Maynard Bray	Basket Case: Restoring a Watch Hill 15 at D.N. Hylan’s: This boat arrived at D.N. Hylan & Associates in December, 2011, as GERALDINE, and was completely worn out. No wond...
Maynard Bray	Surgery For TODDY II by Dr. Brion Rieff: When Cy Hannon bought Atlantic Boat Co. here in Brooklin, he discovered that he'd inherited an old boat that had been ab...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 5: Raised Panel Bulkheads: Last posting got WIZARD a new white oak keel; now, while she's still upside down, we'll get going on the raised panel b...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 4: A New Keel Timber: Just so you don't forget what it is that Brion Rieff is restoring, here are a couple of reminders of what WIZARD will l...
Walt Ansel	BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 7: De-greasing, New Frame Ends, Replacing Rusty Bolts: I’m back working on the BONNY BRIDE after a summer of CHARLES W. MORGAN sailing and teaching at the Woodenboat Schoo...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 3: The Transom: A new steam-bent oak transom and keel timber have been made and installed since my last posting and you can see the majo...
Walt Ansel	BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 6 — Beginning to Repower: While it's premature to be messing around with engines on the BONNY BRIDE project, I went off on that tangent as I was...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 2: Frames; Fastenings; Stem; Sheer Clamps—All Upside Down: At the end of Part I, we left the 44' Herreshoff Fishers Island 31 sloop WIZARD (ex-PATAPSCO II) with nearly all her new...
Maynard Bray	Restoring a Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, Part 1 – Reframing Upside Down: WIZARD is one of the fourteen Herreshoff Fishers Island 31 sloops (named for their waterline length; they're 44' on deck...
Walt Ansel	BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 5, New Floor Timbers, Frames, and a Portside Repair: Progress on the BONNY BRIDE has slowed a bit because of the looming sailing date of the CHARLES W. MORGAN. Our boss says...
Walt Ansel	BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 4: The Framing Party: I spent the last several weeks preparing things for a single day of team frame bending. There are several reasons why. O...
Walt Ansel	BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 3: I spent a lot of time the last month thinking about the cockpit reframing. While the 1 x 4” flat frames may look easy...
Walt Ansel	BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 2: With the new cockpit knees in place, I got into some serious butt chasing. No, not what you think. Rather it consists of...
Walt Ansel	BONNY BRIDE Progress — Restoring a Wooden Lobster Boat, Part 1: I bought the Grand Manan wooden lobster boat BONNY BRIDE that was featured in Woodenboat #206 "Save a classic." She was...
Eric Blake	Re-skinning a Boothbay Harbor One-Design Sloop with Veneers and Epoxy, by Eric Blake:   Racing these keelboats hit the Boothbay region of Maine in the early 1930’s. Many wonderful boats, all of them...
Maynard Bray	Viva Vixen; New Life for a 15-Square Meter Sloop, Part 2: When the 15 Square Meter sloop VIXEN needed a new trunk cabin to top off her restoration, building it off-the-boat as a...
Maynard Bray	Viva Vixen; New Life for a 15-Square Meter Sloop, Part I: VIXEN was built in 1937 to a design of Knud Reimers. With an overall length of 33 feet, her needle-like hull is easily d...
Maynard Bray	Restoring the Herreshoff S-Boat Mischief, 2nd Episode: This is the second episode of the Herreshoff S-boat Mischief’s restoration at Brooklin Boat Yard. Mischief had to be r...
Eric Blake	Restoring an Old Iceboat: I freely admit, I am drawn to old stuff. To me it is the way that it brings people together in modern times, to tell sto...
Maynard Bray	Peening Rivets Faster: Long-lasting copper rivets can't be beat for fastening planks to frames. Here's a faster and easier way of peening rivet...
Maynard Bray	Restoring the Herreshoff S-boat Mischief: Brooklin Boat Yard began this Herreshoff S-boat restoration on speculation as a fill-in during slack periods. So it went...
Maynard Bray	Reframing the 1934 Sloop PORPOISE: Here are a few of the photos I grabbed last June during an OffCenterHarbor.com video shoot. We'll show you more in the v...

 

Related Flotsam

Posted By	Title
Nate Rooks	TALLY HO – Episode 76: Finishing the Transom: Watch Leo Goolden as he brings back the 47’ teak-planked TALLY HO to the glorious gaff cutter she was when launched ov...
Nate Rooks	TALLY HO – Episode 72: Bilge Stringers / Oak problems!: Watch Leo Goolden as he brings back the 47’ teak-planked TALLY HO to the glorious gaff cutter she was when launched ov...
Nate Rooks	TALLY HO – Episode 70: Fitting Deck Beams: Watch Leo Goolden as he brings back the 47’ teak-planked TALLY HO to the glorious gaff cutter she was when launched ov...
Nate Rooks	TALLY HO – Episode 69: Making Deck Beams / Hiring another Shipwright!: Watch Leo Goolden as he brings back the 47’ teak-planked TALLY HO to the glorious gaff cutter she was when launched ov...
Nate Rooks	TALLY HO – Episode 67: Installing Beamshelves / BIG plans!: Watch Leo Goolden as he brings back the 47’ teak-planked TALLY HO to the glorious gaff cutter she was when launched ov...
Steve Stone	NY40 MARILEE: Restoration of a Herreshoff Classic, by Alison Langley: Thanks to the passion and generosity of the owner of MARILEE, we all get to sit in on her epic restoration at French & W...
The Off Center Crew	My Dad’s a Boat Guy, by Craig Brooks [Chris Craft Restoration : 1948 Chris Craft Sedan Deluxe : Andante]: NOTE: This great little film by Craig Brooks was suggested for Flotsam by new OCH member Keith Bales in Michigan: OCH Ga...
Eric Blake	Restoring the Herreshoff 12.5 REMORA: Louis Sauzedde of Tips from a Shipwright is at it again, restoring another classic Herreshoff 12.5 (here are some videos...
Maynard Bray	Herreshoff NY-30s, with Walter Cronkite: A lot has changed since this video was produced back at the dawn of the classic yacht renaissance some 30 years ago. Sin...
Dustin Urban	Caulking Wooden Boats: In this Tips from a Shipwright video, Louis Sauzedde shares some trademark tips and tricks he uses when caulking wooden...
Steve Stone	Between Wood & Water Film – Dorothy Sails: "BETWEEN WOOD AND WATER documents the restoration and history of Canada’s oldest functioning sailboat, Dorothy, a love...
Dustin Urban	Betsy Davis on GLORYBE Wooden Boat Restoration: Betsy Davis’ 100-year-old wooden boat GLORYBE burned and sank in a tragic fire at the Seattle Yacht Club in 2002. Foll...
Maynard Bray	Repairing a Herreshoff 12.5: Here's a great series documenting the repair of a leaky Herreshoff 12.5 (or 12-1/2-footer, as some put it). Created by F...
Maynard Bray	Rebuilding the Eastern Rig Dragger ROANN, with Walt Ansel: We at OffCenterHarbor.com are proud to count folks like Walt Ansel among our Guides. Walt Ansel is Senior Shipwright at...
Maynard Bray	Two Herreshoff S-Boat Videos from Bristol Boat Company: Through video and blog, OffCenterHarbor has kept you up to date with the restoration of the S-boat Mischief by Brooklin...