Today’s podcast is with Brian Chandler of Vancouver, BC. Brian is the founder and owner of Dreamcatcher

Boats (listen to the podcast to find out more about this catchy name) and is dedicated to developing methods to

build simple and highly functional small boats.

Chandler’s three main designs are: 1.) 14 1/2ʹ Rushton rowboat; 2.) Big Lassie 2 person canoe, and; 3.) Free

Lassie.

Today’s podcast is with Mike Bretner of Vancouver, BC. Mike is a self confessed wooden boat addict and also

the communications director for the Vancouver BC Wooden Boat Society.

Bretner owns and uses several really cool boats: 1.) A 1952 Turner lifeboat with the original 1 cylinder gas

engine; 2.) a 1967 Mirror Dinghy he has owned since 1981, and; 3.) a 14ʹ strip built boat he recently built based

on Phil Bolger’s Defender design.

Of note too – Mike’s dad owned an Amphicar and surprised Mike as a young child by driving off the road and

into the water

Find out what is happening in BC Canada at Sharp Marine Restoration

Today’s podcast is with Captain Dave Clark of Bremerton, WA. Clark traded a piece of property for the 117ʹ

historic tugboat – Dominion – 2 years ago, and has magnificent plans for her!

Dave fell in love with boats at a young age and moved to the Seattle, WA area in 1989 to pursue his boating

passion. He had a brief encounter with a Tugboat named Dominion a decade ago, and then years later in 2013 he

saw her for sale on Craigslist. He called the owner Jeff, and traded a piece of property for the tug over the phone

that day.

Dave is establishing a Non-Profit entity for the tug – Dominion Historical Workboat Association – and she is

carefully being restored in preparation for her new life as an historic wooden vessel used as a maritime museum

for training, education, philanthropy, and much much more.

Today’s podcast is with Michael Durland, proprietor of Deer Harbor Boatworks and long time resident of Orcas

Island in the San Juan Islands of WA state. If you’ve never been to the San Juans, it’s high time you visit – this is

one incredible place!

Michael moved to the Island in the 70’s to work on a boat with a friend, and never left. He runs the Boatworks

and works on a lot of cool wooden vessels of all sizes and designs.

Michael also helped launch the Wooden Boat Society of the San Juans in 2001. The Society holds a rendezvous

each year in between the dates of the Victoria, BC Classic Boat Festival and the Port Townsend Wooden Boat

Festival. The rendezvous is a down home, low key event with meals, racing and general messing about on boats.

Today’s podcast is an interview with Rob O’Dea, president of the Oarlock and Sail Wooden Boat Club of

Vancouver, BC. In the clubs own words: “The Oarlock and Sail W ooden Boat Club is a club for people who

enjoy building, repairing, sailing, talking about, thinking about, and simply messing about in small wooden

boats. The club operates out of a floating boat shed at the V ancouver Maritime Museum’s Heritage Harbour at

1905 Ogden Avenue, V ancouver. Members can be found each saturday morning restoring the club’s fleet of small

wooden boats or working on a new build.” And visitors are welcome anytime!

O’Dea has been messing about in wooden boats most of his life. Eight years ago he bought a 36ʹ sailboat built in

1956 in Nova Scotia. This boat had been owned by Charlie and Margo of Charlie’s Charts Cruising Guides, and

was their home as they were writing their Guides. Rob shares some tall tales of adventure aboard this fine vessel.

Today’s podcast is an interview with Rod Tait of Orca Canoes and Kayaks in Coquitlam, BC. Rod builds small

strip built canoes, kayaks and other boats, sell kits, and rebuilds and refurbishes small boats.

Rod was raised in the province of British Columbia and when he was a young lad his folks purchased a small

fishing resort on coastal BC. Rod spent the next few years messing around in small wooden fishing boats and

helping his family run the resort. This was the beginning of his lifelong love for boats and boating – especially of

the wooden variety.

Today’s podcast is an interview with Hugh Harwood of Cumberland, Maine. Hugh grew up around wooden

boats and got the bug at an early age while boating with family and friends on the east coast.

In 2013 he purchased a 1932 bridge deck cruiser – Katie Mack – in Tacoma, WA and had her shipped to Maine.

She is undergoing a complete restoration and is an absolutely beautiful vessel. Hugh and Pamela Harwood will

use her to gently ply the summertime waters of the east coast – I wish I could join you 😀

Today’s podcast is an interview I did recently with Nordic traditional boatbuilding master Jay Smith of

Anacortes, WA. Jay has several decades of experience building traditional Nordic clinker boats and was trained

in Norway.

In today’s podcast, Jay discusses the virtues, benefits, uniqueness, and attractiveness of building boats from a

once living material.

Today’s podcast is an interview I did recently with a delightful couple – Herb and Nancy Payson of Port

Townsend, WA.

Herb and Nancy read a book titled “A New Way of Life” by Samson in the 70’s. The book suggests addressing

the problems of urban life by sailing around the world on a sailboat. Herb proposed to Nancy that they buy a

boat and start cruising (with their kids) – and the rest is history, as they say.

Herb has written several books and his 35 year old title “Blown Away” has been republished by Lin Pardey and

was re-released in December 2014.