This site is a place to share my interest in the history of wooden boatbuilding on the BC coast. It began as part of the Royal BC Museum's Living Landscapes project, Keeping the Coast Afloat: Wooden Boatbuilding on the North Coast.
A move to Vancouver expanded my horizons to explore boatbuilding in the south.
This is an ongoing project. If you can add information about any boats or boatbuilders, please contact me at boats[at]halfmoon.ca
Wooden Boat Galleries
My Wooden Boats pictures on Flickr
Wooden Boats Built on the North Coast
Alphabetical Index. Look up boats by name:
A
B C D
E F G
H I J
K L M
N O P
Q R S
T U V
W X Y
Z
This growing database lists wooden boats built on the north and central coast of BC. It's focus is mainland coast and nearby islands around Prince Rupert and the Skeena River. However, to help get an understanding of wooden boatbuilding on the whole of the north and central coasts, wooden boats built north of Campbell River have also been included. Also some well-known north coast boats which were built in the south have been added.
Links
Keeping
the Coast Afloat: Wooden Boatbuilding on the North Coast.
City of Richmond Archives has a large collection of wooden boat images.
Read tales of navigating the tides and currents of the coast with Alan Haig-Brown's Tide and Current blog.Vessel Registry Query System Current vessel registration information on line.
Updates
I love it when people discover this site and share information about wooden boats in their lives. I've finally updated information from people who have contacted me this year.
• Catherine Robertson told me about the Alern, a family pleasure boat built by her father in Prince Rupert during WWII.
• Lorne Finlayson sent some pictures and stories about his troller Twister, which may have been an unrecorded Wahl boat.
• Kevin Pegg, owner of an alternate energy company in Victoria, also owns the 73 year-old Cholberg-built Kit-Gard, which still has the original Gardner 3L2 diesel engine (one of only 2 known in the world).
Books of Note
Legacy in Wood by Ryan Wahl
Ryan Wahl, great-grandson of Prince Rupert boatbuilder Ed Wahl, has a new book telling the story of the Wahl family of boatbuilders, and the many boats they produced, published by Harbour Publishing.
Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet
Hot off the press! A new book by the Nikkei Fishermen's History Book Committee and Harbour Publishing telling the stories of BC's Japanese Canadian Fisherman. Principal writer and managing editor is Masako Fukawa, and Stan Fukawa is translator, interpreter and contributing writer.