Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Two local shipwrights on Monday gave Haines High woodworking students a tour of a unique boat project that's been on hold for more than 35 years but recently was revived.

Joe Jacobson and Ian Seward demonstrated how to plank the hull of a 32-foot wooden gaff-rigged cutter, a kind of sailboat, that was merely a frame when it made its way to Haines from Washington state on Alaska Marine Lines in 2007. (Planking refers to fastening wooden planks onto the boat's ribs during construction of the hull.)

The skeleton of the boat sat in storage for 15 years, first owned by Seward, then Tim June, before Bill Chetney acquired it last fall, moved it to his property at Viking Cove and commissioned Jacobson and Seward to finish building the ship.

"This is a complete boat project," Jacobson said. "The only thing we didn't do is the framing." He added that it's the biggest planking job he's ever done, and he's been building boats for almost two decades.

Jacobson and Seward have been working on the project for two months and expect to finish planking in the next week or two. The hull will have 80 planks total, 40 on each side, all made of Douglas fir and each distinguished with its own, subtle curvature. The shipwrights will work on decking next.

The final product, which could take two years to finish, will weigh 23,000 pounds and will have 3,000 screws, Jacobson said.

Seward acquired the project from a Washington state-based boat builder, who built the frame 35 years ago.

"I had long been infatuated with this design," Seward said. "She's got beautiful sexy lines, just a really shapely boat by one of the prominent West Coast designers of all time."

Seward originally saw an ad for the boat in Port Townsend, Washington. Its previous owner had built the boat's frame but nothing else and gave it away for free.

Chetney heard of the boat from Seward, a neighbor.

"It's a dream to build my own boat," Chetney said. "I could buy one, but building it is a whole different thing. The whole aesthetic is awesome."

The woodworking students on Monday helped install a plank, which already had been shaped by the builders and heated for two hours. The wood steamed as the students, directed by Jacobson and Seward, fastened it to the frame of the hull. "You have eight more apprentice boat builders (now)," Chetney joked to Jacobson.

Haines High junior Arik Miller said he enjoyed the field trip as a "learning experience" both for the class and the real world. While he said he doesn't foresee building his own gaff-rigged cutter, he plans to continue woodworking.

Woodworking teacher Darwin Feakes said it was "a super great experience for the students to see such old world craftsmanship and to see processes I have not taught. As you know wooden boat building requires an extremely high degree of craftsmanship and attention to detail." Feakes added that one of his students hopes to work with the shipwrights next fall as an independent study class.

Chetney said he would like to host the high school art class to view the project in the coming weeks and to take students out on the boat once it's finished.

There likely are only a few boat projects like this one in the entire country, Seward said. Most boats nowadays are built of fiberglass, steel or aluminum. But humans first took to the seas on wooden crafts. To someone who doesn't know much about ships, the boat at Viking Cove might look like one used a thousand years ago by vikings.

"People told me wooden boats are dead-you'll never make it," Jacobson, 38, said. "(But) I've had work since high school. It's gotten better and better and better."