Traditional Wooden Skiff

Building a traditional wooden skiff is always so much fun! A lot of youth boatbuilding programs rely on heavy use of epoxy and fiberglass to complete a watertight boat. At Berkeley Boathouse we generally stay away from that stuff using instead time honored techniques of boat construction that relies more on the properties of the wood and our own ingenuity and experience. Our traditional wooden boats are a testament to that! We make a lot of our own tools, seam compound, clench nails, etc. The wood we use comes from local lumber yards; we fish through the piles to find the choice stuff. Add all this together and you get a construction that is full of skillful tool use, not just clever chemistry, non-toxic, a more enjoyable experience working with wood from beginning to end, and materials are right near you…it does not have to be expensive and rare cedar – wasted in the hands of kids and amateur builders. Yet the builder will learn a lot and the end result is a beautiful boat!