8' Oughtred Tender (2022) - SPARROW

Sparrow- From a log to a dinghy.

The rowing dinghy, Sparrow, started life as a 10 ft long log of Yellow Cedar. Back in 2014 my dog, Boone, found the hollow log on a rocky beach, at the bottom of a cliff near my home. Boone knew that this was an above average piece of driftwood, and should be saved for a higher purpose. About 4″ – 6″ of the centre of the log had rotted out, as is common in cedar logs. Despite the missing centre, there was still quite a bit of sound timber left. In fact, at about 3 ft in overall diameter, the log was quite heavy – perhaps 600 lbs soaking wet. Simply getting this prize off the beach was an interesting problem. We decided to split the knot-free, straight-grained log along its length into several manageable chunks, using a maul and some falling wedges. Then, with the help of a few strong friends, the resulting cants were hauled up the cliff and taken on to a small local mill, where the Sawyer band-sawed them into planks. These were carefully stacked to air-dry in an unheated shed.

Fast forward about five years and the Yellow Cedar planks were now dried to about 15-20% moisture content (still retaining enough moisture for steaming and safely bending to shape). In 2019 the Oarlock and Sail (OLAS) wooden boat club, was looking for a new project, and I was in need of an appropriate tender for the 1956 sloop I was restoring. So, I ordered a set of plans for an Ian Oughtred-designed Acorn dinghy. Oughtred’s plans describe a frameless plywood lapstrake affair, held together with epoxy and mass hypnosis. However, given that I had a nice pile of superb air-dried Yellow Cedar, and given our club’s interest in traditional boatbuilding, we decided to build our little lapstrake Acorn with Yellow Cedar strakes, rather than plywood. The plans arrived and we got to work cutting out moulds and setting them on a strongback.

Things were going along quite well until I broke my ankle in late 2019 and a pandemic of Covid arrived in early 2020. Nonetheless a few hardy souls were able, between lockdowns, to slowly continue, overthinking every detail, carefully spiling and shaping yellow cedar planks, and riveting them into a boat-like shape. It turned out that switching from plywood and epoxy to solid cedar and copper rivets was somewhat trickier than we’d anticipated.

Still, we persevered.

Along with the wonderful Yellow Cedar beach-salvaged wood we made good use of a selection of scrounged, leftover and otherwise hoarded bits of wood. The sapele transom and stem, and most of the white oak frames, were leftovers from the restoration of my sloop, Ricochet. The Douglas Fir keel and hog were also shop-found scraps and offcuts from other projects.

We used traditional copper and bronze fasteners throughout, and the spiling, riveting and steam bending of planks and frames are as close to traditional wooden boatbuilding techniques as we could manage. The tender is finished with a bright oil-rubbed interior, a varnished transom, thwarts and sheer strakes, and a creamy white painted bottom to match Ricochet. We added a heavy rope fender around the gunwale to protect her mother from scrapes.

Now complete and named Sparrow, our burdensome little tender is an admirable companion to our classic wooden racer/cruiser, Ricochet – a restored 46′ Kettenburg PCC sloop, built in San Diego in 1956.
See more about Ricochet here – https://classicboatshow.com/listing/46-kettenburg-pacific-cruising-class-sloop-1946-ricochet/).

Sparrow – This small bird usually symbolizes joy, protection and simplicity. Appropriately, it can also be a symbol of community and teamwork.

OLAS (Oarlock and Sail Wooden Boat Club) is a small boatbuilding club, based at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. The club meets on Saturday mornings in a tiny floating workshop to drink coffee and build, row and sail small wooden boats.
See more about OLAS here – https://classicboatshow.com/listing/oarlock-sail-wooden-boat-club/