Two very pleasant weeks with our latest dory  building class wrapped up Friday as the group launched the fruit of their labours, the HMLD NAK. The what, you ask? Well, as always, the dory built during the class is available for sale to one of the participants and in this case will find a new home in New Brunswick.

Participants in the Boatbuilders Employment Preparation Training Program (phew – what a name!) are making good progress with the 13-foot-bottom Handline dory they are building.

We’re very happy to have the gang from the Boatbuilder Employment Preparation Training Program, sponsored by the Nova Scotia Boatbuilders Association, with us these next two weeks.

It’s taken ol’ Dory Plug an entire week to post a few more pictures from the finale of our fall dory building course – that is, of course, the launch of the gang’s Handline dory. Very sorry about the delay; part of which relates to my distinct lack of talent for technology. I held off posting more pictures, hoping I would have some smartly edited video to post with them. Seems like that might take a bit longer. So for now, please enjoy some more snapshots of our launch party.

They say there’s no rest for the wicked and though I’m not sure what Jay has done to deserve it, I can tell you he’s been a busy guy lately. Following the completion of our fall dory building class last week, and a gloriously warm and bright long weekend during which we Canucks celebrated our Thanksgiving, Jay returned to the shop to welcome an all-new group of newbee boat builders.

Today is the big day folks! This afternoon at 2 p.m., participants in our fall dory building class will launch one freshly-baked Handline dory. Tradition requires a semi-secret initiation ceremony and a little row in the harbour to be sure she floats ~ if you’re in the greater Lunenburg area, feel free to drop by and cheer them on!

Congratulations to ‘graduates’ of our fall dory building class on the successful launch of their hand-crafted 17′ Handline dory. The boat not only looks great, she performed really well in successive trial rows. And let me tell you, every member of this group turned out to be a very capable rower! 

The Black Rocks sailing dory is just about ready (just waiting on a piece of stainless rod for the rudder) and Jay’s taking advantage of a gorgeous summer’s day to do a bit of painting in the boatyard before starting two new prams.

We kicked off the long Victoria Day weekend this afternoon with ‘graduation’ ceremonies for participants in our spring dory building course. Once again, we were blessed with a great group, all eager to learn about traditional wooden boats, to get right in there with the plane or the hammer or the paint brush, and to enjoy the offerings of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and our waterfront in particular.

With the Grand Manan en route to her new home, Jay has started our next project, a Handline dory bound for Ontario. This afternoon he fashioned the bottom. This is a critical step in a dory’s construction. If the bottom bevels aren’t right and the garboard plank does not join the bottom with a proper fit, the boat will leak.