Lakeside foundation teaches unique art of wooden boat making

Susan Timmons pulls a small planing tool over a sloping piece of wood with methodic concentration. She keeps her eye trained on the surface, working carefully to achieve the perfect curve on her tiller — the steering arm of her sailboat-in-progress.

She’s never actually sailed, but 19 months ago, she’d never picked up a power tool, either, and today she is mere months away from putting her handmade boat in the water.

“Using the power tools was really intimidating at first,” she said with a shy smile, “I’m a lot more comfortable with them now. The teachers really keep an eye on you so I know I’m not going to get hurt.”

Timmons is among the handful of members in the Montana Wooden Boat Foundation’s boat building class, held inside a shop in Lakeside. Students build wooden kit boats of their choosing under the guidance of master builder and restorer Jon Derry of Bigfork. The expert craftsman is the same artisan who restored a pair of historic Q-class sailboats at Flathead Lake Lodge, and donates his time to help pass on the skills of fine woodworking and boat building.

“I did a two-year apprenticeship on the coast of Maine. The knowledge was free to me so it’s only fair that I give it away as well,” Derry said. “You have to pay attention and have all your fingers left at the end of the day and it’s patience, too — with yourself and with your tools and with your materials.”

Students enter the course with experience levels ranging from zero to professional, and are taught the art of wooden boat making. And it truly is an art — there are no straight lines on these historic vessels — each piece must be painstakingly crafted to fit precisely, like a piece in a puzzle.

“I worked on making this piece of wood for eight hours,” said participant Frank Charboneau of Bigfork, who’s about 400 hours into his Penobscot 14.

“These two boards here probably took me a month to get on,” he added, trailing his hands across the belly of his boat. Once the stringers — rib-like pieces that help form the hull — are fitted to the frame, boards are bent and clamped into place over them — aka wood torture, Charboneau joked. It’s a process that demands patience, precision and time, lots and lots of time.

Vince Gordon of Bigfork is a cabinet-maker by trade, and began assisting with the course six months ago. He was drawn to the technical aspects of boat construction along with the history and joy of working with wood.

“I heard somebody say one time, ‘There’s a reason that there’s no plastic Stradivarius’ made.’” Gordon said. “To me, [wood] has more of a soul.”

Most members of the class spend two to three days working in the shop each week, learning just as much about each other as they have woodworking.

“I came to build a boat and what I’ve developed are some really good friendships,” Charboneau said.

Friendship — and a love for historic boats — is at the root of the Montana Wooden Boat Foundation. The nonprofit was started in 2010 by boat enthusiast Alex Berry and retired yacht builder Bill Eisenlohr, both of Lakeside.

“I just have such a love for boats, old boats, traditional boats [and] the craftsmanship that goes into them, which is basically lost today,” Eisenlohr said. “We want to pass that on.”

Initially they were inspired by a similar organization Berry had worked with on the East Coast that specialized in teaching at-risk youth how to build wooden boats. For a number of years, the Montana foundation did similar work — collaborating with area elementary and middle schools who provided the space, while the foundation supplied the tools and instruction.

“They learned a new skill, they learned some social skills,” Berry said. ”I think it was something they could be very proud of and take into adult life.”

But ensuring consistent attendance and difficulty finding steady volunteers proved challenging, so they’ve pared down their educational efforts to a single partnership with the Linderman Education Center. The alternative Kalispell school transports a few students one day a week to the shop for wooden boat-building lessons.

The foundation also takes on a select number of restoration projects each year and runs an ice boat-building class in their shop, led by world champion land sailor and creator of the Mini Skeeter ice boat, John Eisenlohr. But their primary focus in recent years has been passing on their knowledge of fine woodworking and boat building. Between the foundation’s leadership and instructors, there’s over 200 years of collective experience in the shop. This year marks the third year hosting the boat-building course, and Berry said they’re planning another session this winter.

“It is a great way to leave a lot of your pressures and things behind and go into another whole world,” Berry said. “It’s an adventure.”

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss can be reached at (406) 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.