PORT TOWNSEND — Landlubbers with a curiosity for wooden seafaring vessels can learn what it takes to build them — and safely head out to open water — at the Northwest Maritime Center.
The center, located at 431 Water St., is a campus and gathering area on the waterfront in Port Townsend that provides educational programs for school-aged youth, continuing education for adults and a variety of classes produced by other organizations.
“We teach classes about how to build Chesapeake Light Craft kits like this” and other vessels, Garrett Cleland, 27, of Port Townsend said Tuesday afternoon while applying a coat of lacquer to a strip plank kayak inside the center’s boat shop.
The boat shop is owned by the Wooden Boat Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1978 that later created youth and adult programs to get people out on the water.
The kayak built by Cleland was almost ready for use on the water Tuesday, he said.
“I just have to sand the bottom and top and do one more coat of varnish and put . . . bungee cords and a foam seat and seat back,” he said.
“That will take about two hours.”
Cleland built the kayak with a kit for a private customer in Oregon, he said.
For more information about the classes offered through the Northwest Maritime Center, visit www.nwmaritime.org.
