Saturday & Sunday 9am–4pm
Oct. 22nd & 23rd | $325
2 Class Sessions
Half hull models are a great way to learn or practice basic woodworking skills while diving into the intricacies of reading boat plans. In this weekend class with veteran boatbuilder and instructor Greg Rössel, participants will build two half models - a classic Downeast lobster boat and a 12' Whitehall.
On the first day, the class will start with a discussion of how half models were traditionally used, followed by a demonstration on how to make the patterns to create a half model. After learning some basic shop safety skills, participants will lay out, cut and glue up their second model and begin work carving the first.
On the second day, students will work on shaping a second model while also learning safe techniques for cutting out the profile of the model they glued up the previous day. At the end of this hands-on class, participants will walk away with experience in a variety of tools and techniques, two models, as well as the skills to build more!
No prior woodworking experience is necessary, though some familiarity with the bandsaw and basic hand tools is a plus. All materials will be provided. There is a suggested list of tools to bring, however, it is not required that you bring your own tools/purchase tools for the course.
GREG RÖSSEL grew up cruising on the waters of New York Harbor and spending time in the boatyards on the south shore of Staten Island where economics (more than anything else) made wooden boats the craft of choice. He makes his home in Maine where he specializes in the construction and repair of small wooden boats. Since graduating at the top of his class in boatbuilding technology from Washington County Vocational Technical Institute, Greg has had a multifaceted career. For several years, he was an assistant restorer for a major private collection of antique runabouts and airplanes. Then he spent another couple of years as an instructor and assistant director at Maine Maritime Museum’s Apprenticeshop program. All the while, he was building his own shop at home in Troy, Maine, and tackling a wide variety of small boat construction and restoration projects. Since 1985, Greg has been able to work for himself full-time, aside from a few odd jobs like setting up a wooden Whitehall factory in Mexico, custom lines taking and documentation for museums and other customers, and writing over 200 articles for numerous marine publications and is a contributing editor for WoodenBoat, and Maine Boats Homes and Harbors magazine He has also written and illustrated "Building Small Boats", "The Boat Builders Apprentice", “Half Hull Modeling” and co-authored with Ted Moores, "Kayaks You Can Build: An Illustrated Guide to Plywood Construction" Since the late 1980s, Greg has been an instructor at WoodenBoat School, teaching lofting, skiff building, and the Fundamentals of Boatbuilding and was lead instructor of a high school boat building class at the Hamilton Learning Center in Searsport. Also, for the past 32 years he has been producing a weekly two-hour radio program about world music which (mercifully) has absolutely nothing to do with boats