This is the second of my talks in the USA. It focuses a bit more on construction and some of the methods that can be used to keep a boat light and simple, but very strong and stiff.

It also discusses how there is a “creep” in boatbuilding and design that increases the weight of boats way over what is really needed for a strong structure.

This talk is the first hour of my exposition on boat building and design. There are two more parts to come. This covers some of the background and design issues. The second is more on the building side and the last is a bit more about why the Australian (and New Zealand) wooden boat tradition is different from the Northern Hemisphere.

You can stream the talks over your internet connection or download them as a podcast.

Thorne (aka David Luckhardt) is well known in both wooden boating and historical recreation circles (particularly those involving gunpowder).

He normally lurks around San Francisco, but on this occasion had driven up to Timothy Lake underneath the summit of Mount Hood.

I had the chance to interview him while sailing on Lake Timothy in Oregon.

Invitation to a Talk by Boat Designer Michael Storer

At Clint Chase Boatbuilder, 25 Deblois Street, Portland, Maine
Sunday Nov 1st @ 11am-1pm, Bring Boats and Questions
After some food and chat, Michael will talk to us about making our boats better…

Yesterday spent the day traipsing around Central Oregon With Andrew Linn. We had a canoe on the roof and a boat behind. The boat behind was a delivery – Andrew had sold a Laser look alike – a now defunct class. And was pretty nice to get foot mobile and do some short bushwalks. So [...]

Well a mind-boggling day today. Set is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik…7622312609441/ Some of the “Coots” boating group organised a joint trip for four of us to Astoria (named after the Astor Family who made their money in the fur industry a couple of hundred years ago. We got up early and went to meet Long 龍 at [...]

The pics in this post are just a hint – many more on flickr – you can see them at the bottom of this page. So … What a Weekend! It is the highest I have ever sailed by far – about 2500 to 3000ft above sea level. A very nice bunch of folks. And [...]

The main thing is that both me and my audience survived my talk.  They all hung round too so they must have enjoyed it enough. David Graybeal wrote this … Just a quick update. Mik’s first talk – hosted by Harbor Woodworks, in Portland, Oregon, last night – went off quite well. A small, but [...]

Howdy, The full set is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik…7622383846430/ Well more interesting things to report. Actually so interesting I have gone out to buy an MP3 voice recorder so I won’t miss these conversations. This was the view out of the window on waking. I couldn’t get the colours right even with fiddling – much lighter and [...]

>Howdy, All travelling pics really from yesterday and just a few from making some samples for the talk I give on Wednesday. Most of the day around the house. Picture slideshow is at the bottom of this post But the travel pics look a bit boring in retrospect, but that doesn’t mean the view was [...]

USA Day 3 – Missed Appointment, Walk, Asian Museum (and a couple of little boats) and meeting some fans Slideshow of pics is at the bottom of this page. I was supposed to meet David Luckhardt to go to the River Heritage Fair. I blew it – I woke up when I was supposed to [...]