97 episodes

This podcast is 110% dedicated to celebrating the art, craft, history, tradition and romance of wooden boats around the world.

Season 1 will include all 217 episodes I recorded (and previously published) between 2011 and 2018.

Hooked On Wooden Boats Dan Mattson

    • Leisure
    • 4.8 • 88 Ratings

This podcast is 110% dedicated to celebrating the art, craft, history, tradition and romance of wooden boats around the world.

Season 1 will include all 217 episodes I recorded (and previously published) between 2011 and 2018.

    HOWB 096 – Interview | Betsy Davis, Executive Director of Center for Wooden Boats, Seattle, WA - 07.18.13

    HOWB 096 – Interview | Betsy Davis, Executive Director of Center for Wooden Boats, Seattle, WA - 07.18.13

    Today’s podcast is an interview with Betsy Davis, Executive Director of The Center for Wooden Boats (CWB) in Seattle, WA. I chatted with Davis while she was sitting on her classic 1914 yacht Glory Be during the 37th annual Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival. We had a great time talking about CWB, the Glory Be, and other fun stuff.

    Betsy spent her formidable years on Mercer Island and enjoyed getting out on canoes and row boats on Lake Washington. After working in the hi-tech industry, becoming a board member at CWB, and purchasing Glory Be in 1997, Betsy took some time to reflect on the next step in her life journey. That process landed her in the 2 year Marine Carpentry Program at Seattle Central Community College.

    In January of 2002 while attending the Marine Carpentry Program, fire struck the Seattle Yacht Club where Glory Be was moored and she burned and sank. Three weeks later, her wreckage was pulled out of the water and she miraculously floated just like a boat should. One of Betsy’s Marine Carpentry instructions witnessed that phenomenon, and offered to Davis that if she would pay for the materials, the Marine Carpentry school would restore Glory Be.

    Over the next 2 years, she was lovingly and painstakingly restored to her former glory, and looks as beautiful today as she did when she was launched in 1914 from the Taylor-Grandy yard on Vashon Island, WA. And in 2003, Betsy became the Executive Director of CWB.

    • 44 min
    HOWB 095 – Interview | George Fisher, Owner of Swedish 1937 – 30ʹ Square Meter Wooden Sailboat - 07.11.13

    HOWB 095 – Interview | George Fisher, Owner of Swedish 1937 – 30ʹ Square Meter Wooden Sailboat - 07.11.13

    Today’s podcast is an interview with George Fisher whom I met at the 2013 Bainbridge Island Wooden Boat Festival while he was relaxing on his sleek 1937 Swedish sailing vessel Hansina. We had a great time talking shop and recorded a really fun interview.

    When George was 11, his dad came home and announced to the family he had purchased a “30 Square Meter” boat. This was a complete surprise as George’s family had done very little boating and none of the family even knew what a 30 Square Meter boat was. George sailed with his family on the boat on Long Island Sound, and at the age of 14, he took her out by himself without his parents knowledge (or permission). He fell in love with the boat and got out on her as much as possible.

    For 20 plus years after college, George didn’t do any boating to speak of, but continued to research and collect information about 30 Square Meter boats all over the world. While flying on a business trip in 2005, he spotted a 30 Square Meter boat for sale at Lake Huron. When he came home and told his wife about the Lake Huron boat, she shocked George and said “you should buy it”. George flew to Lake Huron, bought the boat, hauled her home, renamed her “Hansina“, and the rest is history.

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    You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

    Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

    PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

    • 44 min
    HOWB 094 – Interview | Pat Lown, Director of Research at WoodenBoat Publications, Inc. - 07.04.13

    HOWB 094 – Interview | Pat Lown, Director of Research at WoodenBoat Publications, Inc. - 07.04.13

    Today’s podcast is an interview with Pat Lown who has been at WoodenBoat Publications Inc. since 1993 and is currently the Director of Research.

    Pat grew up in Kingston, New York near the Hudson River. Her family did not go boating, but as a youth she was introduced to boating when she attended a YMCA day camp where she had a great time paddling and rowing the canoes and rowboats there.

    Growing up in Kingston, Pat was aware of the Hudson River sloop Clearwater (America’s Environmental Flagship) and the one to two week volunteer stints they offered. Pat volunteered after graduating high school in 1975 and fell in love with the boat and the water. She continued to volunteer frequently that summer and traveled to Stonington, ME in January 1976 to help with the restoration of the Clearwater at Billings Diesel and Marine on Deer Isle. Lown had planned to stay 2 weeks, but was so taken by Maine that she settled there where she lives to this day.

    ------------------------------------

    You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

    Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

    PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

    • 55 min
    HOWB 093 – Interview | Father & Son Team Build SCAMP – Arlie and Todd Blankenship - 06.27.13

    HOWB 093 – Interview | Father & Son Team Build SCAMP – Arlie and Todd Blankenship - 06.27.13

    Today’s podcast is an interview with Todd Blankenship and his father Arlie Blankenship. Arlie grew up in Port Townsend, WA fishing with a bamboo pole and hand reel in a 12ʹ wooden boat his dad made. When Todd was a teenager in Hawaii, he and Arlie built an Eight Ball sailing dinghy together and took sailing lessons. From that time on, they were hooked on sailing and owned several boats including a Hobie Cat.

    At the September 2011 Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend, WA Todd & Arlie laid eyes on the SCAMP #1 boat for the first time. Arlie thought “it was ugly”, but Todd liked the fact that it was a seaworthy and stable boat. They purchased the plans that day and two weeks later ordered the Okoume plywood SCAMP kit from Small Craft Advisor Magazine. They completed “Humu” in August 2012 just in time for the Wooden Boat Festival. And Todd made the sail himself after taking a sailmaking class from Sean Rankins.

    Todd and Arlie sail Humu (Humu is the State Fish of Hawaii) around Puget Sound every chance they get, and love every minute of the SCAMP experience!

    ------------------------------------

    You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

    Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

    PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

    • 40 min
    HOWB 092 – Interview | Matt Murphy Editor Wooden Boat Magazine – Personal History & Preview of 2013 Wooden Boat Show Mystic, CT - 06.20.13

    HOWB 092 – Interview | Matt Murphy Editor Wooden Boat Magazine – Personal History & Preview of 2013 Wooden Boat Show Mystic, CT - 06.20.13

    Today’s podcast is an interview with Matt Murphy. Matt is the editor of Wooden Boat Magazine in Brooklin ME where he has worked since 1992.

    Matt grew up in Salem, MA “playing in boats during the summers while dreaming about them in the winters”. He cut his mariner teeth sailing one design sloops such as the Rhodes 19, Etchells 22, and Town Class sloop around the Marblehead area of Massachusetts. At the age of 14 he picked up his first Wooden Boat Magazine and became totally hooked on wooden boats.

    Murphy built his first wooden boat – a 22ʹ King Fisher rowing shell – while in college, then he built a strip planked kayak, a dinghy, and a peapod, and the list continues to grow! In early 1992 Matt responded to an ad in Wooden Boat Magazine for an associate editor , was hired, and has loved his “job” ever since, including traveling around the world to research, write about, and photograph wooden boats.

    ------------------------------------

    You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

    Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

    PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

    • 56 min
    HOWB 091 – Interviews | Bruce Blatchley – Instructor; Steve Stanton – Student: NW School of Wooden Boatbuilding - 06.13.13

    HOWB 091 – Interviews | Bruce Blatchley – Instructor; Steve Stanton – Student: NW School of Wooden Boatbuilding - 06.13.13

    Today’s podcast contains two interviews from the NW School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, WA. The first interview is with Steve Stanton. Steve is a retired law enforcement officer from Colorado and is a student this year at the School. Hear Steve share his insights about the School and some of the fun things he is learning.

    The second interview is with Bruce Blatchley, Contemporary Instructor at the School. Bruce and I talk about the progress of the 62ʹ day sailor “Sliver”, cold molded boat building, the School’s Calkins Bartender boat build, Bruce’s wooden surf board build, and other fun stuff. You can find out more about Bruce’s personal history in the previous interview I did with Bruce – HOWB022.

    ------------------------------------

    You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

    Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

    PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.

    • 44 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
88 Ratings

88 Ratings

Nate Tyson ,

Hooked on Hooked on Wooden Boats!

Been listening to episodes of HOWB back to back... to back... to back... Thanks, Dan, for a great podcast! The only thing I’m not looking forward to is being caught up and having to limit myself to one episode a week!

crisarc ,

Love this podcast!

Recently my wife gave birth to our first child, a wonderful little boy. I grew up sailing and now am just so excited to be able to take him out on the water in the future. It has been on my mind and l started searching for a podcast that equaled my passion for getting out on the water and about building boats. This is it! Dan has an amazing passion for wooden boats, and the world is a better place because he decided to share it. There are amazing stories of adventure, boat building, history, and so much more. What I love most is hearing the stories and passions of the people he interviews. Hope you are enjoying a much deserved break, Dan. Looking forward to future podcasts!

Dinhski ,

Excellent info and entertaining even if you’re not a Wooden Boat expert

I’m getting ready to move to Seattle soon, and this podcast has been an incredible resource for me because I don’t know how to sail (yet), but through the podcast I’ve been able to learn MUCH more about the SCAMP Sailboat and other helpful resources for starting my sailing journey! Glad you’re back, Dan!

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