VENDIA bends also in the hands of beginners

Many people dream of building an own wooden boat but many of us wonder the lack of experience. Building a wooden boat is fine handicraft but at the same time it is demanding work, so different kind of boatbuilding courses are excellent places for the beginners to build the first wooden boat. For example in Finland the local adult education centres arrange boatbuilding courses for the beginners. There is a professional teacher on the course who teaches the boatbuilding step by step. Also the materials and drawings are arranged on behalf of the course so it is easy to start the boatbuilding. And what’s more, at the end of the course the hard work is rewarded with a self-made wooden boat.

Many boatbuilding courses have taken VENDIA marine plank as a material for their courses, so we have had the possibility to follow the progress of these courses and completion the boats. In July 2014 we wrote about the boatbuilding course held in Sorsakoski, Finland. On February-March there was another boatbuilding course in Sorsakoski where VENDIA was used as a material. VENDIA marine plank has been chosen as a material for a number of boatbuilding courses because for the beginners VENDIA is pleasant to work with. Because of the structure VENDIA marine plank bends regularly and it doesn’t crack. Also the shaving and jointing are easier for the beginners because VENDIA’s face veneer is always thicker than the core veneers. Another feature that helps working the joints is another lengthwise veneer below the face veneer. Due to these features VENDIA has received a positive response also from the rookie boatbuilders.

Boatbuilding courses for beginners have been very popular in Finland and there are more people willing to participate on the courses than there are courses available. If your dream is to build your own boat but there is no such a course in your place, gather a group of friends and ask for example your local adult education centre to organize a boatbuilding course. Experiences so far have shown that a teacher, materials and place are easy to arrange with a little effort.

The course participants from left Markku Alaraudanjoki, Kari Luostarinen, Markku Holopainen, Eerik Oresmaa, Seppo Viinikainen, Einari Oresmaa, Heikki Hiltunen, Raimo Voutilainen and Ilmo Koivisto.

Our previous posts about boatbuilding courses can be found from here and here.