Tag Archives: Ilwaco Boatyard
Boat fire sends fishermen scrambling
His boat catching fire wasn’t the hot start to the commercial fishing season Jerry Matzen III was hoping for, but the 34-year-old Ilwaco fisherman was glad his boat was saved from the flames to fish another day. Matzen’s boat was already billowing smoke from the port side when Ilwaco Volunteer Fire Department arrived at about 8 a.m. Friday, May 1 to the Ilwaco Boatyard. Within minutes the fire crew doused the flames and cut out a charred chunk of wood siding to prevent the fire from spreading further. The burnt section was about 3 feet long and a foot tall. Fortunately it was above the waterline and in a straight spot before the curve of the stern, making for a less complicated repair with no structural damage, Matzen said. Matzen bought the boat in early January, his first as the sole owner. “It’s where my crab money went, to starting my own business.” 6 photos, >click to read< 17:04
Old boats live to float
When I was growing up 200 miles from the ocean, my strongest memory of the coast was a rainy spring break when we came down to the beach. I remember walking around the Ilwaco boatyard looking at the old trawlers and dreaming. Out of the water, ships loom over you, their paint perhaps chipping and their brightwork weathered, but still they somehow promise adventure. The ragged bones of old ships are like kneeling giants above you. They seem full of stored kinetic energy, balanced impossibly on wood blocks and spindly jack stands. >click to read< 13:20
If hulls could talk: A summer of stories from the Ilwaco Boatyard
Earl Soule, 71, considers “re-corking,” or recaulking, a boat a lost art that requires a special touch. “The strength of a wooden boat is the seams,” Soule said. “Everybody thinks it’s the frame, but it’s the caulking. Caulking makes the whole boat tight.” Much of Soule’s work is done by sound and touch, a rare skill he’s cultivated over decades of working on wooden boats. “It’s all by feel,” Soule said in between swings of his mallet. “I can tell what it’s doing all the time because I can feel it.” Soule was helping Florian Mumford replace 12 ribs underneath the planks of Mumford’s 1953 wooden boat, ahead of the black cod season. He said he relies on the boatyard for haul out and repairs at least twice a year. photo’s, click here to read the story 09:08
