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Programming

Gig Harbor BoatShop programs and workshops include:

  • Build a Historic Thunderbird/Apprentice-for-a-Day: a program centered on the building of a Thunderbird sailboat, the first of which was built at the Eddon Boatyard half a century ago. The participant joins in the boat-building process at the stage of T-Bird completion on the day they chose to attend.
  • Family Boat-building: a program that provides participants a Monk Double Knuckle Pram when completed. A GHB instructor guides family members or a small group through the building of an 8-foot Monk-designed pram.
  • Oar Making Workshop: a program designed to deliver basic boat-building skills and a set of spruce oars.
  • Model Boat-building: participants lay out and build functional scale models of an Ocean Racing Deep "Vee" power boat or a replica of a Thunderbird Sailboat.
  • The Shipwright's Toolbox: a workshop that familiarizes the participants with a boatbuilder's tool, tool handling and care.
Gig Harbor BoatShop Boat Restoration and Repair Programs include:
  • Small-Craft On-the-Water Skill Programs
    Learn to sail, row and paddle in small-craft of the Northwest. GHB develops programming to get people on-the-water where they learn skills necessary to safely enjoy a variety of small-craft use.
  • Maritime Skills Workshops
    These programs introduce and refine the participant's maritime skills. Workshops might include Navigating the Inside Passage, Marlinspike Seamanship, USCG Licensing, Power Vessel Handling and Marine Photography.
  • Vessel Documentation Projects
    Documentation and archive boatyard restoration work is provided on culturally significant and historic vessels and all phases of the development, history and building of historic replica vessels built by the GHB at the Eddon Boatyard. Information is archived at the boatyard and distributed to other maritime libraries around the country.
  • Voyaging the Inside Passage to Alaska
    Larger historic vessels are used as a narrative stage and learning center to teach maritime skills during voyages to Alaska and points in between.
  • Public Launchings of New and Restored Vessels
    On completion of new vessel construction or vessel restoration projects, GHB sponsors Public Launching Celebrations. The time-honored maritime tradition surrounding a Vessel Christening is resurrected for the community.
  • Public Skill Demonstrations
    GHB and Coastal Heritage Alliance provides shipwright and maritime skills demonstrations for existing community events such as the Maritime Gig Festival, Gig Harbor Summer Arts Festival, Gig Harbor Folk Festival, and the Antique Boat Show.
  • Small-Craft Field Trip Programs for Youth
    Field trip programs, several days in duration, are designed to teach area youth local maritime history, ecology of the South Sound marine environment, small-craft skills and seamanship.
  • School District Outreach Programs
    Elementary School Youth: Programs designed to give younger students a view of the working waterfront such as Eddon Boatyard Field Trips, and Watching Commercial Fishing in Colvos Passage.
    Junior High and High School Youth: Programs configured to interface with existing secondary class schedules that will allow hands-on maritime skills education opportunities such as the Apprentice-for-a-Day Programs.
  • Volunteer and Docent Programs
    Recruit and train volunteers and docents to provide interpretive boatyard tours and help provide stewdship and maintenance at the historic Eddon Boatyard.