Lake Oswego
Boat Landing in Lake Oswego, OR. CWB’s Lake Oswego was probably docked at similar landings. Photograph courtesy of the Lake Oswego Public Library.
Boat Type
Location
Year Built
Beam
LOA (Length Overall)
Boat Plans
Project Sponsors
Website Link
Oral History
Boat Story
Small open wooden boats are often gems of grace and simplicity. They can offer eye pleasing features: sweep of sheer, curve of stem and wine glass transom. They are not cluttered with rigging, hardware and cabin trunks. The Lake Oswego boat fits the category of a sweet little boat. Its curves and proportions are delightful to see. And it’s delightful to row.
This boat was found in well worn shape in a boathouse at a small community, Lake Oswego, a suburb of Portland, Oregon. There was no information available about the designer or builder but it was an old boat of classic design and quality craftsmanship. In the late 1970s Frank Davis and Dick Wagner took its lines and Davis drew the plans.
A few years later a CWB workshop built a replica of the Lake Oswego skiff to be used as part of our livery fleet. A visitor immediately recognized it as a type his grandfather made in his shop in Portland. His grandfather told him a man came into his boat shop with a half model and asked to have it built. The boat based on the scale model was brought to the clients’ home on Lake Oswego. Soon thereafter other Lake Oswego residents ordered copies from the Portland shop. Apparently at one point there was a fleet of these skiffs on Lake Oswego. The original we have is the last survivor.
The planking is 3/8” red cedar lapstrake on 3/8” x ¾” steam bent white oak frames. The strakes were copper clench nailed to each other and copper riveted to the frames.
This is a double ender with fine sweeping water lines and modulated sheer. The stem is a tad higher than the stern. There is a slight hollow at the waterline entrance and stern. The waterline beam is 37 ½”. The keel is a flat ¾” plank, 1 ¾” at the bow and stern forefoot and swelling to 6” wide at midships.
The garboards fit into a rabbet made by the ¾” keelson above the keel plank. This garboard-to-keel connection is simpler than carving a rabbet into a vertical keel. It saves time and the flat keel allows the boat to sit upright on a beach or float.
The Lake Oswego skiff is a great example of a lightweight recreational rowing boat with classic lines and austere beauty.
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