Laughing Loon Boat Building Classes
Starting in January 2010 Laughing Loon will offer the following wood strip boat building classes
taught by Rob Macks, the owner/designer/builder at Laughing Loon.Weekend Workshops
Week Long Workshops (Dates to be announced)
Special Workshops can be arranged by small groups
Individual Lessons will also be available
Classes are open to everyone!
Novice and experienced builders alike, will learn and have fun.
Weekend Workshops
Several short, focused classes are offered each month, so you can see and learn strip building techniques first hand, in a weekend.
Classes will be small. At least two Wee Robbie canoes will be under construction and construction will start on a new boat. The two day, 14 hours of classes, will be an overview of strip building with hands on work. Nearly finished canoes coming out of the class, may be bought by a class member for the cost of materials.
Weekend Workshops, start Saturday morning and end Sunday afternoon, to allow easy participation and convenient travel time.
Classes will cover all aspects of strip building, highlighting the special techniques Rob has developed to make strip building easier. Participants will work on several boats in different stages of construction. Areas covered will include:
Selecting wood and cutting strips
Strongback and station set-up
Stripping without bead and cove.
Stapleless stripping
Hot glue use and tricks
Sanding
Working with epoxy and glassing
Coaming construction
Varnishing
Class size will be limited to 6 to 8 people. Class members may choose to focus instruction on areas of special interest.
Weekend Workshop Class cost is $250 per person.
Upon registration participants will recieve a copy of the Laughing Loon wood strip instruction book.
Classes are 14 hours, 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Saturday and 8:30 am to 3:30 pm Sunday. With an hour for lunch each day. Light lunch will be provided.
Week Long Workshops
Week Long Workshops are intensive building classes where participants work together to build a boat from start to finish.
What could be more fun?!! Make new friends and have the time of your life!
Learn by doing every step of strip building from strongback and station set-up, selecting wood and milling strips, stripping with and without staples, sanding, glassing and varnishing. Every aspect of strip building is covered in clear steps. Also learn shop safety and tool sharpening. You will learn skills to build any stripper canoe or kayak.
Class size will be limited to 6 to 8 people. Class members may choose to focus instruction on areas of special interest.
Weeklong Workshop Class cost is $1050 per person.
Upon registration participants will recieve a copy of the Laughing Loon wood strip instruction book.
Classes hours are, 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Monday thru Saturday and 8:30 am to 3:30 pm Sunday. With an hour for lunch each day. Light lunch will be provided.
Monday thru Sunday week long workshops will be offered twice a year.
Special Workshops
Do you have a small group 6 - 8 - people who would like to learn strip building?
Set-up your own class focusing on exactly the boat you wish to build or the techniques you wish to learn.
Special Workshops cost is $150 - per day per person.
Contact Laughing Loon to arrange a Special Workshop.
Upon registration participants will recieve a copy of the Laughing Loon wood strip instruction book.
Classes hours are, 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Monday thru Saturday and 8:30 am to 3:30 pm Sunday. With an hour for lunch each day. Light lunch will be provided.
Individual Lessons
Do you wish to learn strip building on a one to one basis? Do you have a specific area of strip building you'd like help with.
Then individual lessons are for you. Individual strip building lessons are available to suit your schedule.
Individual Lessons cost $35 an hour.
Contact Laughing Loon to arrange a individual lessons.
2010 Schedule
Weekend Workshops
September - Saturday 18 & Sunday 19
October - Saturday 9 & Sunday 10
Week Long Workshop 2010
July - Week long Class - Sunday 18th through Saturday 24th
Register early! Classes will not be run unless full enrollment is reached 45 days prior to the start of a class.
Twenty years ago Rob Macks pioneered a system to strip build true sea kayaks and has introduced many, now standard, techniques to strip building, such as heat gun strip bending, hot glue stapleless stripping and designs like the magnetic hatch cover. Rob was the first and still is, the only builder to offer strip built baidarka style kayaks.
Rob's wide ranging experience includes training as a sculptor, working as a professional woodworker and teaching as a college professor.
Rob has built over 70 boats. Rob's current strip building techniques have simplified and streamlined strip building into clear, straight forward, easy to learn steps.
In 1987 Rob first used the "Laughing Loon" name for the whitewater paddles he made for his own use.
In 1991 Rob established his boat building business, Laughing Loon Custom Canoes and Kayaks. He was the first to offer wood strip sea kayak plans and finished sea kayaks. His sea kayak plans and techniques have set the standard for builders since then.
Location
Classes take place in the Laughing Loon shop in Jefferson Maine.
Jefferson Maine is not far from the beautiful and famous Maine coast and amoung some of the many lakes of Maine.
An on site pond allows the option of test paddling boats, mother nature willing.
Please use the Google map below to find directions from your location to the
Laughing Loon shop at 344 Gardiner Rd. Jefferson, Maine
Accommodations
Clary Lake Bed and Breakfast, Rick and Linda Gallion, Jefferson Maine. 207-549-5961 Web site - Clary Lake B&B
Blueberry Hill Farm Bed and Breakfast, Joanne and Ellis, Jefferson, Maine. 207-549-7448 Web site - Blueberry Hill Farm
The Jefferson House Bed and Breakfast, Jim and Barbara O'Halleran, Jefferson Maine. 207-549-5768 Web site - Jefferson House
Sunset Cabins on Damarscotta Lake, Jefferson Maine, 207-549-3077 Web Site - Sunset Cabins
Mill Pond Inn Bed and Breakfast, Nobleboro, Maine. 207-563-8014 Web Site - Mill Pond Inn
Newcastle Inn, Newcastle, Maine. 207-563-5685 Web site - Newcastle Inn
Blue Skye Farm Bed and Breakfast, Waldoboro, Maine Web site - Blue Skye Farm
For more options please do a search on, "lodging near Jefferson Maine"
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