Wooden Boatbuilding, Boat Design, Navigation, and Small Boat Training Programs in Sausalito, California
Established in 1996 and located in Sausalito, California, The Arques School is a school dedicated to teaching the art of traditional wooden boatbuilding. It offers a full-year apprenticeship program and short courses in traditional wooden boatmaking and associated crafts.
The Arques School teaches adults all aspects of traditional wooden boatbuilding, including design and lofting, timber harvesting, bronze casting, and all of the techniques of tool use and methods of plank-on-frame boatbuilding.
Traditional wooden boatbuilding is a beautiful and complex woodcraft that is based upon centuries of traditional boat design, the related art of lofting boat lines to full size, and an in-depth understanding of various construction methods.
Traditional boatbuilding depends on the use of hand-tools. After learning about tool sharpening and care, students cultivate the long-term mastery of their tool skills.
Training Programs
Wooden Boatbuilding Programs
- Advanced Class in Traditional Wooden Boatbuilding: This is class is for experienced woodworkers who want to broaden their knowledge of classical wooden boat design, lofting, and traditional plank-on-frame boatbuilding with an emphasis on hand-tools. This is an ongoing class, Mondays and Thursdays from 9am to noon. The school is now working on the latest historical project, the 1924 sloop Dolphin.
- Finishing The Harbor Tug - Donlon Arques: The tugboat project will merge with the basic woodworking class offered on this website as the Saturday Class.
- Boat Design: This is an ongoing class offering in-depth instruction in traditional sailboat and yacht design. Students learn a simple but sophisticated traditional approach for developing seaworthy and efficient boat designs, and to develop these through lines drawings. Each student designs and prepares the lines drawings for a small boat.
- All-Day Saturday Class: From 9am to 4pm every Saturday except holidays, the school offers training in the proper use of hand tools necessary for traditional woodworking and wooden boatbuilding. The current project is the building of a curved Chamberlain Skiff.
Other Programs
- Free Celestial Navigation Class: The school is currently teaching traditional celestial navigation (using the sextant and 249 tables).
- Classic Small Boats on The Bay: Limited to 2 passengers, all participants must have some sailing experience, and must have read and signed the liability release forms before going out on Arques School boats.
LAST UPDATED ON Sep 13, 2023