Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival 2026

There is an increasing interest in powering boats with electricity but the technology of electric power is quite different from that of gas or diesel. Most boat builders and manufacturers are not yet capable of providing an “off the shelf” electric boat or do the conversion.  This presentation provides a framework for the planning that needs to be done for a conversion when doing it yourself.  The main topics are:Power and Energy NeedsSpace Needed Voltage, BatteriesMotors  and Motor ControllersSwitches and MonitoringRecharging

Come learn more about the well beloved Farrells, their artistic and intangible legacy, and how it means to be renewed today. Be prepared for soulful storytelling, restorations of a junk rig, and some shared appreciation for the waters we dwell in.

Allen and Sharie Farrell were shipwrights, cruisers, artists and the kind folk that built and lived aboard China Cloud-a 40’ wooden jink rig. Today, this boat is tended to by their great great grand niece Eden Murray. Although Eden never got to meet the Farrells, their stories coloured her own life on the water growing up. She is now an artist and facilitator living between Victoria and Quadra island where the boat perches on the beach of Heriot Bay. After 4 years of living aboard part time and finding inspiration, freedom, and home in the muse that is this wooden junk rig vessel, she is now embarking on the adventure of restoring the boat in community hands and hosting residencies and nature immersions aboard for young people (and young at hearts alike!). She will tell us the story of how China Cloud came into her hands, how these people lived on the water, and her hopes for the exciting project that is this heritage relic and its living legacy. Be prepared for gorgeous images of the vessel's three red fans, local cruising episodes, and multiple forms of the question that keeps her up at night under the stars: How can stories drenched in folk-esq seafaring contribute to a more compassionate world? And how do we help steward this animist world from the water, our small abodes among other floating creatures contributing to more meaning and trust within our inner and outer ecologies. Follow up the conversation with Eden and her crew aboard at the boat show all weekend.

How might we best support and provide long-term stewardship to our wonderfully disparate wooden boats and the skills it takes to preserve and maintain them?  The Dolphin Swimming & Boating Foundation has a way with the renowned Dolphin wooden rowboat fleet that plies the San Francisco Bay waters daily; San Francisco Master Mariners  is an organization whose members are the boats, individually-owned wooden sailboats ,largely built before December 1941  and whose main events are the annual Memorial Day Regatta and the mid-June Wooden Boat Show at the Corinthian Yacht Club.  Diane, who serves as President of the Dolphin Foundation and Membership Director of the Master Mariners,  will regale us with how they're doing what they do and the challenges they are facing, and asks that you bring what you're doing so we can get better, together,  at this extraordinary, complex, time-sensitive, quirky, highly-rewarding  work.

A voyage through the process of designing a small long range micro-cruiser.

This presentation will focus on the unique approach used to restore the 1925 purse seiner Shenandoah with the intention of being a permanent indoor exhibition. The restoration plan included restoring the two sides of the vessel to different eras while  blending conservation and restoration techniques with the goal of showing the vessels change over time story in a way that would inspire curiosity and learning. The presentation will also incorporate blending the many levels of details required to blend story and object in creating a cohesive exhibit and continuity between the vessel restoration, interpretive plan and greater maritime gallery as a whole.

Copper-based bottom paint is facing increasing regulation—but what does that mean for boaters? Get up to date on current laws, emerging alternatives, and what’s really changing in the world of marine coatings.Non-copper - it's the law! Or is it? Let's get up to date on the latest history, regulations, and developments as we march forward to a cleaner, more innovative future in controlling marine fouling.

The presentation will feature ideas on keeping your boat dry, as well as other tricks we have learned living aboard our boat. You will learn fun facts and easy logical ways to keep your boat clean and dry as well as other fun facts.

A presentation and panel discussion about the development of modern solar boating and exciting projects both planned and currently under construction. Panelists include solar-electric boat designers, builders, and owners with thousands of miles of solar powered cruising. 
Captain Alex Borton grew up with an old wooden sailfish. He taught sailing on dinghies and keelboats, and volunteered on tall ships. He has journeyed in small engineless craft in Washington, Baja and Patagonia. In 2021 Alex talked his Dad into joining him and Wayward Sun on the first 100% solar cruise through the Inside Passage to Glacier Bay. Their company, Solar Sal Boats, built the first 100% Solar USCG Inspected passenger vessel, Solaris, which has been giving tours on the Hudson river for the past 7 years. Their 24' production model is available in stock, and their most versatile cruiser yet, the Townsend 34, is currently under construction in Port Townsend.