Norwegian Boat Designs

It will take me some time to build this page - until then here is a glimpse of the shape of the Norwegian Double Ender I have designed based upon careful research as to the actual shape of the hull itself....which, incidentally is very fine ended...canoe like, that is to say...and possesses a wine glass shape underbody, which means ease of motion in a seaway, or a 'seakindly' shape.

Above is the forward end, bow section, of a 20 foot faithful copy of the boats you will see below this lines plan here. These "lines" are enough for an experienced boat builder to build the boat - with nothing else needed. The lines are drawn life size...and from these, the "End View" reveals the mold sections for the hull. From these life sized drawings of the end sections, you make molds from wooden planks, and set them up at precisely spaced intervals, perfectly plumb and parallel to each other. Then you divide each mold section into, say, ten equal parts. Then you cut notches at those ten intervals, and let in a "stringer" of adequate dimension to flex easily, yet maintain a "FAIR CURVE"...no kinks or hollows as you sight from the end along its entire length. Once you have all these mold sections and stringers covering the hull, you then  bend 1/4" thick planks from keel to sheer clamp in a diagonal manner. After all the boat is covered in this way, both sides, you then begin anew with the second layer, and create two layers of planks each at nearly a 45 to 65 degree degree angle to one another. No glue is applied until all two layers are complete. Then removing one plank at a time from the top layer, you apply epoxy to both the underneath plank  area, and the removed plank, and replace it...this time using numerous staples, with electric staple gun, adequate to hold it hard and flat to the plank underneath.These instructions, are, of course, severely truncated. I will,later, be providing lots of images to explain the above more explicitly. This explanation is , in a nutshell, a condensation of an entire book on the subject.

Above , here, notice how easily a quite large Norsk Boat is rowed, in spite of the fact that it weighs a good half ton. This photo was taken by me while at Kristiansund Harbor on the Western Coast of Norway, 2002.

The Fjords of Norway, which are all up and down the coast, and go some 80 miles inland from the sea...are surrounded by high mountains on each side...and are thus in "wind shadow" much of the time. Being able to drive a boat with oars has always been of critical and utmost importance to the Norwegians. Meaning, here is a hull form that will go fast under sail, or with a modest amount of internal combustion engine.

Here is a better look up close, and shows off the very fine shape of the hull. It should be apparent that it would cut through some fierce surf...or glide freely through calm water. The 'flare' of the sides should give you a hint of its very high initial stability. This hull form was in use for well over 2,000 years and for good reason. It is only with the invention of the internal combustion engine that hull form"..didn't matter" !! It also is not well known that such "motor yachts" go down about 200 a year. The boating industry doesn't want you to know that. They want to keep you thinking that a "travel trailer" on the water is what you want...the bigger the better, the more costly the better.

Now you can "go along with the crowd to Davey Jones Locker"...or you can build a boat that is a real seafaring man's boat, and avoid making your wife a widow and your children orphans...with a mean step father sleeping with your "ex'.

(wink ) 

And now here are a couple of motor driven "Double Enders" of Norway. I once made the remark , after visiting Norway, that you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a Norwegian double ender". Most of them ARE.

Brief Description

This is your author, Frank Elliott, in Norway, studying the boats and construction methods. This example is, of course, an antique, set up on display. The reason it is on display so very far from the nearest town, is that this region was well known by the Norsk boat builders as the best source for huge, tall, straight Norwegian pines. The planks were "Pit Sawn"...one fellow in the pit on one end of the large cross cut saw, and one fellow on top of the log - each man pushing and pulling the saw. In this manner, very very wide planks were sawn out. A famous design in Norway is called the "femkeiping"...or "five planks". That is to say only five planks for each side of the boat.

Notice the "Gunwhales", or "gunn'ls", and the verticalwooden pins. These are called "Thole Pins". There is much wear between the pair of  pins. With a lashing to the oar, and looped over the pins, it serves as an aid in keeping the oar in place, and from being lost overboard. I used this method on my runabout with the shallop rig.

Images can be used, but it is customary to ask permission first.