After an intense seven-week building bee, Larry Westlake's dream of having an authentic handliner boat has come true. Westlake said the scheme to build a handliner replica has grown in his head for four years.
"I was eager to actually build one in the traditional manner," he said.
He and friend Burtt Fidler from Port Moody "began to cook up" a plan to construct the heritage boat a year and a half ago."Then I presented the idea to the [Sunshine Coast] museum and [manager/curator] Bee Jackson was committed to the idea immediately. Her attitude was 'OK, how do we pull this off?'" Westlake said.
After a grant from the Spirit of B.C. and generous support from local organizations and businesses, including a donation from The Traditional Small Craft Association of Connecticut, the dream began to take form.
Westlake is thrilled with the interest and support he's had on the project. He hopes other communities in the Georgia Strait will build their own handliners. The boats were originally used in the early part of the 20th century. The majority were designed and built between 1900 and 1939. Of the many hundreds estimated used between Alaska and Oregon, only a small handful still exist. Of these many are owned by people on the Sunshine Coast. Handliners are double-ended row-boats roughly 15 feet long. They allowed a fisher to single-handedly row the boat while trolling or jigging for salmon. They also allowed a man to earn a living during the Dirty Thirties. Westlake laughs that Hubert Evans, a respected Canadian author who showed others how to build the boats, earned the wrath of one government official. The government agent was responsible for putting men on welfare to work on various schemes. When the men had their own boats and could earn a livelihood, they no longer were a source of cheap labour.
One of the challenges Westlake ran into when he decided to replicate the handliners of old was the lack of original plans. He managed to build the boat by copying a handliner built by Evans. That boat is on display at the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives in Gibsons.
Westlake's boat was built of authentic material wherever possible. The ribs and longitudinal structure are of yellow cedar. The planking, thwarts and knees are of red cedar, and the keels and gunnels are Douglas fir.
"It would have been nice to have more time. It needed to be a summer project," Westlake said. "It takes forever to get the funding in place, so it was question of do it in a hurry or leave it to next summer. I'm naturally impatient, so it was build it now."
Indeed, at the private launch on July 25, the black trim on the boat was still tacky. Westlake and other small craft enthusiasts will be taking the handliner and other craft down the Coast beginning in Gibsons at 9 a.m. on Saturday, July 30, and ending in Lund on Aug. 7. There will be ample opportunities to view this stellar example of an important part of the Coast's history. One of the best chances will be on July 31 when the boat will be on display in Hackett Park at the Sechelt Family Arts Festival.
While at the park Westlake will get a gift basket including provisions and items such as salve from the Rotary Club of the Sunshine Coast. And while historically, the fisher would have had everything he needed to survive for about five days on the water, with the schedule of the current trip that's unnecessary. And fortunately for this year's boaters, it won't be five days until they have a change of clothing.
For a complete schedule of the trip, call the museum at 604-886-8232.
