HOWB 047 – Sean Koomen, Instructor NW School of Wooden Boat Building - Interview - 08.09.12

This past week I interviewed Sean Koomen, instructor at the NW School of Wooden Boat Building. Sean grew up in Minnesota. At the age of 14 he discovered one of Dynamite Payson’s books at the library, and was soon falling trees for lumber to satisfy his boat building curiosity. Fast forward to college and Sean was in serious study mode to become a concert cellist. Spending 5 hours a day practicing was getting to be a little much, so Sean applied for a grant to start his own wooden boat building business. With grant money in hand, Sean launched Red Barn Boats where he built and sold 4 small wooden boats while in college.

Sean knew his boat building skills needed some honing, so in 2003 he attended the NW School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Hadlock, WA and graduated 9 months later. From there it was on to wooden boat gigs in California (Rutherford’s Boatshop) and Maine (Brooklin Boatyard), a couple other stops, and then back to Port Hadlock where he became an instructor this year. Sean has worked on some fun projects over the years including a wooden 135’ steam yacht built in 1901, a fan tail wooden yacht, a 22’ Shorebird Sloop, and other cool stuff.

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You can contact me at [email protected] to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.