TARGET 121003

BUILDING A NEW ANCIENT SHIP

The skeleton
A modern ancient ship

What if you wanted to buy a new boat? But not just an ordinary boat. What if you wanted to buy a hand crafted exact replica of an ancient sailing craft? The fact is that in this day and age of mass production and fewer and fewer artisans, it is amazingly difficult to find a place where you could get such a boat. But there is a place in Petrozavodsk, in the Karelia region of Russia where a group of proud artisans formed a company called Varyag Boatbuilders, where creating hand-made boats is all they do.

The problem
But where do you get all those parts?

Obviously, there is no store where you can go out and buy the parts for a hand-made ancient craft. This is not like putting a kit of mass-produced pieces together and saying that you made it. No, every part of the boat has to be designed, cut, shaped, and fit into every other part by hand. That is what being an artisan is all about.

Plans
More plans
Plans

So, they search through their own archives and through museum documents to find the plans for the ship their customer has ordered. But those plans are all two-dimensional. They must then - in their minds and on paper - turn the 2D plans into a three dimensional vision. Where does each piece connect? How does it bend in such a way as to make all the pieces fit together? If they don't have those questions answered, they can only hope that the boat will not sink once it is put into the water.

So these expert artisans develop a 3D concept of the ship they are to build. They often have to convert all the measurements in order to resize the ship, and sometimes, when measureing from ancient documents, have to convert from measuring systems not used in centuries. All this must be done before they are ready to cut a single one of the hundreds - sometimes thousands - of pieces needed for the ship.

So the construction begins
So the construction begins
Each piece has its own place to go on the ship
Each piece has its own place to go on the ship
And has to be cut and curved to fit in its own exact spot
And has to be cut and curved to fit in its own exact spot
The larger pieces have to be exactly measured and shaped
The larger pieces have to be exactly measured and shaped
And the master carver must start on the masthead
And the master carver must start on the masthead

They cut each piece of wood from the best lumber, curve each spar into its proper shape, hand-carve the masthead, and put the pieces together according to sometimes ancient boat-building plans.

Slowly, the ship begins to take shape.
The ship slowly begins to take shape.
The keel is unites it.
The keel (bottom) forms the ship's basic shape
The hull is built around the superstructure
The hull is built around the superstructure
The interior and decking are built inside
The interior sections, lower and upper decking are built inside.
The mechanical parts are built and installed
All mechanical parts are hand-built and installed.
The special trim is selected
The decorative trim is selected
The name plates are hand-carved
The name plates are hand carved
The finishing touches are accomplished
The metal work, waterproofing, varnishing and finishing is accomplished.
And the masthead is mounted to the ship
And the rigging and masthead are attached.

But before the ship is delivered to the customer, well, of course, the artisans have to take it for a spin around the ocean - just make sure it is seaworthy.... of course.

Taking it for a spin
Taking it for a spin
Taking it for a spin
And bully the other sea traffic
And like the ancient vikings, bully and strike fear into the other sea traffic.

There is no other place like this in Russia, and in fact, few like it in the rest of the world. They make other boats and ships as well, but it is with the newly made ancient ones that the master artisans of Varyag Boatbuilders really show what they love to do, and can do so well.

NOTE: Technical Data for the advanced viewers:
Length overall (LOA) 15.0 m.
Beam overall (BOA) 4.1 m.
Draught 0.9 m.
Displacement 10.0 t.
Engine power 71 hp.
Speed under engine 8 knots
Sail area 48.0 m2
Places for sleeping 11 pers.
Passengers 30 pers.
Fuel tank 390 l.
Water tank 400 l.

FEEDBACK MAP

Feedback Map

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pictures and videos can be found at the following web sites:

Varyag Shipbuilders
Varyag's photo gallery
English Russia