About HarbourCraft Co.

What This Site Covers

HarbourCraft Co. documents wooden boat construction methods, heritage boat yards, and coastal craft traditions as they exist and have existed in Canada. The focus is on the practical and historical dimensions of the subject — construction techniques, regional traditions, specific yards and their records, and the materials used in Canadian building contexts.

The site is oriented toward people who want factual background: how a particular construction method works, what distinguishes one regional tradition from another, what remains of historical boat-building industries in places like Lunenburg or Cowichan Bay. The articles are written to be informative rather than instructional — they describe rather than direct.

Coverage Areas

The site covers wooden boat building and coastal craft traditions across Canada, with particular attention to:

• Atlantic Canada — Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island, where dory construction, schooner building, and fishing-vessel heritage are concentrated
• British Columbia — the Pacific coast and interior, where cedar canoe traditions (both Indigenous and strip-plank) and classic wooden boat preservation are active
• Construction methods — carvel planking, lapstrake, strip planking, and the materials associated with each in Canadian contexts
• Heritage organisations — yards, maritime museums, and community programmes that maintain working knowledge of the subject

About the Organisation

HarbourCraft Co. is based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The town has been associated with wooden boat building since the eighteenth century, and the concentration of maritime heritage resources there — the Dory Shop, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic documentation, the Bluenose legacy, and the continuing presence of working wooden vessels — makes it a practical base for the kind of reference work this site attempts.

Contact

For questions about specific content, corrections to factual information, or general enquiries, email info@harborcraftco.org or use the contact form on the homepage. Response time is typically two business days.

Last updated: May 4, 2026