The Spaulding Wooden Boat Center is one of the last remaining wooden boat yards on the West Coast. Entering this “cathedral of wooden boats” (SF Chronicle) is like stepping back in time. The filtered light, the sawdust and wood chips on the floor, the smell of paint and varnish and the rows of hand tools tell you that this is where boats are still being built the traditional way, with skilled shipwrights using natural materials.
The center was built on the Sausalito waterfront in 1951 by Myron Spaulding, concert violinist, sailor, sailboat racer, yacht designer and builder and a legend on San Francisco Bay. Today, we're a working wooden boatyard and nonprofit maritime museum.
Wooden boats that are works of art come and go all day long from the center’s docks. The sounds, sights and textures here are real. It is a center of activity and a living embodiment of a time when wooden boats of all types were sailed and rowed on San Francisco Bay.
If you love boats, the sea or maritime history, get involved in the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center.
