Welcome
About
The Orkney Historic Boat Society (OHBS) was launched in 2013.
Our Vision: To preserve the boating history of Orkney for future generations.
Our Mission: To preserve historic boats and related traditional boat building skills and crafts. To collect preserve and communicate knowledge relating to boats built in Orkney or having contributed significantly to Orkney life and to further the education and knowledge of the public in relation to historical Orkney Boats, including establishing a boat museum and workshop.
The society is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) with Charity Number SC044884.
This website
Here the society retains information of interest in the long term. This includes information of preserved boats and their equipment. Latest News and Event information is distributed via the society Facebook page.
The society is seeking information on potential boats for gifting towards restoration/preservation and display in the established Boat Museum. To ensure the right boats are selected for potential work and showcasing, an acquisition process has been developed. Please click on this link to download the OHBS Boat Acquisition Form. This form should be completed and then sent to the OHBS for assessment.
Get Involved
You don’t have to be an expert in research or renovation to join the Society. We welcome members who share our belief in the importance of preserving and promoting Orkney’s nautical heritage and traditions. Obviously experience in boat building or renovation would be welcome but we also need folk who are happy cleaning, painting and varnishing.
A lot can be learnt about working with wood and jobs can range from transporting water, wood, coffee and tools right up to actual renovation tasks. If you want to give it a go, contact us. You are welcome to come along for one or two sessions to see if you like it, but be warned, you might end up hooked!
There are few greater pleasures than knowing that you have contributed to the preservation of Orkney’s maritime heritage.
Join the Society
Subscription Rates and Membership Type:
Individual Membership (Annual): £15.00
Junior Membership (Annual): £2.00
Life Membership: £150
Annual Subscriptions are renewed on 6th April each year. If you would like to join please click on this link to download the OHBS Membership Application Form.
Past OHBS Newsletters are available here.
OHBS Policy documents are available on this page.
Latest News
On Facebook
- As the first storm of the winter approaches Orkney we have made sure that everything outside is secured as wind gusts in excess of 65 kts are forecast for Saturday.Inside restoration work continuesNow that Saga's hull & boom are pretty much complete focus is shifting to the mast which has been located.
- Saga's restored boom has been reunited with the hull. Next we will take a look at the mast and see if we can find any sails.When we received Nellie she came with a large rectangular rudder. Nellie had never been in the water with this rectangular rudder fitted. The rectangular rudder was an experiment to […]
- Saga's wooden boom has been stripped and is being revarnished and painted.The mast will then require work to repair some damage to spreaders.
- Final preparations and we opened at 10am, it was raining so a slow start. The rain cleared shortly afterwards and visitors started arriving from about 11am. We had a steady flow of visitors throughout the remainder of day, even closing a little later than planned.What's going on here?Discussing Birsay Honey!Audio-Visual displaysSorting the raffle prizes