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 next heat wave hits the country, 15C in Orkney, work on Venture includes painting of dagger boards and rudders and sorting through the fittings to see what goes where on the hulls.Following a visit from members of UHI (University of the Highlands and Islands) to catalogue the Labradorite stones have in our care, we […]
- Work on refurbishing the Aldis Lamp has been completed. The box has been stripped and repainted and all fittings repaired or replaced as best we can. The lamp itself has been left untouched except for a clean as it works.
- A 1936 Aldis Lamp & storage case is being refurbished – the lamp still works.A lot of the old tools we have in storage has been cleaned and oiled to protect them again rusting when the weather gets damper.
- We needed to extract our Labradorite rocks from the back of a storage area to allow the local archaeology dept to catalogue all the stones. This operation required us to move a lot of other materials so we took the opportunity to sort out the worth keeping from bruck.Bruck has been put aside to be […]