The project was led by Norsk Handverksutvikling by Jon Bojer Godal and was also a collaboration between Storfembøringen Vågar AS, the Lofoten Museum, Vågan Coastal Association and Lofoten Folk High School. The boathouse is owned by Storfembøringen Vågar AS.
Skjelternaustet is built as an approximate copy of a five-oared boathouse at Stangnes on Senja and represents a long building tradition that can be traced back to the 1600s.
In the project, great emphasis was placed on material quality and construction technology. In Dividalen in Troms, 200-400-year-old timber of pine was felled, with a high ore throughput. Some of the timber was transported to the boom saw in Aursfjorden in Troms for sawing for shells and boathouse doors. The rest of the timber was worked with an axe. In Storvågan, foundations were made of stone.
The building principle is load-bearing staves (rough logs) in the walls, folded together with single sleepers and double lines at the top, and with standing skirts in between. The skjelter on the long walls is partly made of half-splits of young trees, but mostly the skjelter consists of sawn boards.
All joints that are not notched or notched into each other are fastened with wooden studs. Almost 1300 rivets have been used that have been nailed by hand. The skjelterverk is stuck in a groove in the slip. The groove is deeper than the shellwork and the short wall facing the sea is 80 cm lower than the short wall behind. Culverts have been cut out at each junction so that the water can drain out. On the short wall at the back, curved logs have been used that provide a slope down towards the corners.
For the ceiling, boards of surface wood (the outermost layer of the log) have been used. Each individual board is attached to the rafters with long, continuous wooden studs, one for each rafter contact. The fist used on the roof is held in place by two layers of peat.
Text: Museum Nord – Lofotmuseet, Photo: Marit Moen, Museum Consultant Museum Nord
