There's Everything But Water

At Busy Victoria Boat Yard

'Bluenose' Founder Builds

400 Boats In Six Years

By Harry Young

A firm that started from scratch six years ago and since then built over 400 boats, provides a splendid example of the type of industry Victoria can support.

Behind this business is Doug Vogler, a former Vancouver shipyard worker. At the end of the war Vogler foresaw a growing popularity for sport fishing in British Columbia's prolific sheltered waterways, and a consequent demand for a modern type of craft to suit the angler.

Deciding to go into the specialized business of building sport-fishing craft, Vogler chose Victoria as a suitable place to commence operations. His first boatyard was on Johnson Street, but soon he had to move out to more spacious premises on Douglas Street, just past the Burnside Road Junction.

People who spot the sign "Vogler's Seacraft" begin looking around for water, and of course they don't find it. But there's nothing silly about having a boatyard away from the water.

"Matter of economics" explains Vogler. "Most of the boats I build are taken away on trucks anyway and a site up here is much less expensive than one on the waterfront."

So when you get over this surprise and step down from the Vogler office into the covered boatyard below the road level, you come across a scene of activity that would make any small boat enthusiast green with envy.

In the Vogler yard, you will find boats of all varieties from 26 feet to 81/2 feet in various stages of construction.

From the laying of the keel to the application of the last coat of varnish, the whole job is completed in the shipyard.

In all Vogler has 12 stock designs, ranging from large sport-fishing cruiser to the dinghy that may go with it.

"We are willing to take on custom-built jobs during the winter when we are not so busy," says Vogler, "but in the summer time we have to stick to our standard designs."

No Time Wasted:

Wages in the boatbuilding industry go up to $1.50 an hour, so there can be no wasted time if the builder is going to be able to sell his craft competitively.

Vogler pointed out that he reckons a 10-foot dinghy to his standard specification, should be built in 45 man hours. The cost of such a boat is $160, which means that after the timber, the paint and the fittings are bought there is not such a big profit left over for the builder.

However, Vogler keeps building these small craft just to keep his men busy between other jobs.

One of the most popular of the Vogler designs is the 18-foot sport-fishing craft with the glass encircled cabin that may be seen almost anywhere British Columbia fishing men gather.

"The owners decide what sort of engine they want installed," said Vogler, showing me one of the nearly completed boats lying in its cradle.

"I recommended a 45 h.p. job for this craft, and then I can guarantee a speed of about 25 miles per hour, but the customers often have their own ideas. Some want more speed and they overpower their boats, others want a more economical and less highly powered engine. I don't always agree with their choices, but then everyone has his own ideas."

Vogler prides himself on turning out a good sturdy seaworthy craft. He does not believe in using thin....

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Notes: There are three pictures on this page, which can hardly be made out.

Top right picture: Doug Vogler, elder son of the founder of the firm, fits a garboard strike to this rowing boat. This is a picture of my father standing.

Top left picture: Ward foreman is Ernie Watson, who served in the merchant navy during the war. He is here fastening the rudder assembly to an 18-foot sport fishing craft. This picture can not be made out.

Bottom left picture: FAMILY GROUP. - Father Vogler with Wes (left) and Doug (right), examines blueprints for a new craft, Vogler family are "Bluenoses". Their family has resided for 300 years at Vogler's Cove, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. This picture is barely visible.

BUSY VICTORIA BOATYARD

(continued from page 3)

planking for rowing boats just to make it lighter for them to be pulled up onto the shore.

"All the difference in weight an extra sixteenth of an inch on the planking makes, is negligible compared with the extra durability."

In fact most small boat people can tell a Vogler boat quite a long way off. His boats all have a distinctive "sheer." Another sign of a Vogler boat is the specially curved rudder handle.

At the height of the season, the yard employs 14 men, most of them fully skilled boatbuilders.

 Foreman is Ernie Watson, a young man who at the end of the war had the chance of either going to sea or staying at home making boats. He hasn't regretted his choice. Ernie can turn his hand to any job in the yard. When I saw him he was fitting the engine into one of the 18-foot fishing craft.

There are two other important and interesting young fellows building these boats. They are Doug and Wesley Vogler, sons of the founder of the business. Doug is 21 and Wes 20, and the former is now a fully qualified boatbuilder.

Comes From Maritimes:

The boys are British Columbians, but their dad comes from the east, where for 300 years the family has lived at Vogler's Cove, Lunenburg Co., Nova Scotia.

"I suppose you would call me one of the "bluenoses" even if I have been in B.C. most of my life," said father Vogler.

The first Vogler to arrive in Canada was a musician. He moved out of his native Germany because of a political dispute. For the past 300 years the Vogler descendents have made their living from the sea, either as fishermen or boatbuilders, so the present set-up of the family in Victoria has quite a historical significance.

Most of the Vogler boats are built of Red Cedar timbered on the island, but the hard woods such as oak come from eastern Canada and the States, and of course the mahogany comes from Asia.

Biggest boat Vogler has tackled is a 26-footer which went to a sports fisherman of Salem Oregon, some of the smaller Vogler boats have traveled much farther.

Has Circled Globe:

One that has done more than its share of ocean trotting belongs to the skipper of a freighter.

This skipper is a keen angler and he wanted to have a small boat aboard his 10,000-ton ship so that he would have a suitable fishing boat on hand wherever he might anchor. He bought his boat from Voglers on one of his visits to Victoria.

One Vogler boat is anchored at Honolulu; another is at Phoenix Arizona and there are two on the big Roosevelt Dam.

A comparatively recent development in the Vogler business is in outboard speedsters. These are 12-footers and with 22 horse power outboards attached they are reckoned to do 40 miles per hour. The boats are 12 feet long, made of plywood and weigh about 125 pounds.

Vogler piloted one of this own ………….. (This is all the Times Colonist sent me; I am trying to get a copy of the last few paragraphs.)

Notes: There is one picture on this page, which can hardly be made out.

Bottom right picture: Doug Vogler passes his critical eye over a fishing craft in his boat yard on Douglas Street.

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