Ribe VikingeCenter | RIPA Documentary: Boatbuilding @RibeVikingeCenterDenmark | Uploaded February 2019 | Updated October 2024, 9 hours ago.
Throughout the Viking Age, the river Ribe Å was a thoroughfare for clinkerbuilt broadbowed trading ships, small fishing and rowing boats. The river being very shallow, big ships would be at anchor on the coast. The merchandise would be loaded onto smaller boats and carried up the river towards the marketplace in Ribe (Ripa).
Boatbuilding is an old, refined craft handed down from master to apprentice. Usually, the boatbuilder himself also has experience with seafaring and thus knows what makes a good boat. Other craftspeople have been contributing to the boat as well. The blacksmith delivered about 800 handcrafted iron nails, the ropemaker made the lime bast rope, and the weaver spent weeks at producing an 18 sq.m. sail, which at the end of the day costs just as much as the boat itself.
This boat will be 9.25 m long, 2.02 m broad and fit 10 rowers. This type of vessel is excellent for navigating between the islands in the Wadden Sea, for seal hunting, fishing and transport of goods on the river.
Throughout the Viking Age, the river Ribe Å was a thoroughfare for clinkerbuilt broadbowed trading ships, small fishing and rowing boats. The river being very shallow, big ships would be at anchor on the coast. The merchandise would be loaded onto smaller boats and carried up the river towards the marketplace in Ribe (Ripa).
Boatbuilding is an old, refined craft handed down from master to apprentice. Usually, the boatbuilder himself also has experience with seafaring and thus knows what makes a good boat. Other craftspeople have been contributing to the boat as well. The blacksmith delivered about 800 handcrafted iron nails, the ropemaker made the lime bast rope, and the weaver spent weeks at producing an 18 sq.m. sail, which at the end of the day costs just as much as the boat itself.
This boat will be 9.25 m long, 2.02 m broad and fit 10 rowers. This type of vessel is excellent for navigating between the islands in the Wadden Sea, for seal hunting, fishing and transport of goods on the river.
