By Anders Johnsen, ACBS Nordic Chapter
(All pictures by the author)
Historical background
With the world’s second longest coastline it´s quite natural that boats have been a central part of our history all the way from the Vikings to modern times. As in many other countries, motorized boats used for pleasure started to appear in the early parts of the 20s century with the introduction of the internal combustion engine. First in adapted workboats like the Norwegian snekke but also boats designed specifically as pleasure boats.
In 1911 the “Norsk Mototbaat-Forening” (Norwegian Motorboat Association) was established and a year later, they started publishing the monthly magazine “Motorbåten” (The Motorboat) to promote the interest in motorboats and their design. During the next decade, a number of designers turned to motorboats and during the WW1 where Norway was neutral, the economy was strong and boatbuilding flourished. During this period, AS Maritim in Oslo was Europa´s largest yard for pleasure boats with around 400 employs.

Motor cruisers at Risør Woodenboat Festival.
One designer who established himself during this period was Richard Gustav Furuholmen who would dominate Norwegian motorboat design for the next 5 decades. Born in 1887 he drew his first boat in 1906 and in the period before WW1 he worked in the US for both Steinway and Thams, Lemoine & Crane. During the war years, he worked as a designer for AS Maritim before establishing his own design office in 1919.
In the early 1920s, Norway went through a period with a bank crisis and hard economic times. Because of this, the once flourishing boatbuilding business nearly vanished. Of all the designers who established them self-10 years earlier Furuholmen was the only one surviving as a fulltime motorboat designer. This situation continued well into the 1930s when the economy started to get better and more boats were built. With the advent of WW2 that all changed again and the pleasure boat marked crashed for another 5 years.

The author’s own boat: Steggen a 26´touring runabout designed by Furuholmen and built in 1939.
After the war Furuholmen teamed up with his assistant Otto L. Scheen and continued to dominate the market for motorboat design until he passed away in 1963. Otto L. Scheen continued as a boatdesigner after Furuholmen´s death but the market for custom built wooden motorboats was of cause soon to change with the advent of the mass-produced fiberglass boats.
In his early years Furuholmen was much inspired by what went on in the US and Canada. He designed long deck launches and motor cruisers ranging from 20-70 feet. As most of the boating activities in Norway is related to, salt water where the conditions ca be quite rough Furuholmed did not embrace the planning hard chinned hulls becoming popular in the 1920s. Although he did design boats with hard, chines’ he preferred the round bilge semiplaning hulls sometimes in combination with hard chines in the aft portions of the hull.

Typical Furuholmen longdeck launch, this 25 footer was designed in 1927. Source: Norsk Maritimt Museum.
During the 1920s and 30s he designed long deck launches, runabouts and larger motor cruisers with runabouts in the 25-35 feet range being his “speciality”. In the -30s he started to design what in today’s terms would be called a utility launch. He called it a touring runabout and they became some of his most popular designs for the next 20 years.
- Blaaen III, a large 35´ Furuholmen runabout from 1935. With a Sterling petrel engine, her top speed was 25 knots. Source: Norsk Maritimt Museum.
- Sisk II, a 32′ runabout designed by Arthur Holt and built at the famous Anker & Jensen yard in 1936. Source: Norsk Maritimt Museum.
After WW2 much of Furuholmen and Scheen´s focus was on smaller motor cruisers or cabin cruisers.
In the whole period it was common for a potential customer to contact the designer to discuss his or her needs and have a boat builder to build the boat as a custom one off job. Stock models and serial production like we know from Chris Craft and GarWood etc. was unheard of in Norway at the time. The only exception was the semi-production Skilsø sea skiffs built in the 1950s and 60s, but even they were built by professional boatbuilders not factory workers.

A streamlined 30´cabin runabout designed during the war years by Richard Furuholmen. Source: Oslofjordmuseet.
Today’s classic boat scene in Norway
In the early 1980s, enthusiasts started to see the cultural value of our classic motorboats. They were no longer “just old boats” but something that was worth taking care of and preserving for the generations to come. Soon two clubs where formed, the Furuholmen Yacht Club (FMYC) and Classiske Motorbåter (CMB). FMYC catering for the designs of Furuholmen & Scheen and CMB for all kinds of wooden motorboats designed before 1970 as pleasure boats. Later FMYC also opened for boats from other designers. In later years, a Norwegian branch of the Swedish Motor Yacht Society (MYS) has also been established. Last out is the Nordic branch of ACBS.
Most of the activity is centred around the Oslo fjord and the south east coast, but there are quite a few boats on the west coast in the Bergen area.
Boating season in Norway is quite short and normally lasts from middle of May to the beginning of October. Most boats stay in the water for the season and are kept on the dry for the winter. As the majority of the boats are in the 25-40ft range very few boats are kept on trailers. During the season, we meet at wooden boat festivals and other gatherings in the Oslo fjord area. Most of these gatherings are open for all kinds of wooden/classic boats both sail and motor while a few are for club members only.
The largest festival of the year is the Risør Woodenboat festival on the south east coast. This festival gathers woodenboat owners of all kind and typically attracts 100+ boats. As for motorboats it´s most popular for the larger motor cruisers where you can live on board. The owners often combine the festival with the summer vacation living on board for several weeks cruising the coast. As it is quite a long cruise from the Oslo area including some open stretches of water, the festival is not that popular for owners of smaller boats.

Maybe the best known of all classic motor cruisers in Norway. The 55´Stjernen built in 1935 and owned by the royal family.
In the Oslofjord the Asker woodenboat festival is arranged at the start of the season. A short cruise for boat owners in the Oslofjord area the festival is popular among owners of kind of wooden boats but mainly focus on classic motorboats and sail yachts.

Izzabella, a 43´Furuholmen motor cruiser from 1938 seen at the Asker Woodenboat festival.
Although most of the boats you will find at our gatherings are of Norwegian origin, quite a few Swedish and some Danish built boats turn up. Some are recent imports and some have been in the country science new.
At these gatherings, there may be some kind of judging but more important is the owners meeting other likeminded people and use their boats, often with their families and after all, that is what these boats where built for.

Two Swedish built boats at Asker Woodenboat festival. On the left Harmoni a 30´Knud Reimers design from 1953 and on the right Springtime designed by C. G. Pettersson in 1939.
Great article on Norwegian boats. When is the Asker boat. Frstival.
Mark, the Asker woodenboat festival is from May 30. to June 1.
Anders – bra jobbe! Very interesting history. The waters around Norge are beautiful! I used to live in Stabekk overlooking Fornebu flyplassen and Inner Oslofjorden and worked in Lysaker.
For several summers, I would take my colleagues to Stavanger and charter a boat to cruise around that area. This was way back in 1988 – 1993.
Glad Båtliv.
Mark Nixon
Glad you liked it!
Thanks for the Norge story of wooden boats. Very interesting even to a Swede.