The Wooden Boat Centre is a boat building and visitor centre at Franklin, in Tasmania's south. Franklin is an historic Huon Valley town, 40 minutes' drive south of Hobart (45 kilometres). Sitting on the banks of the Huon River, the Wooden Boat Centre comprises the Wooden Boat Discovery Centre and Wooden Boat School. In the Discovery Centre you can see displays interpreting the history of wooden boat building and water transport along with maritime tools and artefacts. A number of small vessels are on display and you can also see some of Tasmania's unique boat building timbers including Huon pine, King Billy pine, celery top and Tasmanian blue gum. There is also a gift shop where you can choose from a range of nautical gifts and Wooden Boat Centre merchandise.Tea and coffee is available. The Wooden Boat School offers boat-building courses ranging in length from one day to full-time certificate courses. The Certificate in Wooden Boat Construction teaches traditional wooden boat-building methods and focuses on the construction of large timber vessels through all stages from lofting to launch. You can watch the students and boatbuilders working on current projects from the viewing platforms in the Centre, which is open daily for guided tours, except Christmas Day.
