In 2009 the Trust led an exciting project, inspired by the 3,000 year old Carpow vessel, to build a Bronze Age log-boat using replica tools and techniques. The finished boat was paddled across Loch Tay and is now a feature of the Scottish Crannog Centre.
Under the instruction of ancient woodworking specialist Damian Goodburn, the Trust led volunteers, in partnership with the Scottish Crannog Centre, to make a log-boat on the banks of Loch Tay using replica Bronze Age tools and techniques. While the Carpow vessel, and a Bronze Age log-boat from Loch Tay (dated to around 1500 BC) were made of oak, the reconstruction was fashioned from a single 10m long Douglas Fir trunk.
Hafting replica bronze axes, over three weeks the Team developed an understanding of the techniques required to use these light-weight tools: limiting the use of edged tools and employing wooden wedges to split off planks of wood. A separate transom was inserted at the stern, and caulked with dry moss into a cut groove, as in the Bronze Age original.
The project informed both the team, and many visitors, about how prehistoric communities made these vessels, the oldest type of boat known, with the full story published by the Trust in The Carpow Logboat A Bronze Age vessel brought to life.