International Boat Harbour at Expo 86
Expo86 was an International event hosted in Vancouver in 1986. Arkworks Boatbuilding & Repair had the contract to create and install the display of boats. The boats had been acquired by Expo. It all started months before the show began. Beginning as a dribble and increasing to handling multiple containers a day. They were stored in a empty lot with adjoining warehouse at Third and Burrard. We acted as Wharfinger during the show. Tear-down was an extra.
The first to arrive were 6 Dragon boats from Hong Kong. They came in two 40 foot containers and were built of full-length 2-inch thick teak boards. The heads and tails were removable.
Soon after arrival, they had to be transported by land to the Expo preview centre at First and Main. This was accomplished with the use of Pacific Spar’s 40' mast trailer. The move was for a ceremony to “open their eyes” to awaken them from the long voyage. After that they could be launched. It was a press event with much fanfare and many dignitaries.
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The next to arrive was a 20' boat from the NGO “World Vision”.
One of many built to house Bangladesh fishing families. When we opened the container the air coming out of it was un-breathable. An empty canister lay on the floor and everything was covered with a dusting of something to kill any critters. After a week to let it air out hazardous material gear was used for a major cleanup. the boat was fully equipped right down to the cutlery. just the people were missing.
Soon after this the early pace picked up with multible arrivals a day. A gaggle of reed boats from Peru, an Italian Gondola, and many fishing boats from throughout the world. Most were brightly painted.
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Besides the small boats there were a number of larger vessels. Some arrived on their own bottoms (Bounty & Golden Hind) and others were offloaded from ships in the inner harbour. They were towed to False Creek by Falsecreek Tugboats.
They included a 65 Ft Junk from China, an 85 Ft Dhow from Pakistan, and a 40 Ft reed & Balsa log Lakatoi. The largest was a 125 Ft replica of the first boat to sail out of sight of land from Japan in the 1400's. We had to bring a derrick barge in from Seattle to offload her. Vancouver did not have the lifting capacity.
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