Inextricably linked to the sea and the art of the shipwright, is the longtime route of Ioannis Chalkias who has written his own history in this area. He studied under the guidance of George Psarros, Michalis Economou and Vangelis Kritikopoulos, three of the oldest shipwrights.
The art of the shipwright is definitely one of the most difficult manual tasks, as it is a time consuming process for manufacturing various types of wooden vessels.
For the construction of a vessel, the following processes are required: hull design, the frame configuration, coating with planking, caulking (sealing), deck construction, bridge, and mast. Then internal bulkheads are constructed (impermeable fence), floors and in the end is done the configuration of cabins.
The materials used by shipwrights are pine, iroko, teak and mahogany.
The choice of wood is very important, since some parts of the vessel are constantly wetted thereby shrinks the timber and those parts that are in the sun they dilate.
Based on love for Greek wooden traditional boat, we concluded that our ultimate goal is to promote the building of Greek wooden traditional boats which have much better behavior at sea, better buoyancy, greater strength and durability due to the high elasticity of the construction material which precludes the creation of a fracture which is consequence of rough sea.
The traditional wooden boats are much more beneficial to human health, fully recyclable and environmentally friendly.
We must keep alive the tradition and every activity that moves around the maritime as well as one of the major factors of economic growth and prosperity for our country.