Traditional Nordic clinker boats are open wooden boats, between five and ten meters long. Nordic peoples have been building clinker boats using the same basic techniques for almost two millennia, including the indigenous Sami peoples of Finland, Norway, and Sweden, as well as the Kvens, Tornedalians, and the Swedish-speaking population in Finland.
Lapstrake or Clinker building is the process of building boats where the edges of the hull planks are overlapping. The shorter planks of the hull can be joined end to end in larger vessels to make the longer strake or hull plank necessary.
Clinker-built boats originated in Scandinavia and were used by the Anglo-Saxons, Frisians, and Scandinavians when building vessels known as cogs in the Hanseatic League. In large vessels, carvel construction, (where plank edges are glued together smoothly, seam to seam), has supplanted clinker construction as capacity needs have outgrown their limits.
The clinker boats are still primarily used in traditional festivals, regattas, and sporting events, and approximately a thousand people earn a living by producing, maintaining, or using clinker boats. Many of these boats are owned by individuals who take short trips or spend their summer vacation on them. Some boats are also owned by associations, and their purpose is to provide people with a chance to try out sailing following the traditions of previous generations. Associations also provide training to children and young people with traditional sailing skills and the daily chores of their ancestors.
Sailing traditional boats is often passed down from parents to children through events and competitions. These seem to be the best way to preserve the tradition. Most likely, this tradition will remain relatively unchanged. There will continue to be people who want to continue building boats, even if orders are few and far between. It is also likely that boats that the previous generations used for work will be purchased and used in the future.
There are 200 traditional clinker boats in good sailing condition in Finland today, excluding wooden pleasure crafts with keels, such as the folk boat. Their purpose is to create a connection to the old culture and learn how to navigate the waters and live by the sea. Ten associations can be identified as traditional boat associations, and many regular boat clubs have a special division that maintains traditional sailing practices and manages museums.