...challenging a Rottweiler, the Puddle Duck just jumps in and goes at it, without seeming to realize it might look a little silly to observers. Or maybe it just doesn’t care. Free Puddle Duck plans are available from the website www.pdracer.com/free-plans/, or from Jim Michalak at www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/jim/catbox/index.htm. Learn more at www.pdracer.com. Tom Pamperin The Puddle Duck is not a strict...
From The Editor
In 1953, German-born Hannes Lindemann had just begun practicing medicine in Liberia and had in mind to settle into a comfortable life as a doctor when he met Alain Bombard, a Frenchman and fellow physician, who had taken an interest in survival at sea. In the fall of the previous year, October 19 to December 23, Bombard sailed a 15′...
...we hope you enjoy your 7-Day Free Trial. We have a passionate community of boat lovers and we know you will find valuable information and inspiration within our digital pages. As our gift, please download your free construction guide for building a Six-Hour Canoe – one of our favorite projects that we know you will love! Download Your Plans ...
Boat Profile
A simple and affordable solo canoe
...as directed by the instructions but held off on installing the keel to see how the canoe would handle without it. Peter H. Thompson, www.phtpht.com The raised seat makes for a comfortable paddling position and facilitates getting in and out of the canoe. I finished the canoe in roughly 100 hours over three weeks and I think most builders, even...
...still builds in wood, but Luke turned to alu-minum in the 1970s. Following Nielsen’s own pattern, new construction can now be done at Walsteds (www.walsteds.dk), or Rockport Marine in Maine (www. rockportmarine.com). The latter came into play because Rockport’s owner, Taylor Allen, cares not only for his own double-enders NORTHERN CROWN and FERN but also about a dozen Nielsen yachts...
...https://www.storerboatplans.com/boatplans/goat-island-skiff-simple-sailing-boat-excellent-performance-lightweight. You can see pictures and contact other builders at www.facebook.com/groups/GoatIslandSkiff. Kits are available from Clint Chase at https://www.chase-small-craft.com/. Particulars Length 15′ 6″ (4.73m) Beam 5′ (1.52m) Hull weight 128 lbs (57kg) Sail area 105 sq ft (9.75 sq meters) More than 1,000 Goat Island Skiffs have been built since Michael Storer first drew the plans 20 years ago. ...
Adventures
A father and son take to the South Salish Sea
...where we found the campground deserted. There were picnic tables at the campsites, but when we returned to the beach, the view of the clouds, now glowing pink with the setting sun, was so striking that we decided to cook dinner right there. Just as we were savoring our last bites, a sailing dinghy came zipping near the shore. Merry...
Adventures, Whitehall Tender,
Five generations of boatbuilders
...sassafras, and so milled a slightly wider frame to make up for its relative lack of stiffness compared to locust. Coming straight out of the cobbled-together steambox, the frames bent in beautifully. Dad and I fixed the frames in place with copper rivets. I found copper nails and roves stored in the mason jars overhead, and after falling into a...
Boat Profile
An enduring and durable classic
...rolled plates also serve as covers for the flotation compartments, which are filled with closed-cell foam to keep the canoe afloat. There is a small gap around the compartment edge that allows for ventilation and drainage, a great attribute because closed compartments often take in water and retain it. Our 17′ Double-Ender has a rated carrying capacity of five people...
Product Reviews
Sturdy eyelets with bite
...The spurs of the washer, right, curl into the hollow of the rime of the grommet, left. Plain grommets and spur grommets both come in numbered sizes, but for any given size, they have different shapes and dimensions so each type requires a dedicated die set. While plain grommets are designed for light-duty use on thin fabrics, spur grommets require...
Adventures
Sailing Finland's labyrinthine archipelago
...rain under another dark cloud. The wind died down a little as we tacked into another narrow passage and sailed another mile, slipping around the dark clouds and into bright sunlight with veils of rain on both sides of us. Most evenings, the wind would die away and the clouds, if there’d been any, would also have retreated. The smooth...
Adventures
850 miles from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, Louisiana
...wooded point where Union troops had come to do battle. He pointed across the river to the woods on the left bank. “Over there, Grant, the plodder, tried bringing his gunboats down the bayous. Course we was ready for him with guns around every bend. BOOM!” He motioned downstream where Grant tried to reroute the river around the Confederate stronghold...
A McKenzie-style drift boat
...aluminum. A few wooden boat shops still build drift boats and sell kits and plans, for example Mike Baker of Bend, Oregon (see www.bakerwood driftboats.com). At the same time, interest in preserving the heritage of wooden drift boats has been renewed. Eagle Rock Lodge in Vida, Oregon, hosts a McKenzie River Wooden Boat Festival each April (see www.eaglerocklodge.com) drawing as...
Fitting Out Guide
Surface reflection with LED lighting
...Tack it to the back with 3/8″ or 1/2″ tacks, and use contact cement to bond the overlapping ends. Materials LED lights and power supply. The strip lighting and 6-watt power supply used for the lamp shown in this article are made by Armacost Lighting, www.armacostlighting.com, and are available from Lee Valley Tools, www.leevalley.com, specify indoor natural white LED tape...
Technique
Shaping better centerboards and rudders
...capture of a quarter of the resulting ellipse and scale up the printed image to the actual dimensions required. If you are comfortable with computers, you can download and run Freeship (available for Windows only) which has a “keel and rudder wizard” that accurately generates several different planforms. The new rudder blade for FIRE-DRAKE has a quarter-ellipse planform. The plywood’s...
Boat Profile
A 1950s classic in lapstrake plywood
...example of a company that produced clinker-built outboard runabouts with a rock-solid combination of plywood and caulking. But Lyman lapstrakes were what Witty and Taggart were most familiar with. “Plus I wanted a boat that chuckles,” says Witty, describing the trademark sound of small wavelets bouncing off the hull of a lapstrake boat. Living in Maine, they began their search...
Boat Profile
A snug outboard from Bateau.com
SADIE is a Classic 17 that was built by Steve Hewins and his fellow students at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis, U.K. Jacques Mertens designed the Classic 19, around 1990, for an amateur boatbuilder in Florida, and the 17 and 21 followed soon afterward. His company Bateau.com has now supplied a couple of hundred sets of Classic 17...
Product Reviews
Precut panels and patches for a strong and efficient DIY sail
...the shape will provide good performance for the small pram. Audrey and Kent Lewis mess about in the Tidewater Region of Virginia, and look forward to the launch of their mighty pram, EXCUSE ME. Their adventures are logged at www.smallboatrestoration.blogspot.com. The Nutshell sail kit in white Dacron costs $169.90. It is also available in cream ($289.20) and tanbark ($295.20). Sailrite...
Reader Built Boats
A Newfoundlander goes back to his roots
...around so many boat projects that I was comfortable with the process.” In CLEAR SKIES’ first summer, Derrick sailed with just the mainsail. The simple arrangement meant plenty of space for his wife, Pamela, and the Brittany spaniel, Rudy. Less easy was the configuration of the rig. “When I was building the punt in 2005–2006 I found very few sources...
Boat Profile
The wood-and-canvas Moosehead Laker
...stepped back onto the dock at Grant’s, FIELD OF STREAMS’s mahogany and cedar were ablaze in the midday sun. While Stevens motored toward his century-old camp, my mind wandered back over the foggy morning, to the era when wood and canvas reigned. Jerry Stelmok, Island Falls Canoe, www.islandfallscanoe.com. Rollin Thurlow, Northwoods Canoe Company, www.wooden-canoes.com. Bill Stevens, Kennebago Fly Fishing, kennebago@me.com...
News and Curiosities
...are available in three models and can be ordered through the new www.downeastpeapod.com website: • “The Chevy” with all-painted surfaces. • “The Cadillac” with varnished seats and sheer strakes • “The Rolls” varnished inside and out. For more information go to www.downeastpeapod.com or contact Donald Tofias. President & CEO Sparkman & Stephens, LLC, 401-847-5449. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram....
Technique
A gallery of ideas to improve your small boat
...under the forward and after decks of both the orignal Herreshoff boat and the Somes Sound 12 1⁄2 are relegated to buoyancy chambers, and aren’t meant for storage. But a small boat such as this one is kept much more tidy if its gear—unused sail stops, foghorn, flares, hand-bearing compass, docklines, and such—have a home. The space under the seats...
Boat Profile
A weekend cruiser from Jim Michalak
...typical cost of study plans, he puts construction plans in the hands of dreamers so they can immediately become builders. He also lends confidence with information through his online boat-design articles (www.jimsboats.com) and his book, Boatbuilding for Beginners (and Beyond!) (www.duckworksbbs.com/ media/books/michalak/index.htm). Fuel efficiency makes for longer trips. As an engineer, Jim thinks a lot about things like power-to-weight ratio,...
Boat Profile
A stitch-and-glue solo expedition boat
...adrenaline output, this boat deserves a close look. For more information, contact Chesapeake Light Craft, www.clcboats.com. The Faering Cruiser’s long, straight keel and ample skeg make for good tracking, while near-circular sections offer minimal wetted surface for fast sailing and rowing. The accommodations (bottom profile) are small but surprisingly comfortable—even for the mildly claustrophobic. CLC Faering Particulars: LOA 22’6″ LWL...
Reader Built Boats
A family-built Bevins skiff
The Cummings family of Shelbyville, Kentucky, built GENERATIONS, a Bevins skiff, as a means of celebrating three generations. GENERATIONS is a Bevins skiff built by Wayne Cummings, his wife, Veronica, and their four kids (all under eight years old). Launched April 3, 2014, in Shelbyville, Kentucky, the boat was built in honor of Charles Carlson, Wayne’s grandfather. Charles lived and...