Boat Profiles | Small Boats

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Five-person crew rows a racing skiff with two more boats in the background

Small Boats Annual 2012

St. Ayles Skiff

Inspiring the community rowing revival

This double-ender is sleek, with a finer bow than stern, and both ends flowing to flatter floors as one moves toward amidships.

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November 2025

Whitmore Peapod

A classic working boat built the traditional way

Originally conceived as working boats for the lobstermen of Maine, peapods are appreciated for their maneuverability, load-carrying capacity, and good looks. A new replica build of a 1920s original proves the type’s long-lasting appeal.

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November 2025

Guppy 9

An all-around dinghy for a first-time builder

An all-around small boat that looks good, performs well, and can be sailed, rowed, and motored, the Guppy 9 is also a fine introduction to the technique of stitch-and-glue plywood boatbuilding.

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October 2025

Liz Pulling Boat

A boat suited to amateur builders and novice scullers

An elegant rowboat for sliding-seat rowing, the Liz offers good stability combined with pleasing performance. And, although originally designed for lapstrake construction, it can now be strip-planked.

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October 2025

Candu E-Z Mini Tugboat

An easily built family boat that brings smiles and joy

A tugboat nearly always raises a smile, and the Berkeley Engineering Candu E-Z Mini Tugboat is no exception. Fun to look at, the boat is also easy to build and well-suited to family use.

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September 2025

Turnabout/N-10

A much-loved sail-training boat

The Turnabout was once a widely popular sail-training dinghy in the U.S. Northeast. More than 60 years since it was first adopted in Ipswich Bay, the class is still loved by many for its versatility, simplicity, and above all, its offering of social sailing for children.

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September 2025

Annapolis Wherry Tandem

A robust shell for one or two rowers

Developed from Chesapeake Light Craft’s successful Annapolis Wherry, the Tandem version can be solo- or double-rowed and be fitted with either fixed or sliding seats.

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August 2025

Newfound Woodworks’ Otter

A playful solo canoe

The sweet-lined Otter may be one of Newfound Woodworks’ smallest strip-planked boats, but this solo canoe has space enough for a paddler and a dog, a child, or overnight camping gear.

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August 2025

The Tango 17

A durable two-person rowboat

Built of modern materials but with lines that hark back to the 19th century, Whitehall Spirit’s Tango 17 is equally suited to double performance rowing and solo camp-cruising.

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Small Boats Annual 2011

Beg-Meil

A small yacht, whether under sail or oars

Inspired by the workboats of Brittany, France, François Vivier designed Beg-Meil as a safe and seaworthy daysailer.

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July 2025

Lowell Dory Skiff

John Gardner’s “substantial rowboat” for fishing

A sturdy rowboat based on an early 20th-century working boat and drawn up by John Gardner, the 14′ 9″ flat-bottomed, shallow-drafted Dory Skiff is suited to fishing, general recreational, and workboat use.

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July 2025

The 13′ Boston Whaler

The original “unsinkable” powerboat

They’ve been used as harbor tenders, kids’ first powerboats, yacht-club chase boats, and all-around stable workboats. Almost 70 years after the first of its type was launched, the 13’ Boston Whaler remains a favorite around America’s coasts.

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Small Boats Annual 2011

Deer Isle Koster Boat

A full-bodied, stable, and promising daysailer

Deer Isle Koster Boat was designed by Bruce Elfstrom to be a safe and enticing daysailer for his daughters on Deer Isle, Maine.

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June 2025

Gartside’s Design 206

A traditional pram dinghy

The 8′ pram from Paul Gartside is traditional in appearance and construction. Suitable for more experienced builders, it is an ideal tender, towing and rowing well, and with space for one rower with cargo or passenger.

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June 2025

Selway-Fisher Heron 15

A pocket cruiser for two

It’s only 15′ 4″ long, but the Selway-Fisher Heron 15 provides a comfortable cockpit and a generous cabin for two—a compact but capable pocket cruiser for home-building.

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Small Boats Annual 2011

Onset Island Skiff

Utility, affordability, good fun

Beetle Inc.’s Onset Island Skiff is a recent interpretation of an old idea: the traditional New England flat-bottomed skiff.

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May 2025

Nottage Dinghy

A traditional lugsail dinghy from England

Fabian Bush designed his lapstrake dinghy for boatbuilding students at the Nottage Institute in Essex, England. Its traditional construction is challenging for a new builder, but the sweet lines and good sail-and-oar performance make it worth the effort.

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May 2025

The Mini Auray

A simple pram from one and a half sheets of plywood

Hannu Vartiala based his 7′ 6″ Mini Auray on lines drawn by yachtsman Claud Worth in 1912. The Mini Auray, though small, has mighty carrying capacity.

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Small Boats Annual 2011

The Matinicus Double-Ender

The real deal

Descended from a long line of workboats, these striking lapstrake double-enders are often very long-lived, partly because of the pride they instill in their owners.

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Small Boats Annual 2011

The Baybird Sloop

An 18’ W. Starling Burgess design for racing

Originally designed for racing in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the Baybird Sloop found a true home in the summer sailing camps on Cape Cod’s Pleasant Bay beginning in the 1920s.

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April 2025

Scout 14

A new camp-cruiser from Duckworks

Building on the success of their Scout 10, designer Brandon Davis and Duckworks Boat Builders Supply collaborated to create a sleek-looking camp-cruiser that offers speed, stability, and capacity.

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April 2025

The Paroz Tender

A new dinghy for oars, outboard, and towing

Designed and built by Simon Paroz for his own use, the Paroz Tender is large enough to carry a family of four, small enough to be lifted on deck with davits, and light enough to plane with just a 3-hp outboard.

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Small Boats Annual 2011

The Herreshoff 15s

A classic daysailer in several forms

The perfect balance of speed, responsiveness, cockpit size, seakindliness, and good looks.

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Small Boats Annual 2011

Marissa Runabout

A stable, efficient – and striking – powerboat

Marissa was conceived as the smallest practical center-console runabout, and she became the winner of WoodenBoat’s Design Challenge for efficient small powerboats.

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March 2025

Bolger’s Pirogue

Phil Bolger’s Design #451 is simple but versatile

The Bolger Pirogue is shallow-drafted, flat-bottomed, and simply built of inexpensive materials. It can be poled, rowed, paddled, and sailed, and offers great versatility in intricate backwaters.

St. Ayles Skiff

Whitmore Peapod

Guppy 9

Liz Pulling Boat

Candu E-Z Mini Tugboat

Turnabout/N-10

Annapolis Wherry Tandem

Newfound Woodworks’ Otter

The Tango 17

Beg-Meil

Lowell Dory Skiff

The 13′ Boston Whaler

Deer Isle Koster Boat

Gartside’s Design 206

Selway-Fisher Heron 15

Onset Island Skiff

Nottage Dinghy

The Mini Auray

The Matinicus Double-Ender

The Baybird Sloop

Scout 14

The Paroz Tender

The Herreshoff 15s

Marissa Runabout

Bolger’s Pirogue

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