Boat Profile

November 2016

Odyssey 165

A front-facing rower for touring and fitness

The Odyssey 165 is an unusual rowboat for touring and exercise. It is specifically for use with the FrontRower, a drop-in forward-facing rowing system. With the oars fully supported by the rowing rig, there’s no need to make the boat wide enough to provide a workable span for conventional rowlocks, nor stout enough to take the strain of rowing on the gunwales. The Odyssey has the proportions of a canoe, offers the same view over the bow, and is similarly efficient converting effort into forward progress.

November 2016

Seaford Skiff

A versatile thin-water cruiser

Seaford skiffs first appeared in the shallow marshes around the New York town of Seaford, Long Island, in the early 1870s. They are an evolutionary product of skiffs commonly used by local baymen for hunting waterfowl, digging clams, and fishing. Boatbuilder Samuel Gritman is credited as the primary originator of the Seaford type, but other builders such as Paul Ketcham of Amityville, and Charles Verity and his son Sidney of Seaford, built many and contributed their own modifications to the design from its inception through the 1950s.

October 2016

Little Miss Sally

An electric micro-boat

This micro-boat—easy to build, store, and transport, and powered by a modified electric trolling motor—will tootle protected waterways for hours.

October 2016

Flint

A versatile Ross Lillistone skiff

This plywood skiff's fine lines make efficient use of power, whether it’s from oars, sail, or small outboard.

September 2016

Compass Skiff

A lightweight, nimble, outboard skiff

The Compass outboard skiff, designed by Clint Chase to build during a weekend festival, is a good boat for a family to build together and for introducing children to the pleasures and responsibilities of boating.

September 2016

Guillemot

An Iain Oughtred sail-and-oar skiff

Iain Oughtred is best known for his modern glued-lapstrake adaptations of traditional hull forms, but his Guillemot skiff looks especially handsome when done with larch planking riveted to bent chestnut frames.

August 2016

Honker

Eminently adaptable

Sam Devlin’s Honker can be pressed into service as an open boat for fishing, a floating blind for waterfowling, or a cold-weather coastal cruiser with a removable pilothouse and cabin.

August 2016

Navigator

A beach-cruising centerboard yawl

The Navigator started out as a sailing club’s racing trainer, but it became John Welsford's most popular design after he turned it into a long-range cruising dinghy.

July 2016

Glen-L 15

Building experience

When Kelsey Johnson decided he wanted a boat for exploring the lakes near his British Columbia home, he had never sailed a boat, let alone built one. The Glen L-15 turned out to be the perfect introduction for both boatbuilding and sailing.

July 2016

Atkinson Traveler

The pinnacle of wilderness canoes

The Atkinson Traveler is Rollin Thurlow’s favorite canoe, and that’s saying something because Rollin has been building canoes in Maine for 38 years. We’ll take a look at what makes this wood-and-canvas canoe stand out among all the others he has built.

June 2016

Hvalsoe 18

A new design for solo cruising

Seattle boatbuilder Eric Hvasloe was asked to draw up a boat for cruising the Inside Passage under sail and oars. We put his latest design, the Hvalsoe 18, through its paces.

June 2016

Squirt

A Glen-L runabout

The 11’ Squirt runabout was the biggest boat Art Atkinson could build in his basement, but it didn’t come up short on the performance it delivered. He gives us a good look at this offering from Glen-L.

May 2016

Chaisson Dory

More than a tender

The Chaisson dory was designed a century ago as a tender, but it still has a lot to offer even if you don’t have a yacht to attach to the other end of its painter.

May 2016

Arctic Tern

A modern yoal

Iain Oughtred’s Arctic Tern is in the middle of the range of his popular double-ended beach cruisers that were inspired by the workboats of the Shetland Islands.

April 2016

Duckling 17

Fast solo rowing

Although Sam Devlin envisioned the Duckling 17 as a performance rowing craft, not as a load-carrying boat, with a designed working displacement of 350 lbs, it has the capacity to carry gear for fast and light weekend touring.

April 2016

Abaco Dinghies

Built like little ships

Nobody knows for sure when the first Abaco dinghy was built, or who built it, but the type has been around as a small fishing boat since the late 1800s. During the middle decades of the 20th century Abaco boatbuilders on Man-O-War Cay and at Hope Town launched hundreds of dinghies for fishing, daysailing, and racing.

March 2016

Fliptail 7

Wooden Widget's compact folding dinghy

If you live on an island, owning a small boat is as sensible as owning a car, unless you live on Manhattan Island, where neither makes sense. One apartment dweller discovered the Fliptail 7, a folding sailing dinghy, fits in his closet and aboard public transit.

March 2016

Eco 5 Power Cat

A catamaran for cozy cruising

While it’s sometimes said that the moment you’ve stepped aboard boat you’ve arrived, there are times when you’d like to go somewhere. The Eco 5 Power Cat can take you places quickly, quietly, and economically.

February 2016

Passagemaker Dinghy

A rich man's tender, a poor man's yacht?

What started out as a design for a motor-yacht tender finished up as a versatile pram that is as well suited for motoring, sailing, and rowing as it for gracing a pair of davits.

February 2016

Storm 23

A stylish and distinctive double-ender

Tacking off the timeless, craggy coast of Devon, the Storm 23 looked decidedly unconventional, even kooky, and yet there was something about her that inspired confidence: a purposeful air, a look of intent, almost of defiance.

January 2016

The Cackler

A 14' hunting skiff

The Cackler from Devlin Designing Boat Builders is a contemporary outboard hunting skiff that can carry a heavy load, manage rough water and get hunters, dogs, and decoys out and back at a good clip. Its uncluttered cockpit make it a versatile utility skiff.

January 2016

The Adirondack Guideboat

Strip-built in cedar, spruce, and pine

The original Adirondack guideboats were designed in the middle of the 19th century to take paying customers hunting and fishing the interconnected lakes, ponds, and streams of Upstate New York. The elegant strip-built version of this swift rowing boat makes rowing for its own sake a profitable venture.

December 2015

Calendar Islands Yawl

A boat that almost builds itself

Clint Chase’s new 15’ 6” daysailer, sized to get planks from pairs of scarfed-together sheets of plywood, is designed to make the most of its sailing capability without compromising the pleasure of rowing.

December 2015

Penguin

The comforts of home in a 21' trailer yacht

John Welsford designed this trailer-yacht to be a roomy and comfortable cruiser with aesthetic appeal and excellent seakeeping ability. The gaff rig elicits images from a bygone era, but there is nothing old-fashioned about the Penguin.

November 2015

Southwester Dory

A dory for sail, oars, and outboard

It’s unfortunate that “Jack of all trades” is so often followed by “master of none.” It is possible to do a number of things quite well, and versatility is often of more value than virtuosity. The new Southwester Dory from Chesapeake Light Craft was designed to serve not only as a sailboat and a rowboat, but also as a motor launch, and it does well in all three capacities.