Series

MUSTELID – Episode 9

The Outer Islands

In this installment Dave and Anke have begin their exploration of the outer islands.

The Mirror

An engaging English dinghy

With an open-cockpit layout, relatively high boom, and lots of seating, the Mirror is ideal for taking kids out.

The Point Comfort 18

A modern deadrise skiff

Doug Hylan’s Point Comfort 18 offers the seaworthiness and lineage of a Chesapeake deadrise skiff with the light weight and ease of construction a plywood hull provides.

The Ipswich Bay Skiff

Built by eye and shaped by batten

The Pert Lowell Co. in Amesbury, Massachusetts, designed the Ipswich Bay Skiff for a customer who wanted a lightweight but rugged skiff that he could launch from the beach on a dolly.

The Ultimate Freight Canoe

The wood-and-canvas Moosehead Laker

Abundant cargo-carrying capacity was uppermost in Francis “Mick” Fahey’s mind when he designed a wood-and-canvas freight canoe for his own use in the 1960s. The canoe’s versatility has made its successors, including this Jerry Stelmok–built Moosehead Laker named FIELD OF STREAMS, popular among camp owners and fishing guides in the Maine lakes.

MUSTELID – Episode 8

Heading Out

We’re finally underway! We won’t see the wilderness wedding we set out for that never materialized. We won’t see Dave forget the durn camera at home and row back a...

MUSTELID – Episode 7

Introduction to the Venture

In this installment, we are getting ready to cruise, intending to row and sail around Chichagof Island, a distance of about 450 nautical miles—if we were to limit ourselves to the straight and narrow. But first we recap a change of venue, from the Southern Admiralty Wilderness site where we built MUSTELID to our home port of Tenakee Springs, Alaska,…

MUSTELID – Episode 6

Life Aboard

C’mon aboard… let’s tip a cup o’ kindness! Here’s a look at our living arrangements when we’re aboard for extended periods. The cabin accommodations include heating, sleeping, food preparation, lounging,...

MUSTELID – Episode 5

Rigging MUSTELID

MUSTELID’s rig and rigging are original. They should work, but might not work. Southeast Alaska is criss-crossed by long runs of water between shorelines of varying height. Winds tend to blow mostly up or down them. Mostly. Our intent is to sail from a beam reach to a run, and row the rest. Any slight windward ability in this rig…

Rescue Minor

From military rescue vessel to family electric launch

Shallow draft, center console, room for a family, and an electric motor make this Rescue Minor, built by students at the Great Lakes Boat Building School, an ideal boat for Michigan’s Les Cheneaux Islands.

The Peterborough Nomad

A cottage runabout reborn

This 15' cedar-strip Peterborough Nomad by Woodwind Yachts was built on a mold created from an original Nomad launched by the Peterborough Canoe Company in 1958.

MUSTELID – Episode 4

Outfitting MUSTELID

In this episode we take a tour of MUSTELID’s outfit. Much of this has never been tried, to our knowledge. Some has, at least in principle, but we’ve “dumbed it down.” Some is tried-and-true but not in our context or in conjunction with other items. But it must work, or be culled. There’s no space for laggards!

Sinne 610 Expedition Boat

For adventuresome rowing

For long-distance rowing trips on Finland’s many lakes, Jouko Koskinen had in mind a lightweight boat that would row very well but could also be fitted with bicycle wheels for portages and equipped for camp-cruising.

Thompson Thomboy

A speedy little runabout

The author’s THOMMY, a 1955 Thompson Thomboy, is in original condition, with nothing anachronistic or out of place.

MUSTELID – Episode 3

Construction

In this episode, take a look over our shoulders at the building and launching of MUSTELID. Each boatbuilding project has its own challenges of time, space, contextual, and financial constraints. Paper is cheap, but it can sail us no farther than can our armchair. To get on the water, we must build.

MUSTELID – Episode 2

The Concept

In this episode, Dave and Anke serve up the stew. They present their influences on the design of their new hull. From these influences, they draw ideas and innovations, run them through a filter of perceived wishes, needs, and constraints, then simmer it all down to a design plan. Likewise, they look at the concepts behind their outfit and rigging…

Lit’l Petrel

A simple and admirable tender

The diminutive pram, less than 9’ long, has remarkable carrying capacity. A centerline seat allows the person rowing to choose from two stations, depending on the boat’s fore-and-aft trim.

The Simmons Sea Skiff

A seaworthy outboard fishing boat

The Simmons Sea Skiff was first developed as a beach-launched, oar-powered fishing boat for coastal North Carolina, and it eventually evolved into an outboard-powered range of sizes, from 18’ to 22’. The 18-footer above was built by its owner, for family fishing excursions on and near Narragansett Bay.

MUSTELID – Episode 1

Intro, Who We Are, How We Live, What we Propose

In this, the first installment, they introduce us to who they are, how they live, and what they propose in a boat.

DragonFlyer 3.2

Brooks Boats’ lively sailing dinghy

ZIP is the prototype model of the DragonFlyer 3.2, a design intended as a versatile and dynamic sail trainer. She can be sailed with main alone, main and jib, or main and asymmetrical spinnaker.

The New Hampshire Snekke

A Norwegian motor launch descended from Viking ships

Low-powered, double-ended launches called snekker are ubiquitous along the coast of Norway, but rather exotic in New Hampshire, where Andrew Wallace’s Traditional Boatworks builds these boats.

The Sid Skiff

A boat to take personally

The classic transom-sterned skiff that became known as the Sid Skiff, here with cobuilder Zach Simonson-Bond at the oars, first came to Ray Speck’s attention while he was living on a houseboat in Sausalito, California. The boat is as much as joy to look at as it is to row.

The McIntosh Canvas Boat

An unusual and useful double-ended tender

Canvas sheathing over a wooden framework makes Ned McIntosh’s 9’ dinghy extraordinarily light, at only 35 lbs, yet it remains a versatile tender that is easy and quick to build.

Thistle

A pedal boat with a fin drive

Harry Bryan’s 12’ Thistle is powered by a large rudder shaped like a fish’s tail and driven by foot pedals. With steady pedaling you can keep pace with about any rowboat of the same length.

Spindrift 12

A performance yacht tender

The Spindrift series of dinghies from B&B Yacht Designs promises a range of capable yacht tenders that offer plenty of sailing excitement. Here we see a 12’ model built by Meredithe Stuart-Smith of Castine, Maine.