Series

Redbird

A proven cedar-strip touring canoe

Over three decades, the Redbird canoe has proven to be an exceptionally fine model for wilderness tripping. While its bow and stern profiles are inspired by Ojibwa rice-harvesting canoes, the epoxy-sheathed, cedar-strip construction is contemporary. This example was built by Edmund Pozniak and photographed on Clear Lake, Louisiana.

Salty Heaven

A sprightly cat-yawl for daysailing or camp-cruising

The author’s Salty Heaven, JESS, singlehanded in a fresh breeze. Sailed solo, the 17’ cat-yawl is fast and responsive. She will also happily carry passengers or a load of camping gear.

Devlin’s Pelicano

Inspired by pangas, in three flavors

“…saucy-looking, efficient, and seaworthy, and still unfancy enough that an ambitious amateur can realistically aspire to building one.”

The Norwalk Islands 18 and Its Cousins

A family of sharpies

“Having no jib, changing tacks on a sharpie is a matter of simply pushing the tiller over. The two sails look after themselves. ”

FOX

A double-paddle canoe

The 14’7” Fox double-paddle canoe, which weighs only 44 lbs, is casually portable. Its 6’8”-long cockpit offers considerable room, yet can be securely sealed with a spray skirt.

D-18 Myst

A camp-cruiser with good looks

The D-18 Myst has a striking profile and sail plan, and her general appearance prompts thoughts of British fishing boats of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Marsh Punt

A simple boat for calm waters

The punt, with its flat bottom and square ends, is among the simplest form of boats. Tad Lyford’s 13’6” Marsh Punt is meant for rowing in protected waters, and poling in shallows.

Goliath Mini-Tug

A fanciful cruiser with workboat roots

The Goliath mini-tug from Glen-L Marine, at only 18' overall, is more than a simple caricature: It’s a bona-fide pocket-cruising powerboat, well proportioned and well performing.

Starry Nights

A magic carpet on the water

The 20' Starry Nights launch from Onion River Boatworks is a picnic launch in the finest tradition. Powered by a 3-hp electric motor, she is a gentle, quiet presence on the water.

A Nesting Dinghy

PT 11, a fine balance of form and function

By extensive ocean cruising, Russell Brown came to know what he valued in a nesting dinghy, and his PT 11, which weighs just 85 lbs, balances conflicting purposes of sailing, rowing, light weight, and compact stowage while still remaining a handsome boat.

The Old Town Dinghy

A classic in cedar and canvas

The Old Town dinghy, a classic yacht tender, was once a staple offering in the catalog of the Old Town Canoe Company. It’s a lightweight beauty with a bright-finished interior and a painted, canvas-sheathed hull. Structurally, it looks like a canoe, but it has the shape of a versatile small boat—one that motors, sails, and rows respectably.

Jericho Bay Lobster Skiff

A forgiving outboard-powered boat

The Jericho Bay Lobster Skiff seen here is a strip-planked, fiberglass-sheathed copy of a plank-on-frame hull designed by Joel White and built by Jimmy Steele in the 1970s.

JANE ANN

A traditional daysailer

This 18’ cat-ketch, designed by Connecticut-based naval architect Rob Pittaway for New England’s coastal waters, is equally at home on the Great Lakes or inland waters, under sail, auxiliary outboard power, or oars.

Sailing Surf Dory

A great all-around performer from Lowell’s Boat Shop

A comparatively round-sided dory, the Sailing Surf Dory handles well under sail or oars. This boat is a 14-footer, and Lowell’s Boat Shop in Amesbury, Massachusetts, also builds 16’, 18’, and 20’ versions.

Townsend Tern

A small cruiser full of ideas and innovations

For a 23’6” boat, the Townsend Tern packs in plenty of the necessities of life for a cruising couple. She is designed to be simple to sail singlehanded, with unstayed carbon-fiber masts that are hinged at the tabernacles to make them easy to lower for trailering.

Small Boat Details

A gallery of ideas to improve your small boat

Small boats provide endless opportunity for innovative thinking. We've prowled the waterfront seeking clever and aesthetically pleasing solutions to some of the common problems posed by small boats: how to rig them, how to move them, how to stow gear aboard them, how to steer them, and how to live comfortably aboard them.

Paul Gartside Daysailer

Aboard Small Boats - A Video Series

Paul Gartside's 14' daysailer is a classic example of a "big" little boat. SKYLARK was built at WoodenBoat School by students in the Fundamentals of Boatbuilding program.

Haven 12 ½

Aboard Small Boats - A Video Series

Designed by Joel White, the Haven 12 ½ is a handsome daysailer based on the Herreshoff 12 ½ but modified for a centerboard.

Ocean Pointer

An updated legend

The David Stimson–designed Ocean Pointer, a 19 1⁄2' center-console outboard skiff, stands on the broad shoulders of a long Maine tradition.

The PT Skiff

Seakindly and fuel-efficient

The fuel-efficient PT Skiff handles well under a range of conditions and speeds, can carry a load, and moves well with just a 20-hp outboard.

Shellback Dinghy

Aboard Small Boats - A Video Series

The Shellback Dinghy, designed by Joel White, is an excellent entry-level craft for those learning to sail or row.

The Beachcomber-Alpha Dory

A classic racer from Marblehead, Massachusetts

Small-boat designer and builder Daniel Noyes launched his Beachcomber-Alpha dory—with some alterations—in 2008 as a kind of tribute to maritime historian John Gardner. John Gardner drew his lines for the Beachcomber-Alpha dory in the early 1970s.

Mackinaw Boat

Aboard Small Boats - A Video Series

Designer Nelson Zimmer based this double-ender shoal-draft ketch design on the Mackinaw boats that worked Lake Michigan and Lake Superior during the late 1800s.

Drake

A faering for today’s oarsman

From the 2010 Small Boats Annual - Looking for a seaworthy boat suitable for fast solo or tandem rowing in open water, Clint Chase found his inspiration, as many small-craft designers do, in the faerings of Scandinavia.

Black Skimmer

A Phil Bolger sharpie

From the 2010 Small Boats Annual - The 25'3" Black Skimmer floats in 10" of water and sails handily in not much more. She stays with, or ahead of, most stock boats of comparable size on all points (including to windward)...and nearly always outdistances cruisers of similar cost.