To the Black Sea

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Small Boats Annual 2010

DN 60 Iceboat

A tinkerer’s dream

America’s Great Depression was in full swing in the mid-1930s when The Detroit News held a design competition for a simple, inexpensive racing iceboat that could be built in a garage or basement workshop, and be easily transported on top of a car. The result was a 12' craft that appealed to Detroiters looking for an affordable diversion from their…

Small Boats Annual 2010

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.

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Small Boats Annual 2023March 2022

Handy Billy

An outboard out of sight

Handy Billy, Harry Bryan’s V-bottom launch, has classic lines inspired by William Hand’s deep-V inboards of the early 1900s but gets its power from a modern 4-stroke 25-hp outboard. Concealed by a housing over the motorwell, the outboard is hidden from view and as quiet as it can be.

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Small Boats Annual 2023March 2022

Colonia Dinghy

A 17' daysailer from N. G. Herreshoff

In 1901, N. G. Herreshoff designed a 17’ sailing dinghy for the steam yacht COLONIA. The boat proved successful, and 36 more Colonia dinghies were built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Sea trials aboard a 1975 copy suggest the design would be well worth reviving.

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March 2022

Sailing the Archipelago Sea

A father-and-daughter cruise on Finland’s coast

Finland’s Archipelago Sea is dappled with countless islands, making it an idyllic setting for a cruise aboard a faering. Mats Vuorenjuuri and his daughter Inari sailed a crooked path to an island far from the mainland coast.

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March 2022

It’s a Wrap

Clamping with stretch wrap and inner tubes

Gluing laminates for spars, oars, and paddles can be fussy and messy jobs for clamps. Stretch wrap and rubber strips are a better way even if you have enough clamps, and inexpensive if you don’t.

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March 2022

Quick Change Jack

An easy lift for roadside repairs

When a trailer’s tires or bearings fail, having the tools to make the change can save an outing from being turned into an ordeal. The Quick Change Jack has no moving parts and takes only seconds to use.

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March 2022

Small Boat Head System

A compact way to leave no trace

The Small Boat Head System from Duckworks provides a convenient way to take a restroom break ashore without leaving a trace and afloat if you just can’t wait.

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March 2022

HOPEWELL

Staying afloat

When an artist with an affection for boats suffered a heart attack, he was in the midst of a multi-year project of building a small outboard runabout. The challenges he faced in building boats gave him valuable insights about meeting the unexpected challenges of life.

Small Boats Annual 2010

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.

Small Boats Annual 2010

Black Skimmer

A Phil Bolger sharpie

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.

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Small Boats Annual 2023February 2022

Utility Launch

Zimmer's

Nelson Zimmer designed his Utility Launch to shuttle people between towns and fishing camps in Canada’s North Woods. Powered by a small diesel motor, it’s efficient and elegant, and what he regarded as a “good, common-sense little boat.”

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Small Boats Annual 2023February 2022

Outer Banks 26

Cruising in comfort for two

The Outer Banks 26 is the newest and longest of the three Outer Banks cruisers from B&B. They are designed for economical cruising for a couple, with the 26 providing more features and additional room for multi-week adventures.

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February 2022

Pen Lake

Cruising Canoes in Algonquin Provincial Park

There are more than 1,500 lakes within the borders of Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park. Phil Boyer and friend spent four days exploring three of them in canoes that Phil designed and built.

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February 2022

Removable Floorboards

Removable panels to protect and preserve

Floorboards are often fastened directly to steam-bent frames in traditionally built lapstrake boats. Boatbuilder Eric Hvalsoe developed a system to make floorboards that are easily removable and don’t damage the frames.

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February 2022

Custom Tie-Downs

Purpose-built straps for safe transport

There are many ways to secure a boat to the trailer that carries it, but the best system is one that is just tight enough, doesn’t damage the boat, and is convenient to use. CustomTieDowns offers a wide array of straps and fittings to do the job right.

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February 2022

Impact Fenders

Useful beyond the dock

If your boat fenders get put away after launch and stowed until you get back to the ramp, they spend most of their time taking up valuable space. Impact Fenders make themselves useful while you’re underway or taking a break on shore.

February 2022

TRIO

Divide by three and conquer

A small living room for a shop and a small car for storage and transport didn’t stand in the way of Paul Sesto’s dream of building a boat; he designed and built a sectional boat with three nesting pieces.

Small Boats Annual 2010

Kingfisher and Kookaburra

These birds can fly

Graeme King has devoted his career to designing and building wooden rowing shells. He developed the Kingfisher single for the home builder who desires a fast and elegant recreational shell.

Small Boats Annual 2010

The Penguin Class

A family-friendly racing dinghy

Designed by Philip Rhodes in 1933, the Penguin has had an enduring legacy as a racing dinghy, with more than 9,700 built. The plywood, hard-chined boats are simple to build.

Small Boats Annual 2010

Grey Seal

A Norse spirit in modern wood construction

Grey Seal is a comfortable pocket cruiser. Her double-ended shape, strong sheer, and lapstrake planking hearken to her Scandinavian influence. Glued lapstrake construction makes her accessible to the home builder.

Small Boats Annual 2010

The Morris 17′ Model A

The height of romance in the wood-and-canvas canoe

After World War II, aluminum canoes chipped away at the wood-and-canvas canoe’s popularity, and by the mid-1960s fiberglass ruled the market. However, in the mid-1980s, a few impassioned builders led a wood-and-canvas revival. Among them was canoe-builder Rollin Thurlow. He chose the Morris 17' Model A as one of the designs to help lead the charge.

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Small Boats Annual 2023January 2022

Sand Dollar

A skiff for oar, sail, and outboard from Arch Davis Design

Arch Davis designed the Sand Dollar as a boat that a novice woodworker could build. The flat-bottom skiff can be rowed, propelled with a small outboard, or equipped with one of the three sailing rigs detailed in the plans.

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January 2022

Port Aransas Skiff

A shallow-draft outboard

The Port Aransas Skiff was developed in a Texas Gulf Coast fishing town for fishing and duck hunting in the flats and shallows of the nearby barrier islands. Originally designed for sailing and rowing, the skiffs are now built for outboard power.

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January 2022

Thwarted

A solo row to Florida’s Dog Island

Something would be missing if every cruise went as expected and that’s the satisfaction in rising to meet the unexpected. A lot of things went wrong during Bill Hutton’s short cruise to one of Florida’s barrier islands, but the experience was more fulfilling than what he’d imagined.

Series

DN 60 Iceboat

The Beachcomber-Alpha Dory

Handy Billy

Colonia Dinghy

Sailing the Archipelago Sea

It’s a Wrap

Quick Change Jack

Small Boat Head System

HOPEWELL

Drake

Black Skimmer

Utility Launch

Outer Banks 26

Pen Lake

Removable Floorboards

Custom Tie-Downs

Impact Fenders

TRIO

Kingfisher and Kookaburra

The Penguin Class

Grey Seal

The Morris 17′ Model A

Sand Dollar

Port Aransas Skiff

Thwarted

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