To the Black Sea

Small Boats Annual 2008

Acorn 13

A jewel of a boat

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - Designer Iain Oughtred’s Acorn 13 has evolved from a series of designs, starting with a 7' 10" dinghy. With his 11' 8" Acorn, he used a finer hull for rowing and sailing, and the 13' version of the Acorn is simply the 11' 8" version stretched by spacing the construction molds a little…

Small Boats Annual 2008

Redwing

A power skiff for simple cruising

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - Karl Stambaugh’s REDWING 18 is a plywood boat based on a Howard Chapelle design of traditional construction. Stambaugh designed his version “to make her easier to build while keeping the traditional appearance of the Chapelle design.”

Small Boats Annual 2008

Shearwater

A pulling boat with auxiliary sail power

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - Shearwater is a lithe, easily built adaptation of a traditional Norwegian design—the oselver, or Os estuary boat.

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June 2021

Lunatec Spray Bottle

A better bottle under pressure

A built-in air pump equips Lunatec’s spray bottle with a lot of functions that ordinary water bottles don’t have. From cooling off in the heat of the day to taking a quick sip of water in the middle of the night.

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June 2021

Fixing Checked Plywood

An epoxy cure for weathered plywood

When plywood hasn’t aged well, it can crack the paint covering it, letting water in and accelerating the damage. Kent and Audrey have restored several old plywood boats and share their methods for stabilizing the vulnerable veneer with epoxy.

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Small Boats Annual 2022June 2021

Expedition Rowboat from Angus

A sliding-seat cruiser from Angus Rowboats

The Expedition Rowboat from Angus Rowboats was designed by Julie and Colin Angus for their 2,600-mile journey from Scotland to Syria. The stitch-and-glue cruiser has the speed and seaworthiness to take on less ambitious adventures with ease.

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Small Boats Annual 2022June 2021

Oz Goose

A box that takes flight

The Oz Goose from Australian designer Michael Storer may look a bit like a sandbox but it is a high-performance sailer that can get up on plane and fly at speeds around 12 knots. Easy and inexpensive to build, it has achieved remarkable popularity as a racer, cruiser, trainer, and day boat.

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June 2021

Baker Lake

The mirror of a mountain

Baker Lake is an 8-mile-long reservoir that lies at the foot of a 10,781’ volcano in Washington. On a summer weekend it can be crowded with hundreds of boats, campers, and beachgoers, but on a midweek cruise in May, our editor had the lake almost all to himself.

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June 2021

Porta Potties

Dometic 972 and Thetford 135

Adhering to the most difficult principle of the Leave-No-Trace ethic is a whole lot easier if you can bring a portable toilet along. We take a look at two compact porta-potties from Thetford and Dometic.

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June 2021

A Tubby Tug

From lumber to launch in 33 hours

John Lee, his father, and three friends rose to the Edensaw Boatbuilding Challenge to build a boat during the three days of the 2018 Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. Their Glen-L Tubby Tug turned out to be a charming keeper.

Small Boats Annual 2008

The Core Sound Series

Camp-cruisers with attitude

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - Designed by Graham Byrnes, the Core Sound 17 was a development of his earlier Spindrift 10-footer and Bay River Skiff 17. The latter, inspired by the traditional working skiffs of the Hatteras area in North Carolina, was conceived in the late 1980s as a “good utility boat that could be rowed, motored, and…

Small Boats Annual 2008

WAYWARD

An efficient canal and river cruiser

An easily driven hull needn’t be unattractive, as designer Paul Gartside has proved with WAYWARD, which relies on a 25-hp outboard for propulsion.

Small Boats Annual 2008

The Weekend Dinghy

High pleasure per pound

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - The Weekend Dinghy, designed by Karl Stambaugh, is a quickly and simply built stitch-and-glue skiff. The Weekend Dinghy may be kept a simple rowboat, or rigged to sail.

Small Boats Annual 2008

The 18′ Mower Dory

A boat for fine rowing and sailing

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - The 18' Mower Dory is an evolution of the beach-launched fishing boats of Swampscott, Massachusetts. Fishermen were skeptical of these boats when the type debuted in the early 1900s; these dories gained respect rapidly, however, for their windward ability and dryness.

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Small Boats Annual 2022May 2021

Jiffy V-22

An outboard cruiser with a lobsterboat look

The Jiffy V-22, designed by Arch Davis, is an outboard-powered V-bottom cabin cruiser with comfortable accommodations for two and a cockpit roomy enough for several guests.

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Small Boats Annual 2022May 2021

Sandpiper

An easily built skiff for sail and oar

Conrad Natzio’s Sandpiper is a 14’ skiff for oar and sail that’s designed for quick construction by amateur builders. Its removable leeboard keeps the cockpit clear to make more room for the crew.

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May 2021

A Gulf Coast Cruise

By sail and motor from Florida to Mississippi

Two doctors, both feeling worn out by the pandemic, took a well-deserved break to cruise over 300 miles on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. They sailed open water when they could and reluctantly resorted to motoring the Intracoastal Waterway when they had to.

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Small Boats Annual 2022May 2021

Boat Trailering Tips

Safe towing to the ramp and back

If spring is your time to hit the road with your boat in tow, Kent and Audrey Lewis will guide you through taking a look at your trailer to make sure it will get you and your boat to the launch site safely.

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May 2021

EuroSchirm Trekking Umbrellas

Shelter on board and ashore

For those times when a hat or a hood just isn’t enough protection from the sun or the rain, an umbrella can give you just the right amount of shelter underway in your boat or exploring the shore.

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May 2021

Trangia Stove

A multi-fuel camp stove

Trangia first developed their wind-proof camp stove in 1951 and now, seven decades later, the original design is still in production along with refinements that allow it to use several types of fuel.

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Small Boats Annual 2022May 2021

AVANTI

On plane with a single sheet of plywood

Riley Hall, a shipwright leading the restoration of a 96-year-old purse seiner, spent his free time recently designing and building an outboard skiff that required only one sheet of plywood to build and could get on plane with a 2.5-hp outboard.

Small Boats Annual 2008

CARPENTER

A beach-explorer tender with a design pedigree

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - Paul LaBrie is new to professional boatbuilding, but the design he chose for his first commercial project is one of the oldest in this publication. CARPENTER was drawn up by L. Francis Herreshoff in the summer of 1929—his Design No. 41—and featured in his book Sensible Cruising Designs.

Small Boats Annual 2008

Freestone Classic Drift Boat

Wooden boats for whitewater

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - The basic drift boat form evolved from various sources: among the boats that made their way from the East Coast to the West Coast in the 19th century were log-driving bateaux and fishing dories. These flat-bottomed types were later adapted for use on Oregon’s McKenzie and Rogue Rivers, where they were given considerably…

Small Boats Annual 2007

Zephyr

Nostalgia with 10 coats of varnish

Already a monumental success in 1950, Chris-Craft thought to use up their mountain of mahogany scrap by cutting kits for handsome plywood power skiffs. It must have been some mountain; Chris-Craft claims that between 1950 and 1958 they shipped 93,000 boat kits in 13 different models sized from 8' to 31'.

Small Boats Annual 2007

The Ness Yawl

A thoroughbred’s blend of ability and beauty

Few boats developed from a traditional working boat are as adaptable to small boat sailing as a Ness Yawl, and few are as much fun. It’s worth remembering, however, that it can be adapted to different requirements. The Oughtred Ness Yawl is light, and her 15' 8" waterline length gives her speed and also safety. Even as she comes up…

Acorn 13

Redwing

Shearwater

Lunatec Spray Bottle

Fixing Checked Plywood

Expedition Rowboat from Angus

Oz Goose

Baker Lake

Porta Potties

A Tubby Tug

The Core Sound Series

WAYWARD

The Weekend Dinghy

The 18′ Mower Dory

Jiffy V-22

Sandpiper

A Gulf Coast Cruise

Boat Trailering Tips

EuroSchirm Trekking Umbrellas

Trangia Stove

AVANTI

CARPENTER

Freestone Classic Drift Boat

Zephyr

The Ness Yawl

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