Series

March 2019

Whitehall 17

A classic form, strip-built, from Glen-L

Glen-L is well known for designs for plywood boat building, but their 17’ Whitehall is designed to be strip planked. The lightweight cedar hull is easily driven, runs straight, and can easily sustain 4 knots with a solo rower at the oars.

March 2019

Downriver, Part 1

Rowing the Upper Mississippi

When David Hudson built a 17’ dory in his back yard last summer, he had in mind to row and sail it the 1,800 miles of the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to the Gulf of Mexico. The journey was not about racking up miles but gathering experience and memories.

March 2019

Fender Washers

Beyond the reach of clamps

You can never have too many clamps, but there are some jobs that clamps simply can’t do. Screws and fender washers put the pressure on those places where clamps can’t reach.

March 2019

Resp-O-Rator

Better breathing for the bearded

Airborne dust in the shop poses a real health threat, but bearded boatbuilders won’t get adequate protection from a face mask if it doesn’t provide a good seal. The Resp-O-Rator solves the problem with a mouthpiece like that used with a snorkel.

March 2019

Portable Running Lights

LED lights from Innovative Lighting

A lot of small boats aren’t wired with electrical systems, so battery-powered running lights are in order for traveling at night. We take a look at a set from Innovative Lighting.

March 2019

Craftsmanship and Courage

Peter Sibley

Peter Sibley is an Australian boatbuilder who revels in all of the tasks and tools that go into a boatbuilding project. His Jim, a canoe yawl design from Selway-Fisher, give us a look at the work Peter does, with a little help from his friends.

February 2019

Belle Daysailer

A 16' daysailer

BELLE, a 16’ daysailer, was drawn up by Daniel Gonneau for his own use, but the lightweight glued-plywood lapstrake hull, combined with classic steam-bent coamings and gaff rig, commanded the interest of small-boat aficionados, and there will no longer be one BELLE but many.

February 2019

Parker Dinghy

A shapely mid-century workboat

In the 1940s, Lindon Parker designed and built a carvel-planked boat for tending the herring weirs around Deer Island, New Brunswick. The design would have been lost if the last of the shapely carvel dinghies had not caught the eye of Harry Bryan, who cleaned it up and took its lines.

February 2019

A Superior Circumnavigation

Two women, two kayaks, 1,200 miles

Uma Blanchard and Sophie Goeks, two college students with their final exams recently completed, launched kayaks from Little Sand Bay on Wisconsin’s Lake Superior shore and headed west. When they returned to the launch site 86 days later, they approached it from the east, having paddled the entire 1,200 mile perimeter of the greatest of the Great Lakes.

February 2019

Fillet Brazing for Custom Boat Hardware

DIY custom fittings

Mark Kaufman wanted deck fittings that were a good match for the runabout he’d built to plans published in 1938. There were no suitable fittings he could buy and casting them was not in the cards. He shows us how he made his own with brass, bronze, and brazing alloy.

February 2019

Oscillating Multi-tools

DeWalt’s DWE315

The first oscillating cutting tools were created for cutting plaster casts off the limbs of patients who had broken bones. That was in 1967. Today they’re known as multi-tools and they can take on jobs that are impossible for other power tools or painfully tedious to do by hand.

February 2019

Bernzomatic’s TS 8000

Serious heat made simple

The ordinary propane torch is a useful tool but somewhat limited in what it can do by the amount of heat it can create. The Bernzomatic TS 8000, with its larger flame, faster fuel consumption, and the ability to use both propane and hotter-burning MAP-Pro gas increases the range of possibilities.

February 2019

Flat-Bottomed Skiff HERON

A new Blake-built boat

Nick Blake, a popular SBM contributor, designed and built an outboard skiff with the help of his father, Daniel. As they have done with the other boats they’ve built, they started with logs from trees grown on the family woodlands and slabbed with a mill only yards from their shop.

January 2019

Classic 17

A snug outboard from Bateau.com

The Classic 17, a design for homebuilders from Bateau.com, is a compact outboard cruiser with a 1950s vibe and contemporary stitch-and-glue plywood construction.

January 2019

Morbic 11

A new Vivier design

Gary Brown asked François Vivier if his Morbic 12 could be built strip-planked rather than lapstrake plywood, and he replied: “Yes, with some modification.” The simple question inspired a thorough redesign and the creation of the Morbic 11.

January 2019

Missouri Breaks

Under solar power in Montana

Rick Retzlaff, an engineering professor, needed a project to keep him happily and productively occupied during a long Saskatchewan winter, so he devised a solar-powered micro-cruiser. The build and sea trials were a success and he set out for a solo cruise on the Missouri River through the Montana countryside.

January 2019

Boxing a Bigger GPS

A bit bigger, a lot better

A handheld GPS is a valuable tool for the small-boat cruiser, but its small screen can be hard to read. Ben Fuller took a larger GPS that’s meant to be built into a console, combined it with a waterproof box and battery, and made a system that’s nearly as portable as a handheld and much more practical.

January 2019

Trailer Guide Posts

Less drama at the ramp

Trailer guide posts can be your new best friend at the ramp when you’re on your own and struggling to get your boat lined up on the trailer and operate the winch at the same time.

January 2019

A 1″ x 30″ belt sander

Just 20 seconds to change belts

A 1”x 30” belt sander is a small benchtop machine that can not only handle woodworking projects too small for other power tools, but also work metal from rough shaping to polishing.

January 2019

A Boat of His Own

A square-stern wood-and-canvas canoe

Jon Wiegand built canoes for his kids and a kayak for his wife before he gave much thought to a boat for himself. With the three strip-building projects to his credit, he decided to raise the stakes and build a wood-and-canvas canoe and the form the traditional construction requires.

December 2018

St. Ives Punt

Local boat, wide appeal

The tenders serving the fishing fleet of St. Ives, on the north coast of Cornwall, had a rough life. When the seas were breaking in the harbor, the tenders at anchor would get battered by breaking waves at the water’s edge with each turn of the tide. Jonny Nance designed his St. Ives sailing punt to be stout enough to survive.

December 2018

Stickleback Canoe

An Oughtred canoe

If it’s true that smaller boats get used more frequently, Iain Oughtred’s wee Stickleback will rarely sit idle for long. It’s a featherweight canoe that’s easy to carry and well suited to backwaters few other boats can explore.

December 2018

River People

A Shantyboat on the Sacramento River

Wes Modes spent two years building a shantyboat using salvaged materials and in 2014 he began voyaging America’s rivers. He takes us along on his voyage down California’s Sacramento River.

December 2018

Shop-Made Riveting Hammers

The right tool for the job

If sanding is the most tedious boatbuilding task, peening rivets has to be a close second. A hammer made for the job is easier on the wrist and less prone to buckling the rivets.

December 2018

A MacIntosh Canvas Boat

Built by 4th and 5th graders

Brookwood School, serving kids from Pre-K to the 8th grade, decided that building a boat would be a good fit for their “project-based learning” approach to education, so they put fourth- and fifth-grade students to work on a wood-and-canvas tender designed by Ned MacIntosh.