To the Black Sea

Small Boats Annual 2007

The Macomber 15

A fast and heavy skiff from Westport, Massachusetts

You can walk across the Westport River in southern Massachusetts at low tide. It's a mile or so across in some places, but the depth at full ebb is only 4′. If you want to cross that water with dry feet, then you need a shallow-draft boat. If you want to venture on that water to clam flats or to…

Small Boats Annual 2007

The WindSprite 26

An easy-to-build, multichined hull for performance daysailing

Frank Pedersen designed a light-displacement planing hull, and WINDSPRITE's abilities as a performance daysailer have been anything but a disappointment to him. With basic accommodations and without expensive electrical or mechanical systems, she’s all about fast daysailing at minimal cost.

Small Boats Annual 2007

The Annapolis Wherry

Quick to build, fast to row

Faster than a typical skiff, yet more stable than a recreational shell, the light (65 lbs) Annapolis Wherry from Chesapeake Light Craft offers healthy exercise and satisfying speed. The Wherry goes together LapStitch fashion, which produces a clean interior with few frames.

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September 2020

3’S A CROWD

A true novice’s first boat

Joe Lanni had dreamed of building a boat, but he had a few hand tools for simple projects around the house, no boatbuilding experience and only a deck for a work space. He forged ahead and in two months had a boat that he could row and sail.

5

September 2020

Mudder Boots

Flexible wings for a big footprint

Some intertidal zones have deep, sticky mud that will pull your boots off if you try walking through it. Mudders, strapped to your boots, have wings that fan out to keep you from sinking and then fold back in so you can walk normally.

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September 2020

WEST Special Clear Hardener

A 105 epoxy mix for finish work

If you’ve used WEST System epoxy, you may be familiar with the slow and fast hardeners, but might not have heard of the 207 Special Clear Hardener. It doesn’t blush, has a UV inhibitor mixed in, and can make a durable bright finish.

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September 2020

Tiller Extensions

An important element of boat trim

To get the best boat trim in a small sailing skiff, you shouldn’t be planted in the stern next to the tiller. Ben Fuller offers some easily made extensions that let you get your weight forward.

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September 2020

Solace of the South Salish

A sojourn by sail and oar

Looking for a place to breathe freely in the midst of the pandemic, Bruce Bateau set sail on Washington’s narrow waterways at the southern extremity of the Salish Sea. He spent four restorative nights at anchor in coves too small and too shallow for most boats.

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September 2020

Ultra-Light Solo Packboat

A versatile Kevlar rowing boat

The 12’ Ultra-Light Solo Packboat weighs just 34 lbs, about as light as a boat designed for rowing can be. With a Kevlar composite hull and cherry trim, it is both tough and comely.

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Small Boats Annual 2021September 2020

Midget Flyer

A smart little runabout from 1938 designed by Bruce N. Crandall

The 10’ Midget Flyer made its debut in the January issue of Motor Boating in 1938 and might have quietly slipped into obscurity if not for Mark Kaufmann’s desire to have an exciting boat he could power with an antique outboard motor he had restored.

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Small Boats Annual 2007

The Ben Garveys

Simple boats for work or play

Boats don’t always need to have pointy forward ends. Here we have two easily built, square-ended workhorses that will handle all sorts of waterfront chores—and look just fine while they’re about it. Designed by Maine boatbuilder Doug Hylan, the 15' 9" and 19' 0" Ben Garveys will earn their wages.

Norwalk Islands 26 - Boat from Small Boats 2007 Annual

Small Boats Annual 2007

The Norwalk Islands 26

Fast, shoal-draft, and self-righting

The sheet-plywood Norwalk Islands Sharpie can easily be built in the backyard, yet it outperforms more expensive yachts. Its simple cat-ketch rig needs no standing rigging (wire shrouds and stays that support the masts). The outboard-motor lifts into its own house when idle—no ugly mounting bracket, no hydrodynamic drag.

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August 2020

The Turners’ Canoes

A canoe for each man, woman, and child

Frank Turner built a canoe for himself as a new challenge to his woodworking skills. It turned out that he enjoyed paddling and so did his family, so he built three more canoes. One for his wife, and one for each of his two sons.

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August 2020

Duck Trap Wherry

Forty years a classic

Walt Simmons first offered plans for the Duck Trap Wherry in 1980 as a pulling boat for traditional construction. Later, in response to requests from his customers, he created a lighter version in glued-lapstrake plywood and added a sailing rig.

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August 2020

Dammed

Exploring Washington's Riffe Lake

Riffe Lake is a reservoir in the foothills of Washington State’s Cascade Mountains, an idyllic setting but for the shoreline’s reminders of abandoned towns, lost forests, and an aging dam.

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August 2020

Discovery View Dry Bags

Removing the mystery

Kent and Audrey Lewis row, paddle, and sail their fleet of boats in the warm waters of the Florida panhandle. While they don’t mind getting wet, the gear they take with them needs to stay dry. Their Discovery View dry bag does the job.

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August 2020

LED Shop Lighting

Better lighting for finer work

To do good work in the shop, you need to see what you’re doing. While fluorescent tubes have long been the standard shop lights, new LED strip lights are brighter, more economical, last longer, and don’t flicker or hum.

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August 2020

Gartside’s Centerboard Lugger

Old ways at work

Paul Gartside drew the inspiration for his Centerboard Lugger from British workboats of a century ago. With its traditional lapstrake hull and lug-yawl rig, it’s nearly identical to the boats of the past. The addition of a centerboard trunk is the only notable “upgrade” from the original.

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August 2020

Hook Scrapers

Inexpensive and versatile

Hook scrapers are inexpensive tools that make themselves useful in building and renovating boats, whether shaving wood, smoothing cured epoxy, or removing old paint.

Small Boats Annual 2022July 2020

Built by the Book

David Parker's Paper Canoe

New Zealander David Parker was in the midst of strip-building a canoe when he decided to use its hull, still upside down on the strongback, as a mold for a canoe made of laminated paper. Paper boats were once hi-tech marvels, but that was in the last third of the 19th century.

July 2020

Impact Drivers

Power and finesse

Impact drivers may seem like tools for heavy work, but while they have a lot of screw-driving power, they can provide exceptional control and greatly reduce the number of screws that get damaged.

July 2020

High-Performance Foils

Shaping better centerboards and rudders

Sailors often look aloft to see if their sails are taking their best shape and getting the best performance from the wind. Builders of sailboats,too, should pay close attention to the shaping of a boat's rudder and daggerboard or centerboard. Alex Zimmerman explains NACA foils and the difference they can make.

July 2020

Antennas for VHF

An elevated accessory antenna can increase a handheld radio's range

Handheld VHF radios are very useful for communication from a small boat, especially in an emergency. Their height above the water determines their range and Ben Fuller covers more territory with his VHF by attaching it to an auxiliary antenna that's elevated on a pole.

Small Boats Annual 2021July 2020

A Solar Solo

Cruising the Rideau Canal

Phil Boyer takes a look back at his first fully solar-powered cruise. In SOL CANADA, a boat he built with a canopy covered with solar cells, he traveled 125 miles from Kingston, Ontario, to Ottawa, along a canal system that has been carrying boat traffic since 1832.

July 2020

Spira’s Hudson Skiff

An easy-to-build outboard skiff

The Hudson Skiff from Spira International is a simple 15-footer for outboard power. Typical of Spira designs, the skiff can be built with inexpensive common lumber by novice boatbuilders with modest woodworking skills and limited access to tools.

Series

The Macomber 15

The WindSprite 26

The Annapolis Wherry

3’S A CROWD

Mudder Boots

WEST Special Clear Hardener

Tiller Extensions

Solace of the South Salish

Ultra-Light Solo Packboat

Midget Flyer

The Ben Garveys

The Norwalk Islands 26

The Turners’ Canoes

Duck Trap Wherry

Dammed

Discovery View Dry Bags

LED Shop Lighting

Gartside’s Centerboard Lugger

Hook Scrapers

Built by the Book

Impact Drivers

High-Performance Foils

Antennas for VHF

A Solar Solo

Spira’s Hudson Skiff

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