Series

July 2022

Excursion

A strip-built kayak for novice boatbuilders and beginning paddlers

The Excursion is a stable recreational kayak for quiet coastal waters and lakes. The kit from Newfound Woodworks can provide a novice with an easy introduction to strip-building boats.

July 2022

Norway’s England Sailors

Crossing the North Sea to honor Norwegian heroes of WWII

During World War II, hundreds of Norwegians took to small boats to escape their enemy-occupied homeland. Eighty years later, four Norwegian mariners repeated their North Sea crossing to Scotland.

July 2022

Dehydrating for Cruising Cuisine

Home-prepared foods that travel well and taste great

With a food dehydrator, you can prepare a wide array of camp-cruising foods that won’t spoil or crush, require refrigeration or protective packaging, or take up much cooking time and fuel.

July 2022

Sailrite Sail Kits

Precut panels and patches for a strong and efficient DIY sail

Sailrite’s pre-cut sailcloth kits for small boat sails provide a clear path to a well-shaped sail that can be sewn on a home sewing machine. Audrey and Kent Lewis make Sailrite’s lugsail for their Nutshell pram.

July 2022

The Kitchen Sink

A sink that can fit in a pocket

A folding bowl from Germany serves many purposes afloat or ashore and when it’s not in use it makes a flat, compact bundle that’s easy to stow out of the way.

July 2022

MEGOLA

From corrugated roofing and rusty nails to cypress strips and epoxy

Ernest Pattillo cobbled together his first boat at the age of 10 and built his last, MEGOLA, an electric runabout, at 78. Although his six boats may come and go, his memories of them remain.

June 2022

Brockway Skiff

A budget-friendly skiff for professional and recreational watermen

Richard Earle Brockway of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, built 5,000 boats before he passed away in 1996 at the age of 76. His utilitarian 14′ plywood skiff is quick and inexpensive to build.

June 2022

microBootlegger

A decked canoe with a Roaring Twenties flair

Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks combined the function of an 1880s Rushton double-paddle canoe with the look of a 1920s speedboat, to create an elegant strip-built tandem paddlecraft.

June 2022

Padre Island

Soloing along a Texan barrier island

Padre Island stretches for 113 miles along the Texas coast and separates the Gulf of Mexico from Laguna Madre. Roger Siebert, soloing his 15′ lug-rigged skiff, explores the protected west coast of the barrier island.

June 2022

A Spinnaker for Rowers

Running without rowing

With one oar for a mast, the other for a rudder, and a homemade spinnaker, you can put a following breeze to good use and take a pleasant break from rowing.

June 2022

Readywares’ Tool Roll Bag

A waxed canvas, 18-pocket tote for boat and trailer tools

With 18 pockets for tools and a zippered pocket for small items, this waxed canvas roll can keep the tools you need on the road or afloat in a compact water-resistant bundle.

June 2022

Ono Hatchet

A camper's hatchet from Silky

I like the configuration of the Ono—a small hatchet with a big blade—and found it as able a cutting tool as the other Silky tools I’ve bought.

June 2022

Thrown for a Curve

A second step, a leap forward

Reader Built Boat alumni Joe Lanni is back with his second boatbuilding project, an 11′ plywood double-paddle canoe

May 2022

A Take-Apart Boat Cart

An interlocking plywood frame for hand-truck wheels

A pair of hand-truck wheels, some bits of ¾” plywood and a steel axle are about all that’s needed to make a small-boat cart that comes apart for easy storage on board.

May 2022

Little Crab

Doug Hylan’s 13’ V-Bottomed Skiff for Sail and Oar

The Little Crab is a 13’ flat-bottomed skiff by Doug Hylan to serve as a tender to a yacht, a weekend camp-cruiser for two, or a boat for exploring protected waters under oar and sail.

May 2022

The Six-Hour Canoe

An easily built 15' double-blade plywood canoe

Designed by Mike O'Brien in 1977 to put two extra sheets of plywood to good use, the Six-Hour Canoe has been an introduction to boatbuilding and boating for thousands.

May 2022

Pond Island

A dinghy built for two

A September weekend cruise from Bass Harbor to Pond Island aboard an 11′ sail-and-oar dinghy made a pleasant Maine-Coast getaway for two.

May 2022

7 Seas 3-Eye Sneaker

A flexible boat shoe from Sperry

Sperry’s boating sneaker has scuppers and hydrophobic uppers to speed drying, 360° lacing that provides a snug fit at the heel, and a siped rubber sole for a sure grip on wet surfaces.

May 2022

TotalFair

Quick and easy epoxy fairing compound

TotalBoat’s two-part marine epoxy fairing compound isn’t fussy about mixing, goes on smoothly, and sands easily.

May 2022

The Education of a Serial Boatbuilder

When the work is its own reward

A Florida man confesses he’d rather build boats than go boating. With a half-dozen boats in his largely unused fleet, he’s running out of room to keep them.

April 2022

Hunky Dory

A beach-launched outboard fishing skiff

Patterned after the outboard dory skiffs of the Oregon Coast, Glen-L’s Hunky Dory has a wide flat bottom and an upturned bow, features that make it possible to launch from a broad sandy beach and safely negotiate the surf zone.

April 2022

La Paz

A plywood deep-V sportfisher

Glen-L’s La Paz is a center-console sportfishing boat with a deep-V hull that smooths the ride in rough water. The 100-gallon fuel tank under the cockpit sole gives the boat enough range to reach far-flung fishing holes.

April 2022

Umbagog Lake

Paddling in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire and Maine

Umbagog Lake straddles the north end of the New Hampshire/Maine border in the midst of the Great North Woods. Tom DeVries and company take us on a paddling tour of the lake with a freight canoe and two homebuilt sea kayaks.

April 2022

A Small-Boat Chart Holder

Taming Paper in an Open Boat

While electronic navigation devices are exceptionally useful, there are still good reasons for carrying a printed chart. A simple homemade holder protects charts and make them easier to use on an open boat.

April 2022

Boat Medic

Waterproof first-aid for the backcountry

Accidents happen. If they result in an injury when you’re far from medical care, a good first-aid kit is essential. The Boat Medic kit from MyMedic is well stocked and packed in a durable waterproof case.