Series

Small Boats Annual 2018May 2017

Lake Tanganyika

Rowing Africa's Great Lake in a leaky boat

An adventurer in Africa traded his bicycle for a sad-looking wooden boat and set out to explore Lake Tanganyika. With gaps between planks big enough to slip a pencil through, a map bereft of detail, and a remote and unforgiving coast ahead of him, what could possibly go wrong?

May 2017

Trim and Ballast

Movable weight for easier rowing and sailing

Dory stones were once common fixtures in working boats; a bag of buckshot or a soft-sided water container serves as well without doing any damage. Ben Fuller walks us through the benefits of movable ballast aboard small rowing and sailing boats.

May 2017

Waterproof Duffels

Storage for cruising and camping gear

Large waterproof duffel bags can provide a neat way of stowing cruising gear where the weight won’t make a boat sluggish in a seaway and speed setting up camp. Tom Pamperin puts five duffels to the test.

May 2017

Topside Marine Paint

George Kirby Jr. Paint Company

For more than 170 years, the George Kirby Jr. Paint Company has been making marine paints with noteworthy quality and colors.

May 2017

A Tenacious Tween

Building a Jericho Bay Lobster Skiff

A girl who had her heart set on having her own outboard skiff had enough determination to see a three-year project of building a Jericho Bay skiff through to the end. In our Reader Built Boat feature you’ll meet Hannah Dumser, a remarkable youngster who was thrilled to get epoxy for her birthday.

Small Boats Annual 2018April 2017

Woods Hole Spritsail Boat

From workboat to daysailer

The Woods Hole spritsail boats are similar to the iconic Cape Cod catboats, with a few distinct differences. They are sprit rigged, not gaff rigged, to make it easier to unstep the mast to pass underneath a stone bridge at the entrance their traditional harbor, narrower to allow them to be rowed by a lone fisherman, and have more freeboard for the notoriously rough waters of Vineyard Sound.

April 2017

A Faering on the Inside Passage, Part 2

Alaska

The second half of Editor Chris Cunningham’s story about rowing his replica of the Gokstad faering up the Inside Passage takes us into Alaskan waters for mud, icebergs, bears, and a railway portage.

Small Boats Annual 2018April 2017

The Glen-L Utility

Classic 1950s style in a boat that's simple to build, a joy to use

The Utility, a small general-purpose outboard, was designed in 1953 and is among Glen-L’s earliest designs. For over six decades, it has endured as a standard offering in the Glen-L catalogue, and with good reason. It was specifically designed to be affordable and easy to build for the first-time amateur builder.

April 2017

Gang-sawing

Quicker preparation for strip-building and laminating

Strip-built boats built from scratch start with a long, tedious task—ripping scores of cedar strips. Setting up a tablesaw to make four cuts at once saves time and improves accuracy.

April 2017

Smart Bottles

Flexible, collapsible water containers

Flexible, collapsible containers for drinking water come in handy aboard a small boat. They will nestle into small, irregular spaces, serve as moveable ballast when full, and take up a minimal amount of space when empty.

April 2017

Fulton Fold-Away Hinge

Making trailers fit

If you need to lengthen a trailer tongue to fit a longer boat or shorten one to fit an undersized parking place, a Fulton Fold-Away Hinge may be the solution.

April 2017

Boy Scout Boatbuilder

A CLC Night Heron

This stitch-and-glue kayak is the handiwork of a 13-year-old Boy Scout in pursuit of a Merit Badge in woodworking. He could have fulfilled the requirements for the badge by building a box with a hinged lid; the 18’ stitch-and-glue kayak he built was above and beyond.

Small Boats Annual 2018March 2017

Fairhaven Flyer

A light dory for solo or tandem rowing

The Fairhaven Flyer from Devlin Designing Boat Builders is a versatile 20’ light dory that can be rowed solo or tandem, with fixed thwarts or sliding seats, and used for exercise or adventure.

Small Boats Annual 2018March 2017

Saturday Night Special

More Bang for the Buck

The Saturday Night Special was John Welford’s idea for a fast beach cruiser that was so simple to build that you could arrive a few days early at a multi-day small boat cruise or raid, build the boat, participate in the event, and fly back home, leaving the boat behind for someone else to use.

March 2017

A Faering on the Inside Passage, Part 1

Washington and British Columbia

The Gokstad faering was the smallest of the boats found with a 9th-century Viking ship and in the eyes of our editor, Christopher Cunningham, a boat of unparalleled elegance. In 1986 he decided he had to build one. He tells the first part of the story about rowing his faering 1,000 miles north along the Inside Passage to Alaska.

March 2017

A Norwegian Tiller Keeper

Hands-off steering for push-pull tillers

Yawl rigs have become quite popular for small sail-and-oar cruisers. The Norwegian push-pull tillers call for a different kind of tiller minder; we take a look at a simple shop-made device that does the job.

March 2017

InReach SE

A satellite messenger from DeLorme

Cruising remote areas doesn’t necessitate being cut off from friends and family or help in an emergency. Alex Zimmerman carried DeLorme’s InReach SE on a summer cruise and reports on its performance.

March 2017

Aqua Bug outboards

Small, lightweight outboards

BikeBug, a company best known for motors that can be mounted on bicycles, manufactures two very small outboards, a 17-lb four-stroke and an 11-lb two-stroke.

March 2017

STILL THINKING

A Redwing 18

Barry Dusharm had built a few boats for rowing and paddling, so when he made the switch to power he built a Redwing 18 he named it STILL THINKING, the answer he’d given his wife when she asked if it would be his last boat.

Small Boats Annual 2018February 2017

Maine Coast Peapod

Joel White’s classic

The peapod might be one of the most easily identifiable, traditional small craft found on the coast of Maine today and Joel White’s classic take on this timeless design is perfectly suited for both sailing and rowing.

Small Boats Annual 2018February 2017

Tadpole Tender

Cottrell's 10' Whitehall

The Tadpole Tender from Cottrell Boatbuilding is a scaled-down Whitehall that can do well as a tender, a rowing trainer for kids, or a lightweight rowboat you can carry by cartop.

February 2017

The Wedding Canoe

A grand gift

After Dave MacDonald finished his first boat, a strip-built kayak, he couldn't wait to start another boatbuilding project. With two of his friends getting married in just six months, he started work on the perfect wedding gift for them: a canoe.

February 2017

Exploring the Poles

Propulsion where motors, oars, and paddles fail

When the water is deep enough to float a small boat, but too shallow for motors, oars, or paddles, try poling. We take a look at poles and how to use them.

February 2017

4-Way Clamping System

Quick, accurate edge-gluing

WoodRiver’s system produces flat panels by applying pressure on the faces as well as the edges of the boards being glued together.

February 2017

Bigboy

A saw for the out-of-doors

Whether you’re gathering wood for a campfire or salvaging windfalls for boatbuilding projects, Silky’s Bigboy cuts quickly and cleanly and is a lot more portable than a chainsaw.