Series

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 catalog, 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.

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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.

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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.

February 2017

FIRE-DRAKE

A sail-and-oar cruiser

When Alex Zimmerman decided to build a camp-cruising boat for himself, he applied his mechanical engineering training to use and started by crunching numbers. What he ended up with, FIRE-DRAKE, is a lapstrake boat that is as much a work of art as of science.

January 2017

EMZARA

A Jericho Bay Lobster Skiff

John Adamson visited the WoodenBoat campus in the fall of 2009 and was taken by two Jericho Bay Lobster Skiffs: the original plank-on-frame version built by Jimmy Steele in the early 1970s, sitting on a trailer parked in front of the WoodenBoat Store, and a strip-planked version built by Tom Hill, at anchor near the WoodenBoat boathouse. A few years later he built one for himself.

January 2017

Joe’s Roller Cart

Take a load on

Moving boats around can be difficult, but homemade rollers can be used on everything from pavement to soft sand.

January 2017

Pogies

Warm Hands in Winter

Rowing in winter with bare hands can be quite unpleasant. Warm gloves help, but can compromise grip. Pogies wrap around both hand and oar, providing warmth without coming between hand and handle.

January 2017

Thin Rip Table Saw Jig

An Aid to Lamination

The Rockler Thin Rip Jig is economical and makes reducing a board to a pile of uniform, ready-to-laminate strips a whole lot faster and safer.

January 2017

Seaclipper 16

A folding trimaran for the home builder

The Seaclipper 16 can be built as an open-cockpit cruiser or a daysailer with a tandem cockpit. Equipped with side decks between the akas, it offers good options for seating, moving around while under sail, and sleeping aboard while moored.