Series

Small Boats Annual 2016September 2015

The Sand Bar by Tidal Roots

A Maine-built cedar SUP board

Kyle Schaefer and Kent Scovill are avid fly fishermen and four years ago, when a friend left a stand-up paddleboard with Kyle, they immediately used the board to give them a better way to find fish. A light went on: What if they designed a board for stability rather than speed, one that was built in Maine out of local materials, and built it of wood? They now make stand-up-paddle boards in a weathered, three-bedroom house in Eliot, Maine.

August 2015

GOOD’NUFF

A customized Caledonia yawl

Five years in the making, it was part of a Wisconsin man’s 10-year plan to prepare himself for retirement, but before he could get started on the yawl he had to build a bigger garage.

August 2015

The Original Bug Shirt

Armor against airborne arthropods

In bug country you can protect your skin and your sanity with clothing instead of chemicals.

August 2015

Steam-Cleaning Cured Epoxy

Cleaner clamps and faster clamping

Clamps coated with epoxy from gluing jobs soon become useless but there's a quick way to get them fully functional again.

August 2015

The Norwegian Tiller

User-friendly steering

Norwegian tillers—they're not just for faerings. They'll go where the helmsman goes and free up space in the stern. Depose your conventional tiller and reoccupy your sternsheets!

Small Boats Annual 2016August 2015

Made in Vermont

The journey of a dory from logging to launching

Charles Johnson’s adventure begins with harvesting trees that have grown in the woodlands in his home state of Vermont, and in the years that follow, he gathers both wood and wisdom from friends who help him on his way to launching NONA BELLE.

Small Boats Annual 2016August 2015

Saajuu 470

A craft for many purposes

In a country riddled with thousands of interconnected lakes, it’s no surprise that rowing would be a time-honored tradition. The glued-lapstrake Saajuu 470 is a modern take on workboats once rowed by Finland’s farmers, fishermen, and loggers.

Small Boats Annual 2016August 2015

The E.M. White Guide Canoe

A classic design from the 19th century

Sharon and Paul LaBrie celebrated their first wedding anniversary with a canoe trip on Maine’s Narraguagus River. For years they paddled an aluminum canoe but in the 40th year of their marriage they worked with canoe guru Jerry Stelmok to build the canoe they had always wanted, an E. M. White Guide.

July 2015

PILGRIM

A Karl Stambaugh Redwing 18

Every time she goes out on the water, PILGRIM draws compliments, and equally often the builder's wife says to him, “This is the best thing you have ever built.”

July 2015

Rope Fenders

A Norwegian Tradition

In Stavern, Norway, manila-rope fenders serve to adorn and protect the boats. During whale-hunting days, discarded towing lines were put aside by crewmen aboard the whalers and in their spare time, they used these spent lines to produce fenders.

July 2015

The Matsu Drysuit

Affordable cold-water protection from Mythic Gear

The Matsu doesn’t have all the details often found in more expensive drysuits, but the basics are all there and they do their jobs well.

July 2015

The Emberlit Original

A wood stove that's compact, efficient, and versatile

The Emberit fires up with any burnable material at hand: small branches, sticks, and even dry leaves.

July 2015

American Venice

Chesapeake Bay's Smith Island

Five boats set sail for Smith Island: two Joel White Marsh Cats, an Iain Oughtred Sooty Tern, a Howard Haven 12 ½, and a John Welsford Navigator, all hand-made, mostly owner built. Heading due west, they follow smudges of the island that come and go and when in doubt, aim for buoys, lights, and day markers.

Small Boats Annual 2016July 2015

The Mallard

A voyage from fantasy to reality

Inspired by SWALLOW, a boat that first gained fame in children’s fiction in the 1930s, Andrew Wolstenholme’s Mallard measures up to adventures in the real world. A “boat-shaped boat which will genuinely sail” it has “considerable visual appeal to inspire the builder in the first place and along the way.”

Small Boats Annual 2016July 2015

The SailZO

A new kit boat from Bristol, Rhode Island

The sailZO is a 15′8″ double-chined skiff with a beam of 4′5″, designed to perform well under both oar and sail, carry three adults, and afford a couple or a small family the opportunity to explore coastlines and lakes, whether for an afternoon, or an overnight camp-cruise.

June 2015

A San Juan Islands Solo

At home away from home

I’ve cruised small boats thousands of miles and in some miserable conditions, but I never had a Scarlett O’Hara moment—“As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.” I was slow to catch on, and the adventures that predictably made me hungry, cold, wet, tired only gradually lost their appeal. With each new boat I built for cruising, I incrementally eliminated sources of discomfort and displeasure.

Small Boats Annual 2016June 2015

The Somes Sound 12½

An amateur-friendly update of a Herreshoff classic

A century ago Nathanael Herreshoff designed a 16′ keelboat known widely as the H 12½ after her 12′6″ waterline length. She was intended to handle the steep chop and strong winds of the Eastern Seaboard, and to serve as a sailing trainer. John Brooks, after many requests from his students at WoodenBoat School, drew up plans for a glued-lapstrake version, and in 2002 launched the first Somes Sound 12½.

June 2015

A Prospector Ranger 15

A classic Canadian frontier canoe

Undeterred by a lack of experience, difficulty of procuring materials, the cost of the project, and not knowing where or how he would use a canoe, Andy Saunders bought plans and plunged in.

June 2015

The GravityWorks Water Purification System

Debugging in the backcountry

Test results of GravityWorks samples have always shown perfect drinking water no matter what source the water came from.

June 2015

The LandShark Survival Bag

Safety and versatility in a small package

The Land Shark Instant Survival Shelter is a multipurpose survival bag that’s affordable, lightweight, compact, and reversible from orange to camo.

June 2015

A Cam-Lever Planking Clamp

Homemade planking clamps as good as a helping hand

Cam-lever planking clamps can be applied with one hand, leaving the other hand free to hold and align the plank, and they’re very fast to operate going on and coming off.

Small Boats Annual 2016June 2015

The Marsh Cat

Everything from gunkholing to open-water sailing

Simplicity is certainly one of the Marsh Cat's most appealing traits. The single sheet and sail make solo sailing a breeze. There is no interior furniture to get in the way: The sole is the seat and the coaming is the backrest. The Cat can handle heavy loads and stay out when the rest of the fleet is heading for shelter. Its spacious accommodations are a delight when camp-cruising; the rig's reasonable setup time at the ramp isn’t an impediment to frequent use or going sailing on a whim.

May 2015

A Monkey’s Fist and Heaving Line

Seperate and versatile

Having a heaving line and monkey’s fist at the ready may spare you the embarrassment of throwing a line only to have it land in a heap far short of its target.

May 2015

Trailex SUT-350-S

Lightweight Aluminum Trailers

I learned early on that most damage to boat hulls is caused by improper transport, launching, retrieval and/or storage. To avoid any problems while I transported boats, a proper trailer was in order. At races and boat shows the most well-cared-for boats were transported on Trailex Trailers, with the SUT-350-S the apparent favorite.

Small Boats Annual 2016May 2015

A Lapstrake Livery Boat

A Whitehall for quick construction

What was left of the boat rotting in the brambles on the north shore of Clear Lake in Western Washington was once a very fast under oars. Back in the 1930’s John Thomas “could row it across the lake, fill up two gallon jugs with spring water and row halfway back on one cigarette.” When John Sack, Thomas’ nephew, took over the lakeside family cabin in the 1960s the boat had been sitting at the base of the largest pine tree on the property, unused for a decade.