Series

Small Boats Annual 2008

The Core Sound Series

Camp-cruisers with attitude

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - Designed by Graham Byrnes, the Core Sound 17 was a development of his earlier Spindrift 10-footer and Bay River Skiff 17. The latter, inspired by the traditional working skiffs of the Hatteras area in North Carolina, was conceived in the late 1980s as a “good utility boat that could be rowed, motored, and…

Small Boats Annual 2008

WAYWARD

An efficient canal and river cruiser

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - An easily driven hull needn’t be unattractive, as designer Paul Gartside has proved with WAYWARD, which relies on a 25-hp outboard for propulsion.

Small Boats Annual 2008

The Weekend Dinghy

High pleasure per pound

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - The Weekend Dinghy, designed by Karl Stambaugh, is a quickly and simply built stitch-and-glue skiff. The Weekend Dinghy may be kept a simple rowboat, or rigged to sail.

Small Boats Annual 2008

The 18′ Mower Dory

A boat for fine rowing and sailing

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - The 18' Mower Dory is an evolution of the beach-launched fishing boats of Swampscott, Massachusetts. Fishermen were skeptical of these boats when the type debuted in the early 1900s; these dories gained respect rapidly, however, for their windward ability and dryness.

Small Boats Annual 2008

CARPENTER

A beach-explorer tender with a design pedigree

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - Paul LaBrie is new to professional boatbuilding, but the design he chose for his first commercial project is one of the oldest in this publication. CARPENTER was drawn up by L. Francis Herreshoff in the summer of 1929—his Design No. 41—and featured in his book Sensible Cruising Designs.

Small Boats Annual 2008

Freestone Classic Drift Boat

Wooden boats for whitewater

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - The basic drift boat form evolved from various sources: among the boats that made their way from the East Coast to the West Coast in the 19th century were log-driving bateaux and fishing dories. These flat-bottomed types were later adapted for use on Oregon’s McKenzie and Rogue Rivers, where they were given considerably…

Small Boats Annual 2008

MARTHA

A soulful little pocket cruiser

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - Sam (S.S.) Crocker designed the 19' 9" pocket cruiser Sallee Rover as a yawl in 1953; later, in 1955, he drew the sloop-rigged version seen in the accompanying photographs. Making just a few changes to her for aesthetic purposes, Joel White built this sloop in 1967 for his father, E.B. White, and named…

Small Boats Annual 2008

JOLENA III

An electric-powered “steam” launch

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - "I’ve been the subject of a helluva lot of flattery over the past three days—not to say that I don’t appreciate it,” said Jim Hulm, beaming, while working his fantail launch alongside a floating dock at Connecticut’s Mystic Seaport. It was a Sunday in June, the third day of the 2007 WoodenBoat Show,…

Small Boats Annual 2008

The 18′ 8″ Mackinaw Boat

A mini Lake Michigan workboat

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - This boat is a pint-sized version of a well-known and respected type that worked Lake Michigan from the late 19th century until the beginning of World War I. It’s called a Mackinaw boat—though historically that name applied to a range of boats that have only tenuous family connections.

Small Boats Annual 2008

The Melonseed Skiff

Daysailer and duckgunner

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - This fine gunning skiff from the bays and coastal lagoons of southern New Jersey might have evolved from the lapstrake beach skiffs that worked the exposed Atlantic beaches of the Garden State. Similarities of line and construction between the beach skiffs and the melonseeds seem too powerful to ignore.

Small Boats Annual 2008

Dad’s Ol’ Outboard Skiff

A dreamboat for the rest of us

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - In a sea of wooden boats that are out of reach for many of us, here is one that offers some respite—Dad’s Ol’ Outboard Skiff. She’s the brainchild of Michigan builder Mike Kiefer, who has been building boats and teaching wooden boat building at the Great Lakes Boatbuilding Company, for well over 20…

Small Boats Annual 2008

The Moosabec Reach Boat

New life for a striking 14-footer from the 19th century

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - I never met John Gardner, but I’ve spent many an afternoon with him. Leafing from one chapter of his books to another, it’s easy to get distracted by the down-to-earth practicality, the enthusiastic descriptions of traditional boats, and the ringing call to action to see these boats built anew and put to use.…

Small Boats Annual 2008

Night Heron

A fast and handsome 18' kayak

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - Have you noticed all of those kayaks riding along atop cars and trucks on their way to waterborne adventures? Their owners have seen the light. These slender double-ended boats require little initial investment, not much maintenance, and can be put on the water in seconds. In them we’ll cross open water, and when…

Small Boats Annual 2008

Skerry

A Norse-inspired kit boat

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - My penchant for Scandinavian boatbuilding techniques once prompted Matt Murphy at WoodenBoat to tell me that it seemed as though I was trying to “get in touch with my inner Viking.” But when I look around, I see that I am hardly alone. Some aesthetics—think of Japanese architecture, Italian stonework, New England barns—have…

Small Boats Annual 2008

The Long Point

A center-console skiff

From the 2008 Small Boats Annual - There’s something nearly archetypal about the Long Point skiff. This 15-footer has high sides and a flat bottom, and is driven by a small four-stroke outboard motor. “It used to be that everyone had one of these things,” said the designer, Tom Hill, as we skipped across a modest chop on Penobscot Bay…

November 2020

Bainbridge Island

A Puget Sound solo circumnavigation

Although August is usually a month of doldrums on Puget Sound, our editor’s summer solo circumnavigation of Bainbridge Island offered good sailing as well as torrential rain and a sudden squall that put a capsized daysailer in need of a rescue.

October 2020

Swan’s Island

A Maine Coast Circumnavigation

Each summer, a group of five friends usually get together with their sail-and-oar camp-cruisers to enjoy the island-studded Maine coast. This year, the three who were free to travel during the pandemic circumnavigated Swan’s Island.

April 2020

Social Distancing

Our editor is under a statewide stay-home order, but there’s an exemption for exercise, so he can still go out rowing, as long as he keeps his distance from other people. He was the only one at the launch ramp with a boat and trailer and very much apart from others while at anchor.

April 2020

AUDREY/JAMES

A Caledonia Yawl

Martin Casey was a rebellious teenager who often butted heads with his father, James, and it was only near the end of James’s life that the two were able to bridge the distance between them. The boat that Martin built after his father’s death revealed their common interest in the Caledonia Yawl.

To the Black Sea – Episode 16

Reflecting on their adventure

In this final video of their series, Finn and Teresa are at their journey’s end: Constanta, a Romanian port on the west coast of the Black Sea. With their boat...

To the Black Sea – Episode 15

A beautiful day on the Black Sea.

A Beautiful Day on the Black Sea: - Watch Now The final week on the Danube brought Finn and Teresa to a short-cut to the Black Sea. Small boats aren’t allowed on the 40-mile-long canal, so they hitched a ride aboard a cargo-carrying motor barge. Join them for their last miles as they relaunch JILL at the end of the…

To the Black Sea – Episode 14

Ukrainian Merchantman Comes to the Rescue

Ukrainian Merchantman Comes to the Rescue: - Watch Now Joined by a schoolmate for the lower Danube River through Bulgaria and Romania, Finn and Tereza, draw near the Black Sea. One last barrier stands in their way-a canal that doesn’t welcome small boats. Watch as a Ukrainian merchantman comes to the rescue.

To the Black Sea – Episode 13

Towed Alongside a Barge Doing 7 Knots

Towed Alongside a Barge Doing 7 Knots: - Watch Now Still descending the Danube, Finn and Tereza found the going slow on a stretch of the river between Serbia and Romania. Rather than struggle for meager miles against a headwind, they did what any resourceful wayfarer would do: stick out a thumb and hitch a ride.

To the Black Sea – Episode 12

Through the Iron Gates

Tacking Downstream Through the Iron Gates: - Watch Now Finn and Tereza enter the Iron Gates where the Danube passes between ranges in Serbia and Romania. Funneling between the steep slopes, the wind is often on the nose. Watch as they tack downstream under a reefed sail.

To the Black Sea – Episode 11

Croatia to Serbia, Two Months Into the Journey

Entering Croatia, Two Months Into Their Journey: - - Watch Now The Danube carries Finn and Tereza through Croatia to Serbia and a stop at Belgrade. Fall brings shorter days, nearly freezing nights, and rain. See how they’re holding up two months into the voyage.