Technique Articles - Small Boats Magazine

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.

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.

March 2022

It’s a Wrap

Clamping with stretch wrap and inner tubes

Gluing laminates for spars, oars, and paddles can be fussy and messy jobs for clamps. Stretch wrap and rubber strips are a better way even if you have enough clamps, and inexpensive if you don’t.

February 2022

Removable Floorboards

Removable panels to protect and preserve

Floorboards are often fastened directly to steam-bent frames in traditionally built lapstrake boats. Boatbuilder Eric Hvalsoe developed a system to make floorboards that are easily removable and don’t damage the frames.

January 2022

Oarlock Extensions

DIY devices for forward-facing stand-up rowing

If you want to get a good look at where you’re going while you’re rowing, a pair of oarlock extensions is all you need. Ben Fuller explores the ways Maine watermen rowed standing up and facing forward.

December 2021

Outboard Winterizing

Maintenance for long-term storage

Small outboard motors like regular exercise but when they’re going to sit idle for the winter months they need some special care. A bit of maintenance assures good performance in the spring and a longer working life.

November 2021

A DIY Roller

A table-saw accessory for ripping and crosscutting

While roller stands make it easier to rip long boards on a table saw, a do-it-yourself roller made of a 2x4, fender washers, and joist-hanger nails works for ripping and crosscutting, too.

November 2021

Drop-Center Sawhorses

Better support for boats

Reuel Parker’s drop-center sawhorses do what ordinary sawhorses can’t. They’ll hold a flat-bottomed or round hull upright, upside down, and at almost any angle in between.

October 2021

New Life for a Vintage Kayak

Replacing fabric with plywood

Reuel Parker offers a way to transform an old fabric-covered kayak by giving the frame a new skin of plywood.

September 2021

Downshifting Oars

Snap-on oar sleeves for rowing into a headwind

Rowing into a headwind can put a strain on the rower. Jim Tolpin devised a clip-on plastic sleeve and button that gives the oars a lower gear to provide them with a greater mechanical advantage.

August 2021

Cord-Wrapped Oarlocks

Quick and simple protection for oars

Wooden oars usually get protected from metal oarlocks by sewn-on leathers or slip-on rubber sleeves. Wrapping the oarlock with cord adds a protective surface that is inexpensive and easy to apply.

July 2021

Fixed-Clothesline Anchoring

Comfort in close quarters

A small cove might not provide enough room for a boat to swing at anchor, but it can make a worry-free night aboard with a system that keeps the boat precisely located regardless of wind and current.

June 2021

Fixing Checked Plywood

An epoxy cure for weathered plywood

When plywood hasn’t aged well, it can crack the paint covering it, letting water in and accelerating the damage. Kent and Audrey have restored several old plywood boats and share their methods for stabilizing the vulnerable veneer with epoxy.

May 2021

Boat Trailering Tips

Safe towing to the ramp and back

If spring is your time to hit the road with your boat in tow, Kent and Audrey Lewis will guide you through taking a look at your trailer to make sure it will get you and your boat to the launch site safely.

April 2021

Stropping

Leather and compound for sharper tools

A simple leather-faced block and a few stropping compounds are capable of doing much more than remove the burr left by a sharpening stone. The combination can bring the edge to a shaving-sharp mirror finish.

March 2021

Making a Mock-Up

Trying a boat on for size

When Tom Hepp designs a boat he wants to build, the best way he has found to avoid unpleasant and expensive surprises is to build a mockup. For his 17’ pocket cruiser, it allowed him to try the boat on for size, work out the bugs on inexpensive materials, and create a full set of templates.

February 2021

Waxed Canvas

Classic fabric for home-sewn projects

While waxed canvas has lost the important role it once had in military, maritime, and recreational activities, it is a handsome and durable material for DIY sewing projects for boat and workshop.

January 2021

Megaphones

DIY projects to make yourself heard

There are times when you need to make yourself heard over the noise of wind and waves or across distance. Cupping your hands around your mouth helps, but old-school megaphones are easy to make and surprisingly effective.

December 2020

Five Practical Tips

A handful of useful projects

Five of our readers share tips they came up with for sailing without steering, rowing with better visibility, restoring rusted steel tools, making a portable vise, and making trailer launching easier.

November 2020

A Quick Tick Stick

An Evolution from the Joggle Stick

A joggle stick is a shopmade tool for creating a pattern for a complex shape, but the sawtooth design was cumbersome to use and could create a confusing jumble of tracings. There’s a better way—the quick tick stick.

October 2020

External Frames for Strip-Building

Quick and hole-free strips

Building a cedar-strip kayak without rows of staple-hole blemishes requires some way to hold the strips to the molds. Dan Newland created a technique that does the job well and greatly speeds planking.

September 2020

Tiller Extensions

An important element of boat trim

To get the best boat trim in a small sailing skiff, you shouldn’t be planted in the stern next to the tiller. Ben Fuller offers some easily made extensions that let you get your weight forward.

August 2020

LED Shop Lighting

Better lighting for finer work

To do good work in the shop, you need to see what you’re doing. While fluorescent tubes have long been the standard shop lights, new LED strip lights are brighter, more economical, last longer, and don’t flicker or hum.

July 2020

High-Performance Foils

Shaping better centerboards and rudders

Sailors often look aloft to see if their sails are taking their best shape and getting the best performance from the wind. Builders of sailboats,too, should pay close attention to the shaping of a boat's rudder and daggerboard or centerboard. Alex Zimmerman explains NACA foils and the difference they can make.