Technique Articles - Page 2 of 3 - Small Boats Magazine

The tops of the extensions, squared off inside of the diagonal side panels, serve as steps for climbing aboard over the stern. The bright finished squares of decking are hatch covers.

July 2018

Transom Extensions

Adding buoyancy and planing surface

Most small outboard skiffs carry a lot of weight in the stern—skipper, outboard, and fuel tank—and suffer the consequences. Homemade transom extensions add both buoyancy and planing surface that can improve trim and performance over a wide range of speeds.

June 2018

Trailer Tires

Age before wear

It’s easy to take trailer tires for granted—they don’t log many miles and don’t usually show much wear—but they deserve more attention than a glance to see if they appear to have enough air in them.

My reproduction of the stands used by the Eton Boathouse oar maker turned out to be remarkable quick and effective once I gleaned all of the important details from the newsreel.

April 2018

Eton Oar Stands

Quick work without clamps

A 1950s newsreel offered a glimpse of English craftsmen making racing shells and oars in the Eton Boathouse on the River Thames. The system they used to hold the oars while working on them did away with clamps and was fast and efficient.

This is one of a pair of oars that I built and equipped with copper tips in 1985. That winter they survived a 2,400-mile, 2-1/2 month row from Pittsburgh to Cedar Key, Florida. They've been in use on and off since then.

March 2018

Copper Guards

Traditional protection for oars

Oar blades, ideally, should only come in contact with water, but they often do battle with rocks, sand, and barnacles in our comings and goings to and from landings. Copper tips will take the abuse and not show their age as easily as paint and varnish will.

Angle grinders are designed for working metal; equipped with flap sanders and blades designed for wood they have plenty of power to do quick work.

February 2018

Power Carving

Working wood with an angle grinder

Angle grinders are standard tools for working metal, but they can be equipped with special wheels designed for working wood, and spinning at over 10,000 rpm, they can move wood very quickly.

A half hitch in the tail end, pulled up tight against the last wrap, keeps the fender from getting looser with use and age.

January 2018

Doughnut Fenders

Distinctive and easy to make

The basic principle of most rope fenders is to create a core and then wrap it prettily. The core of the doughnut fender is a coil and the wrap is a type of loop hitching. Using a darker line for the core has the pleasing effect of contrasting with a lighter-colored line on the outside.

The sliding seat rig, spanning a thwart in the author's dory, has shorter tracks than those used in racing shells, but is well suited to using the same oars and locks that are used for fixed-seat rowing. Note the foot brace secured to the floorboards under the aft thwart.

December 2017

Sliding-Seat Conversion

A longer stroke without outriggers

Sliding seats are commonly associated with outriggers and long oars, but Ben Fuller found he could rig some of his boats with a sliding seat and add power to his rowing without changing oars or gunwale-mounted oarlocks.

A simple downdraft table can put the space between the rip-fence rails to good use.

November 2017

A Downdraft Table

Taking care of dust without taking up space

Along with boatbuilding comes a lot of sanding, and with sanding comes a lot of dust. A do-it-yourself downdraft table built into a table saw can help clear the air without adding to the clutter of machinery.

A locker door is in the works in the foreground, with excess epoxy seeping through the holes in the perforated release film and darkening the bleeder fabric. The suction cup fitting at the end of the hose to the vacuum pump is at the back to the left and the pressure gauge is to the right.

October 2017

Vacuum-Bagging

Working under pressure

Vacuum bagging puts the weight of the atmosphere to work to press broad panels together for gluing and sqeeze irregular shapes to make strong, lightweight composite pieces that would be difficult to achieve in wood.

October 2017

Mud Pattens

Firmer footing on soft ground

If there are mud flats lining your cruising grounds, a pair of mud pattens will allow you to walk around without sinking in over your boot tops. They’re easy to make and require just a few bits of wood, a handful of screws, and some rope.

These peanut butter-chocolate rolls were baked using a pot-in-pot method. Three rocks in the larger put elevate the smaller pot to keep boiling water under the smaller pot. Not shown is the pot lid. The rolls aren't browned, but they're fully cooked.

September 2017

Back-Country Baking

Let them eat cake

Fresh baked goods are a treat no matter where you find them, but especially appreciated at camp. We take a look at three ways to bake breads, rolls, and cookies with campfires and camp stoves.

The bungee doesn't need to be removed to use the tiller. Just push it or pull it and it will hold the new rudder angle.

September 2017

A Simple Tiller Tender

Hands-off sailing

It’s cheap, simple, and utterly reliable. It doesn’t need adjustment and there’s nothing to engage or disengage; you can steer the boat normally with the system in place, and whenever you need to let go of the tiller, it stays exactly where you positioned it.

The author's red mizzen staysail was designed and made for WAXWING, his François Vivier-designed, lug-yawl rigged Ilur.

August 2017

Mizzen Staysails Add Power

Lovely, Useful Things for Light Wind Sailing

A mizzen staysail is a beautiful, effective, and easily managed addition to a yawl or ketch rig’s quiver. It isn’t meant to be deployed in close quarters or when short tacking, but on a long reach in light air, it is a lovely, useful thing.

The Vintage Cherry dye transformed the very light mahogany—a cut-off is shown here— into a rich dark color that enhances the grain.

July 2017

Water-based Wood Dye

Rich Color to Dye For

The outboard runabout, WORK OF ART, often stops people in their tracks when they see the deck with its beautiful, natural-looking wood color with sparkling grain highlights. No one has guessed that the wood under the varnish has been dyed.

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.

Four blades on a single arbor increase accuracy and dramatically shorten working time.

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.

A push-pull tiller requires a different kind of keeper than one for a conventional tiller.

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.

Tom Shepard poles a railbird skiff in the shallow waters of the Delaware River basin. The skiff is in the collection of Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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.

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.

The placement of a melonseed skiff's mast so far forward, rules out setting the topsail while afloat. Other boats that have the mast set farther aft and offer the sailer good footing and stability won't have to be rigged while ashore.

December 2016

Topsails for Sprit Rigs

A classy addition to a classic rig

Barry Long has always liked sailing in light air—ghosting along close to shore on a quiet evening feels like magic, especially in a small boat. But light-air sailing, though relaxing, is surprisingly challenging. In moderate winds, any boat competently handled can attain hull speed, but light wind requires sharp skills and careful attention to detail to get the most out of what’s available. Sail shape and trim make a big difference. Beyond skills, having a little extra canvas adds a sharp arrow to the quiver.

At Nubble Beach on Maine’s Butter Island, the tide exposes several hundred feet of beach at low ebb. Here, the anchor was set just beyond the low tide mark, and the extra warp was walked out the rocky promontory to secure the boats. With this adaptation of the Pythagorean system, the boats can be pulled into water even deeper than it is where the anchor is set.

November 2016

Pythagorean Mooring

Variations on anchoring

The Pythagorean mooring technique appeared in Roger Barnes’s delightful and informative book, The Dinghy Cruising Companion, when it was published in 2014. It is a simple and clever way to anchor a dinghy without using a clothesline loop or outhaul set up. As described, a Pythagorean mooring, named after geometry’s theorem of right triangles, is most useful in settings where tidal range is modest and where there is fairly deep water close to a shoreline.

This apple-crook breasthook is in a New York Whitehall built in 1983. Well cured before it was installed, it hasn't checked or separated from the surrounding structure.

October 2016

Knees and Breasthooks

Function and form

These angled pieces are important structural elements, but their potential as grace notes in a boat’s composition of curves is often overlooked. Ben Fuller shows us how they can be made both strong and graceful.

Lowering the centerboard and "tacking" can make rowing to weather easier than fighting the wind head on.

September 2016

Tacking for Rowing

An unusual use for a centerboard

Ready about? Centerboards and tacking aren’t just for sailing. If you’re rowing against a strong wind, dropping the board and taking a ziz-zag course may be easier than fighting your way straight upwind.

Dyneema rope, with spliced in stainless-steel thimbles and simple lashings, makes strong, do-it-yourself standing rigging.

August 2016

Synthetic Fiber Rigging

Stronger than steel

If your boat has standing rigging, stainless-steel wire and the special tools it requires aren’t your only option. John Marples introduces us to high-strength Dyneema rope. It’s every bit as strong as steel and you can install all the fittings by yourself.