Technique Articles - Page 5 of 5 - Small Boats Magazine

Reaching in about 12 mph wind, with whitecaps beginning to form. It will soon be time to reef. The upper yard is suspended from a pair of ‘lifts’ that spread load on the spar and also raise the pivot point. The downhaul next to the mast can tension the lower spar as needed and transfers sail thrust to the hull, reducing strain on the pair of sheets attached to the lower corners.

October 2015

Square Rigs for Small Boats

An update for an ancient rig

With a few subtle modifications the hallmark of tall ships can be put to good use on small boats. The evolution from square rig to lug rig inspired a sail that can make that transition.

September 2015

Homemade Rivets and Roves

Hammering common copper into shape

There are times when you just need just a handful of copper rivets, or some longer than those available.

Two circular saws and the curves they cut through common 3/8" CD plywood: The smaller blade of the cordless saw made the cut at right with a tighter radius.

September 2015

The Taming of the Sheet

Sawing plywood made easy

Not many home shops have the space or the machinery to facilitate cutting sheets of plywood down to size. A sturdy sheet of insulating foam is an inexpensive and versatile solution to the problem.

A batch of clamps going into my foam steam box will be ready for cleaning in about 5 minutes.

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!

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.

Friction will hold the cam lever in place securely even though the pin isn't at top dead center.

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.

Having the monkey's fist and its heaving line tied together instead of all one piece frees both to do other jobs.

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.

Bailing as if it matters will move about 25 gallons per minute

May 2015

Making a Wood and Leather Scoop Bailer

What a cut-up bleach bottle wishes it were

A few bits of scrap wood, a piece of leather, and a handful of copper tacks will bring elegance back to bailing.

The varnish is wiped on in "panels." Here Don is applying varnish to the planks bordered by the thwart frame and the transom and stern seat compartment.

April 2015

Wiping Varnish

Final coats fast and close to flawless

I had just finished again sanding out the wiggly, wavy, saggy results of my latest brushed varnish attempt on my wherry interior. I’d bought yet another quart of expensive marine spar varnish and was discouraged that I could expect most of it to wind up in the shop vacuum. In the dusty reaches of my memory I recalled an article by a furniture maker describing his efficient wipe-on varnishing technique.

March 2015

Quick-Release Tension Knots

Small-Boat Rigging on a Shoestring

There are lots of jobs aboard the boat and in camp that can be performed well with a bit of line, and a few variations on a simple quick-release tension knot. Tension is easy to achieve and adjust even without blocks and the absence of fittings keeps things cheap and quiet.

February 2015

Thermos cooking

Hot meals cooked while you're under way

When I'm out cruising I’m generally too lazy to do anything fancy to feed myself. Then I discovered thermos cooking. It’s so simple that I now regularly cook hot meals.

January 2015

Comfortable Seating for Sailing a Small Rowing-and-Sailing Skiff

The trim of a small boat dictates where you need to put your weight; adding width and wings to the center thwart will give you a place to sit when you’re where you belong.

The inner tube has more than enough length to get water out of a boat with 6' beam. The hose is set up without twists to assure the unimpeded flow of the water.

December 2014

A Hose for a Bilge Pump

Repurposing a bicycle-tire inner tube

The manual bilge pump that I use for my kayak isn’t very useful aboard my other boats. Without a hose it can’t get the water from the centerline some 3’ to the gunwale and overboard. My other pump, the one with a hose attached, went missing one day and I came up with a way to add a nice long hose to my kayak pump. I had an old bicycle inner tube that was just the right diameter to stretch over the spout of the pump. As a hose, it worked like a charm.

Without her beach legs, this Caledonia yawl would be resting on her planking and heeled at about 10°, the angle of her deadrise. With the legs she's level, supported by her keel and gunwales and fit for habitation.

November 2014

Beaching Legs

A simple way to keep your boat upright

I prefer to anchor out when we are camp-cruising, but with Alaska’s 20’ tide range that isn't always an option in some of the shallower coves. Boats with flat bottoms wide enough to keep them upright will ground comfortably on a falling tide, but our Caledonia yawl, with its narrow keel, will come to rest heeled over. This is where beaching legs, also known as sheer legs, come in handy. This decidedly low-tech gear is just the thing to keep your boat upright on the beach, allowing the continued use of your boat as a base camp between tides.

October 2014

Stowing oars and spars

Clearing Clutter from the Cockpit

Oars, masts, and spars get you where you want to go in a small boat built for rowing and sailing, but those long sticks are awkward to stow when they’re not in use. I saw one interesting solution to the problem when I was kayaking the coast of Croatia. In the island village harbors there were lots of small fishing boats equipped with natural crooks set in the gunwales. Some crooks had more than one branch, providing two places to set spars or oars.