August 2017

From The Editor

Looking Back at What’s Ahead

A few years ago I adapted my W.P. Stevens-designed lapstrake decked canoe for sliding-seat rowing. The canoe has taken well to oars and outriggers and now makes better speed than with a pair of paddles, but it’s no longer so easy to see where I’m going. Out on open water I can look over my shoulder occasionally and not worry about running into something, but I prefer getting my exercise on the flat protected waters of Seattle’s ship canal where I have to keep an eye out for tugs, barges, pleasure craft, and racing shells, as well as often erratic rental kayaks and electric launches.

Boat Profile

Tango 13

A twin-tailed transom

The Tango Skiff has interesting hull extensions that create an attention-grabbing geometry aft of the transom. The additional running surface and buoyancy of the extensions appealed because of previous experience in small outboard-powered boats. When operated solo, many of them with a conventional transom will squat under the weight of the motor and the skipper and set the bow pointing skyward.

Boat Profile

Tenderly Dinghy

An able boat to row, tow, motor, and sail

When John Harris of Chesapeake Light Craft came to WoodenBoat School here in Brooklin to lead a six-day class in building his newly designed Tenderly Dinghy and brought two finished boats with him, there was an opportunity to see the progress on the student-built boats, and to take the finished ones for a spin in Great Cove.

Adventures

Drawn to the Islands

A voyage among the Southern Gulf Islands

Bruce Bateau, one of our regular contributors, usually cruises in the company of other small boats, but British Columbia’s Southern Gulf Islands inspired him to sail solo. “My travel would be limited only by the tides and winds and my goal was to shake myself free of electronic leashes, bolt from thoughts that tie my brain in knots, and find my freedom in the present moment.”

Technique

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.

Product Reviews

Canned Heat with the Solo Stove

Solo Stove's Titan

People have been staring into the flickering flames since the dawn of humanity and even with all of the comforts we can now bring to our outdoor experiences, a campfire has a special soothing effect. Solo Stoves put campfires in a sophisticated can to prevent scarring the landscape, create heat for cooking from scraps of wood, and still provide a flame worth staring into.

Product Reviews

Truck-Bed Liner Paint as Interior Finish

A durable non-slip coating

Truck bed liner, when used as the interior finish of a small boat, won’t stop an errant, sharp knife point from puncturing it, but it will hold up to anchors and anchor chain, the bottoms of coolers transferred from a sandy beach, and gravel stuck on the bottom of rubber boots.

Shellback Dinghy

Reader Built Boats

PETIT BATEAU

A boat, boredom, a book, and a baby

With a grandchild on the way, Bruce Holaday built a Joel White-designed Shellback Dinghy. When the boat was finished and launched he was reluctant to leave the project behind so he wrote a book about a boy named Jack whose grandfather built a boat for him.