August 2024 Archives - Small Boats Magazine

Two classics—an Adirondack Guideboat built strip-planked from a Newfound Woodworks kit, and the classic Sunfish sailboat—are featured in this month’s Boat Profiles. An iconic hat from Tilley and a three-part restorative teak cleaner feature in our Product Review pages, while a simple sewing project that brings inexpensive additional sail area to any boat is described in our Technique feature. A solo sailor returns to the Texas 200 for a second time, looking for adventure and hoping to stay dry, and the former owner of a Brazilian yacht-yard that built production-line modern classics indulges his inner craftsman to build a unique electric-powered harbor launch in his home shop. Our editor takes a cast-off Bolger pirogue under his wing.

From The Editor

Hand-Me-Down

A welcome diversion

A newly acquired Bolger pirogue, built in 1995, needed more work than anticipated, but it promised to be a welcome diversion.

Boat Profile

Sunfish

A simple sailboat from the 1950s

Derived from the popular Sailfish, the Sunfish was a collaborative creation from two sailors and two designers. Since the first 20 plywood boats were built in 1952, it has been in continuous production in fiberglass and more than 500,000 have been built and sailed worldwide.

Boat Profile

Adirondack Guideboat

A classic rowboat updated for modern construction techniques

Newfound Woodworks’ Adirondack Guideboat, based on guideboats of the late 1800s, is a strip-planked kit version of this fine-ended rowboat with traditional elegance and can carry one or two passengers in style.

Adventures

Return to the Texas 200

In 2017, Roger Siebert took part in his first Texas 200 and completed the challenging 200-mile course. While he returned in 2024 with more experience and first-hand knowledge of the waters he would be sailing, it was no guarantee of success.

Technique

Water-Sails for Small Boats

Adding sail area to a small-boat rig to give that extra push in light airs isn’t always straightforward, but the water-sail is not only simple to set up, it’s also easy to make from inexpensive materials.

Product Reviews

Teak-Nu

Restoring weathered teak

The Snappy Teak-Nu system restores weather-faded or discolored teak to its original color and protects it.

Product Reviews

Airflo Sun Hat

Tilley's ever-evolving adventure hat

Named for its founder, sailor Alex Tilley, the Tilley line of hats has been around for more than 40 years. The Airflow Sun Hat blocks the sun while letting a cooling breeze flow through.

Reader Built Boats

Home-Built Elegance

Reimagining the Duck Trap Launch

German-born Brazilian Oliver Ilg found an outlet for his hands-on boatbuilding abilities first in a corner of his production-yacht manufacturing site, and then in a narrow piece of his backyard between the house and a stone wall.

Past Issues

From The Archives

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