December 2018

From The Editor

Wagner Education Center

Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats has nearly completed a long-awaited expansion of their facilities on Lake Union. We tour the Wagner Education Center, named in honor of the Center’s founders, Dick and Colleen Wagner.

Boat Profile

St. Ives Punt

Local boat, wide appeal

The tenders serving the fishing fleet of St. Ives, on the north coast of Cornwall, had a rough life. When the seas were breaking in the harbor, the tenders at anchor would get battered by breaking waves at the water’s edge with each turn of the tide. Jonny Nance designed his St. Ives sailing punt to be stout enough to survive.

Boat Profile

Stickleback Canoe

An Oughtred canoe

If it’s true that smaller boats get used more frequently, Iain Oughtred’s wee Stickleback will rarely sit idle for long. It’s a featherweight canoe that’s easy to carry and well suited to backwaters few other boats can explore.

Adventures

River People

A Shantyboat on the Sacramento River

Wes Modes spent two years building a shantyboat using salvaged materials and in 2014 he began voyaging America’s rivers. He takes us along on his voyage down California’s Sacramento River.

Technique

Shop-Made Riveting Hammers

The right tool for the job

If sanding is the most tedious boatbuilding task, peening rivets has to be a close second. A hammer made for the job is easier on the wrist and less prone to buckling the rivets.

Product Reviews

V-DrillGuide

Accurate alignment for hand drills

When you can’t get the work to a drill press, the V-DrillGuide from Big Gator Tools makes it easy to drill holes centered and squared.

Product Reviews

A Cordless Wet/Dry Vac

Portability from Porter Cable

Porter Cable’s compact cordless vacuum cleaner goes wherever there’s a mess to clean up whether it’s wet or dry, in the shop or in the boat.

Reader Built Boats

A MacIntosh Canvas Boat

Built by 4th and 5th graders

Brookwood School, serving kids from Pre-K to the 8th grade, decided that building a boat would be a good fit for their “project-based learning” approach to education, so they put fourth- and fifth-grade students to work on a wood-and-canvas tender designed by Ned MacIntosh.