February 2022 Archives - Small Boats Magazine

Our Boat Profiles feature two powerboats: Nelson Zimmer’s Utility Launch and the B&B Outer Banks 26. Phil Boyer takes us canoeing in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park and Eric Hvalsoe shows us how to make removable floorboards for lapstrake boats with steam-bent frames. Our gear reviews take a look at custom tie-down straps and a novel kind of boat fender. TRIO, our Reader Built Boat is a three-piece sectional boat built in a small living room and stored in a compact car. Our editor rows a creek that he passed by many times but never knew existed until he saw it on Google Earth.

From The Editor

Swamp Creek

Our editor had passed by Swamp Creek many times while rowing the river it flowed into. He explored the creek only after discovering its existence while browsing satellite images.

Boat Profile

Utility Launch

Zimmer's "good, common-sense little boat"

Nelson Zimmer designed his Utility Launch to shuttle people between towns and fishing camps in Canada’s North Woods. Powered by a small diesel motor, it’s efficient and elegant, and what he regarded as a “good, common-sense little boat.”

Boat Profile

Outer Banks 26

Cruising in comfort for two

The Outer Banks 26 is the newest and longest of the three Outer Banks cruisers from B&B. They are designed for economical cruising for a couple, with the 26 providing more features and additional room for multi-week adventures.

Adventures

Pen Lake

Cruising Canoes in Algonquin Provincial Park

There are more than 1,500 lakes within the borders of Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park. Phil Boyer and friend spent four days exploring three of them in canoes that Phil designed and built.

Technique

Removable Floorboards

Removable panels to protect and preserve

Floorboards are often fastened directly to steam-bent frames in traditionally built lapstrake boats. Boatbuilder Eric Hvalsoe developed a system to make floorboards that are easily removable and don’t damage the frames.

Product Reviews

Custom Tie-Downs

Purpose-built straps for safe transport

There are many ways to secure a boat to the trailer that carries it, but the best system is one that is just tight enough, doesn’t damage the boat, and is convenient to use. CustomTieDowns offers a wide array of straps and fittings to do the job right.

Product Reviews

Impact Fenders

Useful beyond the dock

If your boat fenders get put away after launch and stowed until you get back to the ramp, they spend most of their time taking up valuable space. Impact Fenders make themselves useful while you’re underway or taking a break on shore.

Reader Built Boats

TRIO

Divide by three and conquer

A small living room for a shop and a small car for storage and transport didn’t stand in the way of Paul Sesto’s dream of building a boat; he designed and built a sectional boat with three nesting pieces.

February 2022