June 2017

From The Editor

Whittling Away

My father passed away three years ago at the age of 91, and I certainly won’t need Father’s Day this month as a reminder to think about him. My home is filled with things that he made; the ones I value most he whittled from bits of wood.

Boat Profile

Penobscot 17

An Arch Davis cruiser for sail and oar

Arch Davis drew the Penobscot 17 with three rigs—gunter sloop, ketch, schooner—and we take a look at his sloop-rigged version. The plywood lapstrake cruiser sails and rows well and is well suited for meandering among small islands and along convoluted coasts.

Boat Profile

Pelicano 20

A trig outboard cruiser

The owner of the first Devlin-designed Pelicano 20 had high praise for the boat: “A real jewel. We were impressed when we first took the boat out for sea trials. Even with that big 115-HP outboard hanging on the stern, it floated perfectly on her lines, and its performance turned out to be nothing short of breathtaking.”

Adventures

Four Oars and a Sail

A 2,000-mile river voyage through the American Heartland

A young couple with an abiding thirst for adventure built a cedar-strip version of a faering and traveled 2,000 miles under sail and oars from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. Their boat took a bit of a beating along the way and almost sank on the Mississippi River, but the partnership stayed afloat and the bonds between the two only grew stronger.

Product Reviews

Log-Milling Sled

Making a bandsaw a mini-sawmill

Windfalls and driftwood are often a source of woods better than any you can buy. A shop-built sled holds the irregular shapes of found wood securely on the bandsaw so you can more easily put it to good use.

Product Reviews

Newport Coastal Jacket and Pants

Rainwear from Helly Hansen

Good foul-weather gear can make the difference between cursing the weather and laughing at it. We take a look at a jacket-and-pants offering from Helly Hansen that works well for wet-weather rowing and sailing

Reader Built Boats

A Bit of Venice on the Thames

An Englishman's S'ciopon

Richard Nissen lives in a houseboat on the Thames and has gathered a collection of small boats. After he visited Venice and learned how to row in the Venetian style, he decided he needed one more, and built a s’ciopon, a small traditional workboat that he could row standing up.