October 2015 Archives - Small Boats Magazine

Boat Profile

SCAMP

A little camp cruiser for big dreams

It's an odd duck, both in appearance and in its strange synthesis of big and small, but it’s plenty of boat no matter where your interests lie, whether it’s puttering around a lake in a breeze or taking on the challenges of the Inside Passage to Alaska.

The long cockpit provides seating for up to eight adults.

Boat Profile

The Caracal

Born by a beautiful bay

The customer's request was for a boat suitable for a crowd of kids, a cockpit with seating for eight, a cuddy with space for a portable toilet and room to take a nap, and inboard electric auxiliary power; a boat well suited to day-sailing, racing, and making the crossing to Martha’s Vineyard.

Furling sail after riding the surf in on our first day out, I looked at the wind driven waves and wondered what conditions were to come. We had scheduled the voyage around our outside lives and responsibilities rather than weather patterns, but later locals all agreed that December was notoriously windy in the Sea of Cortez.

Adventures

The Boat, the Boy, and Baja

Rowing and sailing the Sea of Cortez

Bands go on the road; mom/artist types with a kid in tow usually do not. Hannah Viano sorely needed to look at life from a different vantage point, and to reconnect with beau and babe in a not so 9-to-5 way. So they cut through all of the excuses not to, trailered their skiff 2,000 miles to Baja, and went off adventuring on the Sea of Cortez.

Reaching in about 12 mph wind, with whitecaps beginning to form. It will soon be time to reef. The upper yard is suspended from a pair of ‘lifts’ that spread load on the spar and also raise the pivot point. The downhaul next to the mast can tension the lower spar as needed and transfers sail thrust to the hull, reducing strain on the pair of sheets attached to the lower corners.

Technique

Square Rigs for Small Boats

An update for an ancient rig

With a few subtle modifications the hallmark of tall ships can be put to good use on small boats. The evolution from square rig to lug rig inspired a sail that can make that transition.

The smooth and slender shape of the blades allows them to slip in and out of the water cleanly, adding power to the stroke.

Product Reviews

Oars by Grapeview Point Boat Works

Proper oars for pleasurable rowing

Grapeview Point's finely crafted oars use a minimum amount of wood to achieve their maximum efficiency.

As the rollers partially flatten under the weight of the boat they broaden their area in contact with the ground and glide over it, conforming to its contours rather than plowing into it.

Product Reviews

Aeré Beach Rollers

Moving heavy loads over soft surfaces

Getting a cruise-laden boat out of the water and moved up the beach can be a drag in more ways than one. Aeré’s inflatable rollers will support up to a ton and ease the way ashore.

The 6mm Vendia planking has four of its five veneers running lengthwise; it easily twisted to meet the stems.

Reader Built Boats

WENDY

A Gartside rowing skiff made of an unusual wood

The laminated planking from Finland seemed like the future of lapstrake boatbuilding, but it may have been an idea whose time has not yet come.

October 2015