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From The Editor
The Joy of a Free Boat
The long lives of small boats handed down from owner to owner
October 2025
In Small Boats this month, we review Berkeley Engineering’s Candu E-Z Mini Tugboat, a jaunty 14-footer that raises smiles wherever it goes; and the Liz Pulling Boat, a sliding-seat rowboat originally designed for lapstrake construction but now reimagined for strip-planking. A novice sailor embarks on his first solo voyages along the beautiful but often unforgiving coast of south Devon and Cornwall in the U.K. Ben Fuller offers a short list of dos and don’ts when preparing to put boats away for the winter. Christopher Cunningham reviews a pair of ankle-high neoprene booties; Jenny Bennett introduces a short-handled paintbrush suitable for all paint types; and a retired journalist designs a sailboat for his community and inspires a group of volunteers to build the prototype Voilier Nord Bassin in southwest France.
Featured on our front cover is the Voilier Nord Bassin; photograph courtesy of Michel Sailhan.
