Small Boats Annual 2019

Editor’s Page: The Best of Both Worlds
This magazine is a compilation of articles published over
the course of a year at Small Boats Monthly. And what, you may ask, is Small Boats Monthly? It’s more than a website, and more than a magazine. It’s a community of sailors, powerboaters, rowers, and paddlers who appreciate the ease and versatility of boats that can be built, stored, and maintained at home, in an average-sized garage, and trailered behind a modest car to the launching ramp … Continued on Page 4 of PDF version.

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Boat Profile

Nauset Marsh Skiff

Console and casting platforms

The Nauset Marsh Skiff, a 16’ stitch-and-glue outboard fishing boat, was designed and built by Walter Baron of Old Wharf Dory for working shallow waters.

Boat Profile

Ski King

A fast inboard in plywood from Glen-L

Glen L. Witt, the founder of Glen-L, could have had any of the countless boats he designed for his company’s offerings of plans and kits, but it was the Ski King he chose to build for his own use. Among the first boats he designed, it is once again in the Glen-L catalog, 65 years later.

The tops of the extensions, squared off inside of the diagonal side panels, serve as steps for climbing aboard over the stern. The bright finished squares of decking are hatch covers.

Technique

Transom Extensions

Adding buoyancy and planing surface

Most small outboard skiffs carry a lot of weight in the stern—skipper, outboard, and fuel tank—and suffer the consequences. Homemade transom extensions add both buoyancy and planing surface that can improve trim and performance over a wide range of speeds.

The cruising speed with the 14-hp diesel is around 5.5 knots.

Boat Profile

Beer Beach Boat

A workboat for pleasure

Beer is a village located in the middle of England’s Lyme Bay coast and the boats built there have evolved over many years. They come in various shapes and sizes but they are seaworthy enough to cope with exposed coast and durable enough to be hauled up the steep, pebbled beaches there.

Boat Profile

Spring Run

A versatile kayak from Redfish

This lively performer has enough cargo space for multi-day cruising, and when you’re not out paddling it, the fine workmanship and decorative touches make it something you might want to hang in your living room.

With a 25-hp outboard providing power, the RB 14 can reach a speed of 30 mph.

Boat Profile

Runabout 14

A plywood speedster from Bateau.com

If the Runabout 14 looks like a classic, its designer, Jacques Mertens-Goossens, the founder of Bateau.com, has hit his mark. The boat’s appearance was inspired by a 1950s design, but its structure is a contemporary blend of plywood, fiberglass and epoxy.

It takes very little effort to get keep Ebb moving in excess of 4 knots.

Boat Profile

Ebb

Easy, efficient rowing

WINONA, a pulling boat built for a mountain lake in New York State's Adirondack Mountains, inspired Tom Regan, a boatbuilder living on the tidelands of Washington State, to create a version of his own. We take a look at the Ebb from Grapeview Point Boat Works.

Boat Profile

Drascombe Lugger

In production for 50 years

The Drascombe Lugger turned 50 years old last year. John Watkinson designed it for his own use and built the first in plywood. The design caught on and in 1968, Luggers went into production in fiberglass and have since done everything from afternoon outings to ocean crossings.

Boat Profile

Minahouët

A well balanced sail-and-oar dinghy

François Vivier’s Minahouët has two maststeps, so it can be rigged either as a sloop with the mast set in the aft position, or cat-rigged with the mast in the forward position. Either way, the boat is lug-rigged and there’s no need for stays, so rigging is simple and fast.

There's a notch in the transom for those who have a knack for sculling, and, if motoring appeals, the plans included instructions for equipping the boat with a small outboard of 2 to 3 hp.

Boat Profile

Penobscot 14

An Arch Davis Classic

The Penobscot 14 is a versatile sail, oar, and motor boat designed by Arch Davis in the early ’90s. His goal was to design a boat that was easy to build, had pleasing lines, and offered excellent sailing and rowing performance.

Boat Profile

Eel

A William Garden canoe yawl

The Eel is an 18’ 6” canoe yawl designed by William Garden as a slightly shorter and much lighter version of the original Eel designed by George Holmes in 1895. Holmes was one of the pioneers of the canoe yawls that became popular in England at the end of the 1800s, when recreational boating was then in its early stages.

Adventures

Wolf Rock Light

Eight miles out to sea in a dinghy

Will Stirling set a goal for himself to sail around every one of Britain’s 50-plus offshore lighthouses. Nic Compton joined him for an 8-mile passage from Land’s End to the Wolf Rock Light. They sailed a 15’ dinghy, anchored near the wave-washed rock, and swam to the lighthouse in dry suits.

A Bartender with another builder modification has a cuddy-cabin roof supporting the windshield.

Boat Profile

19′ Bartender

A seaworthy outboard

The Bartender was designed by George Calkins during the 1950s to negotiate the river bars along the Oregon coast and the outboard-powered double ender quickly earned a reputation as a capable rough-water hull. We take a look at the 19-footer, the smallest in the series of six sizes and configurations.

Boat Profile

Noank

A sliding-seat pulling boat

While Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks has been building boats since 1993, the strip-built Noank is his first boat with a sliding seat. With watertight compartments in each end and generous freeboard, it is designed for light and fast camp-cruising and recreational rowing in exposed and choppy water.

Boat Profile

15′ Sailing Dinghy

An evolution in design

The 15’ Sailing Dinghy from Stirling & Son is the biggest boat in their range of lapstrake dinghies and the only one equipped with a deck to adapt it for coastal voyaging and adventure sailing.

Boat Profile

Glen-L Zip

A twin-cockpit runabout

Glen-L’s Zip was designed in 1954 and can be built from fir plywood and painted as a utilitarian boat or dressed up with varnished mahogany to give it the look of a classic runabout.

Boat Profile

Milford 20

A New Zealand Sharpie

The Milford 20 design appeals as a very elegant, classic craft for home building, and gives a great sailing experience for both experienced and inexperienced sailors. It also would be a suitable craft for a couple or family of four; a delight to sail and appealing to those who want a safe boat for leisure and pleasure.

Boat Profile

Drake Raceboat

Easy speed under oars

The Raceboat is designed “for the greater speeds in race conditions,” but you don’t have to compete to appreciate the boat. It will give you an exhilarating workout and reward improvements in your stamina and technique.

Boat Profile

Tenderly Dinghy

An able boat to row, tow, motor, and sail

When John Harris of Chesapeake Light Craft came to WoodenBoat School here in Brooklin to lead a six-day class in building his newly designed Tenderly Dinghy and brought two finished boats with him, there was an opportunity to see the progress on the student-built boats, and to take the finished ones for a spin in Great Cove.

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