News and Curiosities
2017 Small Reach Regatta a Success
...11 years now. Here’s a look at the end of their lunch stop on Babson Island as the boats got underway: https:/
News and Curiosities
A New Balmain Bug
We here at Small Boats Monthly love small, but here’s another level of wee. The Balmain Bug is a traditional Australian workboat type that was eventually used as a one-design racer, then inspired modern one-design racing skiffs. https:/
News and Curiosities
Trailerable Boats to the Rescue After Harvey
...there are a lot of options. The Houston Food Bank will be doing a massive amount of work
News and Curiosities
Watch: Building and Using Oselvar Boats
...the Oselvar boat was named Norway’s national boat and the design serves as an icon of the country’s deeply rooted maritime tradition. Vidar has filmed an informative video about the boats and the workshop. He wrote to us recently to let us know what he’s doing at The Olselvar Workshop, after he read Jaime Gallant’s piece about Ulf Mikalsen. https:/
News and Curiosities
Video: The Pirogue Maker, 1949
...Cajuns no matter where they were from) had to have an interpreter so they could
News and Curiosities
The Only Commercial Ice Boat Builder in Maine
...you have an interest, check out the Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club website
News and Curiosities
VIDEO Small Boat Tour: ESCA, 15′ Christmas Wherry
...Sapele. The spars are solid, laminated Sitka spruce. What does Scott appreciate about boatbuilding? Well, as a contractor and builder normally wor
Technique
Quick Whippings
Admiralty and West Country
One of the first things that my father-in-law taught me was how to make the end of a line shipshape by applying a whipping. The method that he taught me is known as the
Product Reviews
Colonial’s Marlinspike Knife
United States Navy issue
...Northwest Florida. They log their nautical adventures at
News and Curiosities
Voices Across the Water
...Tourism Association just launched a six-week project which includes the construction of four traditional indigenous watercraft including a Spruce Dugout Canoe, a Birchbark Canoe, An Inuit Skin Kayak, and a Moose Skin Boat. If you would like to learn more about this project please visit their website at
Product Reviews
Davis Instruments’ Rocker Stoppers
If you can't still the waters, steady the boat.
...effect was dramatic. Getting the Rocker Stoppers another 5′ out from the rail all but eliminated roc
Technique
Fender Washers
Beyond the reach of clamps
Kent Lewis Screws can hold work pieces together in areas where clamps can’t reach, and fender washers spread the pressure over a wide area, minimizing the damage to the wood and helping prevent splits in lumber. In our shop we have a lot of tools that have
Product Reviews
Revolve Boat Hook
A full-sized boat hook for small boats
...length. The 6′ Revolve does the same thing with a 4″-wide strip of what its manufacturer, Rolatube, calls “bistable rollable
Reader Built Boats
Building CLEAR SKIES
A Newfoundlander goes back to his roots
...they would go into the woods, cut some lumber, bring it home, and build it. The culture was oral and local,
Product Reviews
Sailor’s Tool
Myerchin's rigger's knife with pliers
...find this gives a more
Technique
Fixing Checked Plywood
An epoxy cure for weathered plywood
...epoxy before painting or varnishing is a step well worth the time and expense. When not treating checked plywood, Audrey and Kent Lewis mess about in their armada of 16 small boats. Their adventures are logged at
Boat Profile
Sandpiper
An easily built skiff for sail and oar
...is held down with weights and traced inside and out to create a
Product Reviews
Smart Bottles
Flexible, collapsible water containers
...in small boats
Product Reviews
Resp-O-Rator
Better breathing for the bearded
...I don’t need to worry about getting a proper seal against my beard. My safety glasses don’t fog or ride up. When I release the mouthpiece, the whole thing drops,
Technique
It’s a Wrap
Clamping with stretch wrap and inner tubes
...cures. Photographs by the author I used to wrap the rubber strips directly on the glue-ups. The rubber held up
Boat Profile
Adirondack Guideboat
A classic rowboat updated for modern construction techniques
...12-footer, and I paid more attention to detail as I refined my skills. I built the fourth boat, a cedar-strip Rangeley 15, from a Newfound Woodworks kit, and my la
Boat Profile
Tiki 21
A Wharram catamaran
...this boat
Product Reviews
Hook Scrapers
Inexpensive and versatile
...remove the paint, so a 1” blade in one hand, leaving the other
Boat Profile
Manitou 18
A classic plywood runabout
...
Adventures
Southing in the Inside Passage
A sail-and-oar voyage
...the Gillard Passage rapids just as the tide was turning in my favor, I