Boat Profile
A racing daysailer
...or it can be raced by a crew of three in one-design fleets. The cockpit is spacious, comfortable, and practically designed, with port and starboard longitudinal benches for comfortable seating for three on both sides of the cockpit. The cockpit coaming lies flush with the deck, which is a significant attribute when you and the crew are hiking out with...
Technique
...course that includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In addition to that, always carry a small first-aid kit with bandages and over-the-counter medications, along with a stretch bandage, which is useful for sprains or tightly wrapping a bleeding wound. Major medical emergencies can include cessation of breathing, a bleeding wound, or heart attack symptoms. These can be life threatening and need to...
Reader Built Boats
A race boat built for a holiday challenge
...it to a water trough in a nearby paddock. They chopped away the thick ice and set the boat in the water. With trepidation, Dan clambered aboard and was pleased to discover it was no more tippy than a canoe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKBxuYO3154 Back at the shop, he applied a layer of ’glass cloth with polyester resin. “I’d already used most of...
Product Reviews
A full-sized boat hook for small boats
...can’t be done with a snap like that, but you can curl the end and then push it into some corner and have it spin while you push the shaft into the roll. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBOFtAOLUoQ The foam grip gives the Revolve the buoyancy it needs to float, and like a proper boathook, it floats vertically. Only a couple of inches rise...
Boat Profile
Born by a beautiful bay
...builds the Caracal , priced at $97,000 (as of 10/2022). Included on their web page devoted to the Caracal is the video below, showing the Caracal under construction and under sail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJdmfkoyonM Is there a boat you’d like to know more about? Have you built one that you think other Small Boats Monthly readers would enjoy? Please email us!...
Adventures
At home away from home
...pillow I use at home. Inside each bench cushion there is 3” of camper-pad foam on top of ¼” of closed-cell foam—good enough for sitting—but for sleeping, 1½” Therma-rest pads slipped underneath the cushions add a welcome measure of comfort. By the time I was ready to push off the beach and anchor, it had grown dark and the woods...
Boat Profile
A boat that almost builds itself
...decided to shake the reef out and try the yawl under full sail. With the mizzen sheeted in, the boat lay sedately head-to-wind, drifting slowly backward as I dropped the mainsail. Undoing the reef and rehoisting the sail took only a minute or two, but by that time there was a 700′ ore boat inbound through the ship channel. I...
Boat Profile
Quiet power, stately pace
...recorded a top speed of 4.5 knots (5.2 mph). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmjb-9_KRa0 A power cord is connected to a charger secured under the aft deck. Having the cord with the boat is a good idea; it’s safer to carry the cord from the boat to the power source than to carry an electrified cord from the power source across the water to...
Adventures
An unconventional Alaskan camp-cruiser
...awake. I sat up and looked around through the expansive, plexiglass windows flanking the narrow, 4′ × 8′ cabin. Salmon were launching themselves in mercurial arcs, and low clouds, dense with charcoal underbellies, obscured the dark upward slopes of Kruzof Island on either side. The more-often-than-not fog of the last week had lifted slightly, at least within the bay. David...
Boat Profile
Fit to row the Grand Canyon
...If the load is the least bit off-center, it becomes difficult to maintain a straight course; the boat tends to spin to the weighted side. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmwkJohrIJo Jess and I built our dory in about 75 days, working on and off over two years. It was a wonderfully rewarding experience. A decked river dory like the Colorado River Dory is a...
Product Reviews
An epoxy with flexibility
...hours. Inside the static mixing tip, a series of baffles fold the white and brown components back on themselves until they emerge tan and fully blended. Thixo Flex’s resin and hardener are contained in a single cartridge and dispensed simultaneously with a high-thrust caulk gun. The components are blended as they flow through a mixing tip, so there is no...
Product Reviews
Myerchin's rigger's knife with pliers
...our small armada and how handy this multipurpose knife is. Audrey—aka Skipper—and Kent Lewis are motoring, paddling, rowing, and sailing the Tidewater Region of Virginia in their menagerie of small boats, ranging from an 8′ punt up to Skipper’s 19′ gaff-rigged yawl. Their adventures are logged at www.smallboatrestoration.blogspot.com. The P300 Sailor’s Tool is available in silver, red, or blue from...
Boat Profile
A plywood deep-V sportfisher
...ample range for southern California fishing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txv3gYn8pyk Our 24′ La Paz sits on a trailer we had custom-made. It weighs roughly 4,000 lbs fully loaded and trailers like a dream. At the launch ramp it can be handled by one person, but usually needs to be walked off and on with the trailer close to the dock. Two pairs of...
Boat Profile
A shallow-draft outboard
...which have the advantage of being able to impart the effect of a hook only when needed. The standard Port A Skiff is a flat-bottomed boat and as such can pound in a chop, and the shallow waters around Port A ensure that pretty much any wave action comes in the form of a chop. Experienced skippers ease their speed...
Technique
An epoxy cure for weathered plywood
...primer. For small cracks and larger voids—bits of veneer that have come loose—we have used TotalBoat’s THIXO (epoxy thickened with silica) to fill the voids and provide a smooth surface for fairing compound, primer, and paint. The THIXO can be applied over sanded, clean surfaces, so it was not necessary for us to remove well-adhered paint to get to bare...
Boat Profile
Joel White’s classic
...pieces to find. The plans call for a V-shaped, custom-cast bronze gudgeon that fits around the sternpost, but I found gudgeons that mount on the face of the sternpost, with a curved bronze rod used in lieu of pintles to secure the rudder. The wide beam gives the hull good stability, while a simple lug rig makes sailing a breeze....
Boat Profile
Everything from gunkholing to open-water sailing
...the slight compound curve created by the deckbeams, a great relief. I laminated the coaming with three 1/8″ x 8″ mahogany pieces sprung into place; after the epoxy cured I removed the lamination and cut it to shape before installing it permanently. For the floorboards I chose ipe, a dense hardwood that is very durable but equally hard to work;...
Boat Profile
A smart little runabout from 1938 designed by Bruce N. Crandall
...comes back down quickly. The deck is an unusual combination of planks aft and fabric forward. Under rough conditions, Kaufman has also found that turning slightly and planting more of the hull’s forward V as well as one of the chines into the water can help stabilize the hull. Even in turbulent waters, the Midget offers a dry ride. Kaufman...
Boat Profile
A plywood speedster from Bateau.com
...the team at the shop manages the business of cutting kits, supplying materials, and supporting backyard builders. Jim Dumser Kerfs in the aft ends of the side panels make the compound curves at the stern possible. The RB14 would look right at home in a 1950s DIY magazine, and in fact that is exactly where Jacques found some of the...
Adventures
Paddling the Northern Forest Canoe Trail
...raw quality, but I was hoping to do without the common Voyageur maladies of compacted spines and hernias. At 28, I was still living with my mother when I wasn’t working for Outward Bound. My friends found this odd, but my Italian grandfather assured me that when he was a boy the practice of living with a parent at my...
From The Editor
Following a 19th-century adventurer
...boats being made of paper by Waters & Sons, the only company making paper boats, as well as observatory domes and racing shells. The company was in Troy, so he ordered a paper canoe. This letter, dated October 12, 1874, seems to be an announcement of the completion of the canoe. Nine days later, having christened the 58-lb canoe MARIA...
Boat Profile
An eye-catching blend of old and new technology.
Kmehlsphotography.com Owing to her light weight and refined shape, Harrier is exceptional under oar or sail. Designer Dias rows the boat here with author Bennett. RAN TAN was built to Tony Dias’s Harrier design, which is, in part, a development of an earlier design of his, Marsh Hawk. But Tony will tell you that Harrier was drawn specifically for Ben...
...and how to send it. You’re also welcome to email us your suggestions for articles; we’ll try to find a writer who can cover the topics you’re interested in. E-mail Jenny Bennett, Editor, at jenny@woodenboat.com. Q. May I post comments and images on this site? A. Yes, you are welcome to post comments on articles, and our Classifieds section allows...
Boat Profile
A beach-launched outboard fishing skiff
...craft with a large load capacity, its flat bottom and reserve buoyancy make it a capable shallow-water vessel. Sandy Weedman (pcphotolady.webs.com) With its broad flat bottom, the Hunky Dory can slide over thin water—even as the outboard is kicking up—before coming to a stop on the sand. Note how well the spray rail turns the water away. In 2019, I...
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