Launchings

Bev and Frank Salomonsen of Rochester, Minnesota, built this balanced-lug sailboat from plans of the Tirrik design by Iain Oughtred. They built the 16′10″ hull from okoume plywood planking, with stem and keel of white oak.

Stephen Champagne and his wife bought DRIFTWOOD, a 32′ Grand Banks, in May 2014. They put her in drydock for seven weeks and had a crew of five shipwrights working on her. They sistered 17 of her frames, replaced both chines, and 160 feet of planking.

Blanket Bay was built for my granddaughter, born today, May 27th. I wanted a design that got the cradle up off the floor (my daughter has three little dogs) and this design fit the bill. It’s clinker built of 1088 Hydratec Meranti ply, with solid Maple gunwales.

The Launchings section of WoodenBoat No. 225 featured Wayne Mueller's skiff BLUEBIRD, a 17′ 6″ design that Wayne based on Tom Hill’s Long Point skiff and Mark Murray's Sea Hoss skiff. BLUEBIRD was built from meranti and sapele marine plywood on sawn elm frames.

Rich Hanenburg dedicated more than 5000 hours over 6 years to the construction of his 28' Nordcoaster called HOHUM. The hull and cabin are made from plywood, with framing in mahogany, fir, and oak; then Rich covered the entire boat with fiberglass and epoxy.

BLACKFIN is a Pilgrim Pride 16 center console skiff designed by Paul Bennett of Shoe String Shipyard. Brothers Michael and David Hitt built it at David's home in Annapolis, MD, and launched BLACKFIN in October of 2001. The construction is of epoxy-covered plywood.

"There once was a group of retirees, Sitting around in old dungarees, What were the old fogies to do? Why, build three wood-strip canoes, So they all simply rolled up their sleeves.

Whitupau is an Oceanic proa dug out of a Western Red Cedar log. Its hull form is Micronesian-inspired (longitudinally symmetrical, but transversely asymmetrical with more camber on the windward side). Its structure is Māori-inspired.

Natalie McHaffie built two Nutshell Prams in her living room for her grandchildren.Grandson Yann’s “Yankipoo” has an inlaid transom with the boat’s name and dragon logo.

Virginia Gerardi attended the WB show in Mystic, CT in 1996 and was inspired to build a boat. It took her three years, but in October of 1999 she launched SELKIE, a 15' weekend skiff, featured in the book The Weekend Skiff by Richard Butz and John Montague.