Launchings

Max Buckland couldn't be happier with his 9′ Kidyak, MAXINE, built for him by his grandfather Alan Deforest of Wilimington, North Carolina, and presented to Max on Christmas Day, 2011.

Rob Caveney launched this glued-lapstrake plywood Annapolis Tandem Wherry in April this year following plans from Chesapeake Light Craft. The hull is 18′9″ long, Rob reports that,“As advertised, this boat is a real rocketship.

Daniel Swenson "just followed  the instructions" in "How to Build a Shellback Dinghy" by Eric Dow and found the process "very straightforward." Building NATANGA took five years, during which Daniel experienced the loss of "three close people...but the project was always there for grounding.

Ralph Cioppa made use of what he had on hand in the construction of this Nimrod 12 skin-on-frame canoe. After bending the ash frames in his hot tub, he shaped them, then left them to form in a metal trash can.

I acquired this kit from a friend on Whidbey Island, and further investigation revealed it to be a 13ft “Pandamaran” — an unusual design by famous dinghy designer Jack Holt in the 1970’s, done in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund, whereby part of the proceeds of each sale was donated to

Armand Charlebois launched this steamboat SARA C in August 2004 on the Ottawa River in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Weston Farmer is the designer of the 25' x 7' 'Diana' model boat. Armand strayed slightly from the plans by strip-building the hull, rather than using carvel planking as called for.

Tiger Shark was built by Community Boat Building 5th graders from the Harvard-Kent School in Boston. They launched it this summer along with 11 other Periwinkles built by their classmates.

Carl Sylvester built this 15′3″ Gloucester Gull dory as an economy boat using fir marine plywood on pine frames. He fiberglassed bottom of the hull designed by Phil Bolger and Dynamite Payson.

In March of 2008 I completed construction of a prototype, single frame, light dory of my own design. It was my intention that this boat would be light enough to car top and at the same time capable of handling choppy waters.