Launchings

Nicky Bastidas, our exchange student from Ecuador, and I built this Solo Carry, based on Eric Schade’s design. (WoodenBoat 205 and 206), as a complement to a paddle I made her.

I built my Grandkids an 8 foot electric launch many years ago.  They are now off to University and the boat has gone. Fynn 7 and Piper 9 next door at the cottage inquired about the electric boat and were disappointed that it had gone.  I promised them their own boat next summer.

Columbia Dinghy. Classic lapstrake dinghy from early 1900’s designed by Herreshoff.

Took the ERIE FEELING (Jeff Spira’s Clemente design) for a maiden voyage. Almost 2 1/2 years making. It was an outdoor summertime weekend family project. Still needs finishing touches but it performed well. This is build #2. Number 1 was Jeff's same smaller Hatteras version.

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.

Julian Swindell found the plans for this Portuguese-style dinghy, NELLIE GRACE designed by Hannu Vartiala of Finland, who has these plans available for free at his website, koti.kapsi.fi/hvartial.

Lunenburg handline dory — launched August 16th. I took a two-week course at The Dory Shop in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia two years back. It took some time to gather the necessary materials and build the forms and jigs. Plus, I developed the workshop as I went along.

When he was eight years old, Shaw Clifton and and his father, David, built this 8′ flat-bottomed skiff at the Toledo Wooden Boat Show in Toledo, Oregon. They named her COMRADE and rowed her for a while in a local pond, but Shaw’s interests turned elsewhere.

Patrick Dawson of Ottawa, Ontario, writes that he’s been wanting to build this boat for over 25 years.