Launchings

With a design by Sam Devlin, owner Dan Taylor built this stitch and glue cruiser out of Okumo plywood. The cabin is finished with Doug fir and Alaskan yellow cedar. It took just over two years to complete with help from family and friends.

Through connections within The Traditional Small Craft Association, I received word that there was a dory built by John Gardner, looking for a new home just north of my home on the West Coast of Florida.

Jim Hammond replaced seven frames on this 16 x56" motorboat, repaired the lower transom, refinished the motor (1958 Big Twin Evinrude) and installed a new windshield. Then he gave it a few (9) coats of varnish. Johnson Boatworks of St. Williams, Ontario, built the boat in 1957.

For Christmas 2001, Tom Koenig's wife gave him Dynamite Payson's plans for Teal, a Phil Bolger-designed double-ended sailing skiff, 12' long and 3'6" beam. He spent the winter building the boat. For her launching in July 2002, he drove five hours from his house to Pamlico Sound, NC.

Wolfgang Müller of Beckdorf, Germany, recently launched this Gloucester Rocker that he built for his nephew Jannis. Though only a year old, Jannis took command of his first ship with pleasure.

In the late 1950’s, my younger brother and I spent summers at our grandparents’ cottage on the Winnipeg River in northwestern Ontario, fishing and exploring in a small squat wooden rowboat called the Flea.

Tom Willess of Oakton, Virginia discovered Chesapeake Light Craft a few years ago and has fallen in love with building their kayaks. He has already built two 12′ Wood Duck Hybrids that are stitch-and-glue constructed from one of CLC’s kits.

This is an Arrow 14 geodesic canoe designed by Platt Monfort. I used spruce for the stringers, gunwhales, and rub rails, oak for the ribs, cutwaters, and keel, mahogany for the breasthook and knee stems, cherry for the gussets, and maple for the thwarts. The skin is 30 gauge vinyl.

This boat is a Caledonia Yawl. Distinguishing Features are as follow:

• Gunter rig with gaff mizzen which eliminates the need for boomkin sheeting spar.
• 12 buoyancy tanks for safer/quicker capsize recovery.
• Ample dry storage as well as stiffer, stronger, safer hull.

Though it was his first attempt at boatbuilding, Herschel Payne took just 4 months to build this 16′ Stevenson Weekender, SEA RABBIT. He built it from common lumber materials and regular hardware fittings, spending just $1500 for the boat.