Launchings

VERONIQUE is a 14′ Dacron skin-on-frame canoe based on the Geodesic Aerolite Arrow 14 design. Built and owned by Carl Frey. Ribs are steamed red oak. Stringers and inwales are laminated Douglas fir.

Toby Hall and Charlie Howland worked at Concordia years ago when Leo Telesmanick was running it. Now retired, the pair decided their six grandchildren (ages 2 and younger) needed some good little skiffs.

Winnie is an Alcort Standard Sailfish built in the 1950s in Waterbury, CT. She came to us mid restoration from New York, we painted her and put her back together. She will sail in a whisper of a breeze and keeps you on your toes when the breeze picks up.

Ken Foote built TRUANT using Edwin Monk's book How to Build Wooden Boats. TRUANT is a 12'6" catboat with 5'beam. He launched her in September of 2002. He used poplar for the bottom and sides, cypress and cottonwood for the trim.

Taking just three years to complete this Karl Stambaugh designed centerboard ketch, Mort Hyslop launched the EMILY P on July 15, 2002 in Northern Lake Michigan. He used marine fir plywood for the hull, built over Douglas fir frames and covered with cloth and epoxy.

Doug Robertson named this canoe BOING for the noise it will make if all the strips come apart. It is a modified Bear Mountain Rob Roy Canoe. The 13' design was shortened to 11' 6". It weighs 26 pounds. Doug used cedar bead and cove strips covered on the outside with 5 oz fiberglass.

Lofting the plans from Nick Schade's book, The Strip-Built Sea Kayak, Kevin Rautio built this 17′ Guillemot Sea Kayak from Spanish cedar. He spent about a year building it, including the lofting and scratch-building everything, even the strips.

This was a kit boat that I customized using many inlays, wood tractor style seat with matching backrest. All exotic wood.

My friend Will Craig rebuilt RETREAD using Okoume plywood. I bought her in 1988, sailed her for 18 years, then sold her in 2005 to pay for a bicycle tour. Last year, I bought her back and restored her over the winter.

EL GATO is a 12'6" Phil Bolger designed catboat built by Ross Mason between May 2002 and October 2003. Ross launched EL GATO on November 25, 2003. He used 1/4" plywood covered with epoxy resin and fiberglass cloth. He built the hollow 16' mast from 8 staves as described in WB issue XXXX.