Launchings

Chesapeake style v-bottom sailing skiff.
All hardwoods Sapele
Meranti Plywood
Cypress spars and oars
Bronze fasteners and hardware

After Alex had jokingly told his seven-year-old granddaughter, Hannah, that she’d have to make a speech at the launch of his 15′ Chesapeake Light Craft Skerry last summer, she took h

After 19 years of paddling on 20 lakes and rivers from Lake Michigan to Florida, including many rocky rapids on Ohio rivers, Glen Rahtz saw that his canoe was ready for some attention. He built the red cedar and redwood hull from plans in Canoe magazine.

This Atkinson Traveler, designed by Rollin Thurlow, was built by Otey Smith at the Northwoods Canoe Co. in Atkinson, ME, under the supervision of Rollin Thurlow and Peter Wallace.

John Storrow built his 7' long gaff catboat EMPRESS in his Boston apartment, completing her in September 2002. She was launched on October 20, 2002 in the Charles River in Boston. John uses a cart to transport Empress from his apartment to the river.

Tabor Academy in Marion, Massachusetts, offers a one-semester "Practical Ship and Boat Design" course that "aims to get students comfortable with lines drawings by lofting a sailing model full scale," writes instructor David Bill.

When Andy Bradbury started building the Cartopper dinghy on his patio, he promised his wife it would only take a couple of months for him to finish. Just short of two years after that, he finally launched the 11′ 6″ WREN in his home waters of the Pamilico River Washington, North Carolina.

Dave Quillen writes that he built and named this boat for his daughter, the actual Lila Wildy. The boat is 14' long, and is constructed of 1/4" marine plywood hull planking, western red cedar stringers, with cypress keel, stem, and rail caps.

Dan Vallerga's first adventure in boatbuilding led to this Penobscot 17 (Arch Davis design) which took just 10 months from start to its launch on Sept 6, 2004. Dan uses the boat in Humboldt Bay, Eureka, CA. Contact Dan at vallergad@sbcglobal.net.

Kelsey Johnson built “Knute” over the course of a year and a half. Carpenter by trade and a first time boat builder. It was made of white oak for the frames, mahogany for comings and trim, marine grade plywood for hull. This is a Glen L15 design. The mast and boom is douglas fir.