Launchings

Walter graduated from Westlawn Institute and now has his own business designing yachts now. He launched this boat in July of 2005 and it is used as a yacht tender. He writes, "She can carry 3 adults comfortably in protected waters.

Herb Friese built this 16' x 35" cedar strip canoe, Abenaki model, from plans and materials supplied by Newfound Woodworks, Bristol, NH. Herb said it took about eight months of part-time work in his garage. The canoe will be used in the waters around Catskill, NY, by owner Kathleen Farrell.

Alex Braden, age 7, and his brother Andy, age 9, helped their grandfater, Charlie Brown, build two Chesapeake Light Craft paddleboards. during the winter of 2010 and 2011. Built from kits, the SUPs are 14′ long and just under 30′ wide.

Manasek was traditional construction - in old times used by Scouts in Czech republic. It was easy to build — just from three wide boards. It was paddled by double blade paddle.

Here floats RED RYDER in a swimming pool with her builder, Rip Graham of St. Simons Island, Georgia, aboard.  His wife Charlotte took the pictures and shared Rip’s project with us. Rip built modified version of Tom Yost’s Nikumi design for a 17′ x 22″ Aluetian Baidarka touring kayak.

I built the M-Yak 500 in summer 2020.
It is sleek and fast sit-on-top kayak for one or two paddlers that can easily built in stitch-and-glue.

I fell in love with the Biscayne Bay 14 when I first came to Woodenboat School 30 years ago. Life intervened, and it took nearly 30 years before I built a boat from the plans I bought way back when. She is largely built according to the how-to articles in WoodenBoat issues 96-98.

George Eckley, and his sons Andrew and Aaron, wanted to kayak fishing, but found the typical 34" cockpit too small to work with their poles and tackle boxes. So they built their own kayaks. First they built ORIGINAL OAK, which is 14'6' long, with a 29' beam, and a 64" cockpit.

Starting work in a cold, 14º garage over February break, continuing the effort over April vacation, the team from Lynn English HS, Lynn MA wrapped up two "6-hour Canoe" builds and partially completed a third boat this past June 21!  

WREN was built on our patio in Chapel Hill, NC. It only took about 20 months longer then the 2 months I originally promised my wife. This was my first attempt at boat building and now I'm ready to leave my job as a nurse, head back to school, and figure out how to make a livelihood of it.