Launchings

Thanks for the inspiration your magazine has given me to undertake a boat build. I started subscribing one month after your “Getting Started In Boats” section launched, and I have been a faithful reader of every issue since.

Tim Johnson built this 12′ Huntington Harbor Kayak from plans provided on the Spira International website. He writes that it was fun to build and now he wants to build something bigger. 

Launching Scrappy, Rooster # 744, at the first annual Rooster Week, in 2014.

Jack Shenker lives between two lakes in New Jersey, so he needed to build two boats. He started by building LITTLE JOANIE, a Shellback dinghy for fishing on one of the lakes.

Community School of Davidson in Davidson, North Carolina launches the “Sea Spartan”, a St. Ayles Skiff designed by Iain Oughtred. Built in four months by students and teacher Jim Dumser in the Wood Arts class, the skiff is 22 feet long and rowed by a team of five.

Ken and Deb LaPorte recently finished building their first boat, a Melonseed skiff named TIME OUT. The design is by Marc Barto and available from The WoodenBoat Store. The hull is built from strips of sapele.

Frank Fletcher spent two winters taking apart and rebuilding this boat he rescued from a neighbor's shed. He was able to reuse 80% of the original parts. He 'glassed the bottom up to the first strake to help protect it from its future use on his beach.

Built Six years ago in Perth Western Australia. Relaunched after health issues prevented sailing for a while.
Higher Freeboard, Self Draining Cockpit Deck and Sail furling added to Gary Deirkings design.

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.

Dale Edward Smith owns this lovely Penobscot 14, designed by Arch Davis, and built at the Andaman Boatyard in Thailand. The boat is gaff-rigged and weighs about 170 pounds. Dale uses TIDAK APA-APA at his home in Singapore.