Many years ago, one of the big varnish manufacturers had a regular advertisement showing a cowering boat owner eyeing a brightwork project with a feigned expression of terror, and saying “Vvvvvvvvarnish?” Such fear is a common sentiment among would-be and occasional varnishers, and for good reason: Varnish provides excellent protection while showing the beauty of the wood, but it takes a consistent commitment of time and skill each year to maintain it. And achieving a good bright (aka varnished) finish requires...
Sample Articles From WoodenBoat Magazine
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The fishing vessel SKIPPER was launched in 1941 as a “party boat,” carrying deckloads of anglers on “deep sea” fishing expeditions from northern New Jersey. She continues in that role today, but now hails from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. -
Anyone who has built a boat knows that it is the near-perfect vehicle for teaching applied math and science, because these topics apply to all phases of a construction project. A boat can also be a vehicle for understanding a process that’s difficult to replicate on a screen. There are formulas, fractions, ratios, proportions. There is geometry everywhere—isosceles triangles, symmetry, perpendiculars, right angles, and bisecting angles. -
On September 18, 1962, GRETEL, the first-ever Australian 12-Meter-class sloop, beat the AMERICA’s Cup defender WEATHERLY by a margin of 47 seconds. It was the second race of the Cup’s final series, and the victory sent a shock wave through the sailing world and touched off gleeful pandemonium Down Under. Could this be the first year that the Cup would be wrested away from its American grip since its inception in 1851? -
Distinctive racing yawls, tracing a long lineage to Devon coastal workboats, have been racing off the English town of Salcombe for generations. Here, the revolutionary NUFFIN (Y141), the boat that precipitated a split of the development class into two divisions in the 1980s, leads the fleet. Close behind are ANOTHER DILEMMA (Y173), FIRECREST (Y187), and SPRUCE GOOSE (Y177). All four boats were designed by Phil Morrison and sail in the Red Fleet, created after NUFFIN was built. -
A great deal has changed in the world of plywood since those masters of the medium made the recommendations quoted above. The prospective plywood boatbuilder of 2017 wades into a thicket of unenforced standards, uneven quality, and outright flim-flammery. Lots of great choices remain, but you can’t simply judge marine plywood by its stamp. -
In my years of teaching boatbuilding and repairing wooden boats, I’ve noticed many mistakes owners make in the upkeep of their boats—common practices, done with good intent, that can often do more harm than good. I’ve distilled these into a list of the ten most common ones I’ve observed. Being aware of these things should help to eliminate some frustration and expense. My list loosely follows the... -
After fumbling with tools and wood screws when climbing in and out of a Haven 12½ I was building, I remembered a photograph from around 1938 that appeared in Maynard Bray and Carlton Pinheiro’s book, Herreshoff of Bristol (WoodenBoat Books, 1989) of a tool tray sitting on cross braces in a Herreshoff 12½ under construction. Boatbuilding and boat repair are more efficient if tools, fastenings, and... -
Most boats 16′ and over are, very sensibly, required by the U.S. Coast Guard to carry day and night visual distress signals, and until recently the only option for boaters to properly meet those requirements was to carry pyrotechnic flares. Regulations for an electric signaling device have been on the books for some time, but the technology was not available to make a practical device...