Launchings

Chesapeake 18… first time builder.

Fueled by WoodenBoat, Steve Hutchins has long wanted to design and build boats. Here are two CLC boats he built. The second one, that he built for a customer in Florida, is a Mill Creek 15 designed by Chesapeake Light Craft.

After building this boat at age 16, Brandon Camp writes "It is Ken Hankinson's design, Buckboard, purchased from Glen-L Marine Design. It has a length on deck of 11'11" and a beam of 36", and weighs 85 pounds. The rig is a 66 square foot lateen sail, which can keep up with my Mom's Lido!

Richard Hudak, of Hilo, Hawaii, built this gleaming 16′ canoe from sugi cedar. He cut the tree down and milled the wood himself. He made the gunwale and seats from sprice, and the rails, stems, and breasthooks from koa. He made the paddle from Portuguese cypress, spruce, and sugi cedar.

KIWI II is a development of New Zealander Richard Hartley’s Trailer Sailer 21 design. This boat was started as a retirement project by Kennith Tycer. Howard Berg purchased the unfinished boat in 1995 and with the permission of the designer added a bowsprit to improve its windward performance.

Ken Swan’s Nez Perce 19. Self bailing cockpit, 18 gallon hard tank in console.

Emma Grace is 8 years old. She and I built the 16-foot Chestnut Prospector in the Spring using plans from Sandy Point Boatworks. We have been enjoying it all Summer long along Florida’s Canoe Trail. This Winter we are planning to build a Glen-L 14 sailboat.

After 15 years of on-again, 0ff-again building, EILEEN was launched on Blue Bill Cove in Rhode Island. Built of cedar strips with an oak keel, she's a 14′ centerboard sloop with a gunter rig, designed by Tony Dias, and built by Jim Lengel of Cedar Cove Cottage.

 This 7'10" pram/kayak was built from plans in Gavin Atkin's Ultrasimple Boatbuilding, in spring of 2011 by Stephen Nickles, and launched this past June, my brave wife Christine is at the helm.

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.