Launchings

This Chesapeake Light Craft Wood Duck 10′ hybrid strip kayak was built with white cedar, walnut, and Doug fir by Community Boat Building campers.

Jeff Ennis and his four sons built this birchbark canoe (16' x 36") in the summer of 2004 in Lac St. Marie, Canada. They used birch bark, green cedar, and spruce root in the construction. The green wood can be easily split into almost paper-thin sheets for making the floorboards.

Barry Lewis built this 7'10" D4 dinghy using plans from Mertens-Goossens of Vero Beach, FL. He made a few minor modifications including a handle at the bow, and a wheel at the stern, which is protected by the keel.

My first attempt at building anything out of wood was what I call the Drift Boat Skiff. The Drift Boat Skiff is plans built from the book, “THE WEEK END SKIFF” BY Richard Butz and John Montague.

This is a Phil Bolger designed catboat. I bought Dynamite Payson’s book, “Build the instant Catboat”. It only took 14 years....with the help of my daughter. I had an old Beetle cat rig that I modified for the boat. Good to finally get it wet.

Bill Bornemann writes that he "built this 9' long, 4' beam, plywood skiff inspired by Howard Chapelle's description of the flat iron skiffs in his book, Small American Sailing Craft. She was assembled and painted in one day as part of his 50th birthday celebration.

SEAMONKEY is a 15'6" Bolger-designed catboat, that Robert Parish modified for a Chinese junk rig. He lives in Bozeman, MT and launched SEAMONKEY in 40-knot gusts on Canyon Ferry Reservoir in August 2004.

Norwegian sailing pram traditionally built of spruce and oak painted with linseed oil paint. The spars and oars are varnished and made of pine and the sail is made of cotton.

The boat is a lot of fun to sail and it rows beautifully too.

Art McRobbie of Edmonton, Alberta, outfitted his Nutshell Pram with a forward-rowing mechanism. Art can reached at mandamcrobbie@shaw.ca.

Guy Seay Jr., his wife, Sue, and sons, Michael and Eric, all had a hand in building SUE SEAY Q, a 9′6″ Nutshell pram designed by Joel White. The family had bought the kit from The WoodenBoat Store.