Launchings

This little skiff was designed and built with the grandchildren in mind. A fun and safe little boat was the intention. Positive flotation was made with bulkheads installed fore and aft, accessible through deck hatches.

Begun in 2020 blissfully ignorant of rabbets, rabbet planes, and most things nautical, she took me four years of divine frustration from lofting to launch. Everything on her was ripped out and redone several times--so, by rights, she isn't the first boat I have built but at least the third.

The Ruback family races its two Nutshell Prams on Seal Bay in Vinalhaven, Maine, a dream that came true after parents Richard and Elaine built them over the winter and launched them in August, 2001.

This design from CYD 4710 for Lorenzato’s family build from Cantiere Alto Adriatico. It’s very innovative in the layout and is the first of a series with this type for the same yard, with two separate cabins: one forward and one aft, with the dinette and living in the middle of the boat.

CHIME (it’s a little dinghy) is a Chesapeake Light Craft Passagemaker Dinghy. The kit was a family gift, and building help came from all of our children and kids, and Captain Hook (our dog, who endured many hours on the garage floor watching epoxy dry).

This was my first retirement project and my first boat build. It was built from a kit and went together without major problems. It came out of the boat shed officially on April 8th, 2024, hence its name!

Bruce Bowlen built this George Chaisson designed dory tender from information given in John Gardner's "The Dory Book." The bottom and planking are made from plywood, stem and skeg from oak, and transom and remaining parts from mahogany.

Taking just three years to complete this Karl Stambaugh designed centerboard ketch, Mort Hyslop launched the EMILY P on July 15, 2002 in Northern Lake Michigan. He used marine fir plywood for the hull, built over Douglas fir frames and covered with cloth and epoxy.

Kurt and Joan Magnusson restored this rowboat and re-launched it the summer of 2002. They found the boat at a yardsale in NH and bought it for $20. They replaced 11 ribs and all of the fastenings. They hired Skylar Thomson of Thomson Canoeworks in Connecticut to recanvas the boat.

When I retired from Coast Guard active duty in 2007, I made a promise to myself to build a boat. Purchased a pirogue kit and plans from Uncle Johns in 2008.