Launchings

17′ Viking Boat “Lillebror”Please go see photos of the newly built 17′ Viking boat Lillebror getting ready for launch, on Facebook “Nordlandsbåt”.

Kwei U, of Mill Valley, California, had built model boats and airplanes for 50 years before deciding to build a full-sized boat.

After 37 years as a superintendent and general superintendent at Howard S. Wright Construction, a Balfour Beatty company in Seattle, Washington, my retirement gift from my peers and the company was a complete Annapolis Wherry kit from Chesapeake Light Craft.

Evan Taylor of Fonthill, Ontario built this Joel White-designed Shellback dinghy in 2001. He used okoume plywood planking with white oak trim. The seats are pine. His wife sewed the sail from a Sailrite kit. Evan sails her on Lake Erie.

Kevin and Pat Clair of Carrollton, Texas launched WATERMELON in March 2001. At just under 8' long, this kayak is a tight fit for paddler. She is a "V8" design from Versatile Marine of Carrollton Texas. The hull is made from 3 mm okoume plywood, and the deck from 1.5mm okoume.

Jeff Spira of Spira International wrote in to say that, “Mike Spiridonov just completed this 7′6″ pram to fish the many lakes he has up in his neighborhood. It was built using the stitch-and-glue technique [with] 1/4″ plywood, somewhat thicker than the plans originally called for.

THELMA is an 11’4” cedar strip canoe with Douglas Fir gunwales and Ash stems. She is the first boat built by cousins Tristan and Tom and was made under a tarpaulin shelter at the end of their garden in Southampton, England.

Boatbuilder Douglas Brooks led eighteen students at the University of Illinois in building a 21-foot Shinano River boat, a traditional design from Niigata, Japan.

LI’L BOAT was launched September 3, 2013 in Egg Harbor, WI. Hull was stripped planked using Atlantic White Cedar and sheathed in fiberglass cloth and epoxy. Transom, seats, and trim are Mahogany. Flooring is Cumaru and spars are Douglas Fir.

Steve and Jamie Reed of Greeley, Colorado, built this cute little rocking boat with no metal fasteners, just glue and dowels. They used teak, purple heart, poplar, pine, ash, and oak. Some tiny Reed captain should be overjoyed with their first command.