Launchings

 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.

Martin Walker teaches boat building at Maryville High School in Maryville, TN. During the 2002-2003 school year the school completed 4 boats - a 16' cedar strip Micmac canoe, a 15' Micmac made of redwood, 12'10" Pooduck skiff, and a 8' flat-bottom rowboat.

I started designing her in June of 2008. I had to put her up each fall to work on Christmas presents among other projects, but launched her this past weekend.

Here is our Prudence restored. She was built in 1947 in Maine and we found her in need of a total restoration in Marblehead. She was a lot of fun for our young boatbuilders. We also got a list of all the previous owners and contacted them. They thought she was long gone.

Ken Foote built TRUANT using Edwin Monk's book How to Build Wooden Boats. TRUANT is a 12'6" catboat with 5'beam. He launched her in September of 2002. He used poplar for the bottom and sides, cypress and cottonwood for the trim.

SHEILA is a Derwent Skiff designed by Allan Witt of Hobart; she is named after my late mother.

Our boat GRACE is an Iain Oughtred designed Auk tender. This boat is our first boat building project and came about when a friend experienced in boat building offered his assistance. With no woodworking experience we began with great trepidation.

Doug Crane spent 10 years building NOKIDO, a Lyle Hess 29.9 cutter, only to be diagnosed with terminal cancer late in the process. Friends and family helped him finish the boat just in time to spend his last summer aboard.

I built this little Beach Pea so my granddaughters and I can learn to sail, it also rows very nicely. It is constructed of doug fir marine ply for the planks and almost everything else is ash. The name and paint job were inspired by traditional Jamaican fishing boats.

The boat was designed and built in the spring and summer of 2024. The hulls are made of 1/4 inch birch plywood. Construction is tape and glue with 4 ounce fiberglass clothe overlay. Mahogany deck is from all salvage and recycled materials. The boat paddles very easily and is also very stable.