Launchings

"There once was a group of retirees, Sitting around in old dungarees, What were the old fogies to do? Why, build three wood-strip canoes, So they all simply rolled up their sleeves.

Mike and Billee Gearheard sail the 9'6" Nutshell Pram they built on Puget Sound and Matz Matz Bay in Washington State. They named this Joel White design CHOTARA 1. Launched on March 30, 2002, she is of glued lapstrake construction, and carries a lug mainsail.

Doug Burns built this Shearwater 17 from a Chesapeake Light Craft kit. The honey colored hull is Okoume plywood, the dark red deck Sapele. She has an LOA of 17′ and a beam of 22″. Designed by Eric Shade, she weighs about 45lbs.

This Passagemaker dinghy, one of Chesapeake Light Craft's designs, was built by Mark R. Allen of Reston, Virginia, for Brian White. Intended for use her as a tender for the White family's trawler, the dinghy will see use in Chesapeake Bay.

Robert Fraser used the designs of older C-4s to create this class boat. A C-4 class boat for Canada cannot be more than 20' long (6.1 meters), must have a minimum beam of 2'6" (76 cm), and weigh at least 68.34 pounds (31kg).

Richard Maldonado chose the 13′ QT Rowing Skiff design by Jim Michalak (www.jimsboats.com) for his first build. He wanted to build a boat mostly from found materials, and except for the luan plywood that he purchased, everything else was recycled.

Dean Whitlock writes, “These two prams, 11' long on the left and 13' long on the right, were built to the same pattern by Bob Elliott’s class, ‘Building the Norwegian Pram,’ at WoodenBoat School in August 2001.

Dennis Williams believes this 11' skiff to have built sometime in the 1950s. It was restored by Fabian and Sachs restorations. It was a sailing skiff, which Dennis had converted to a rowing skiff. He uses her in the West River at Shady Side, MD.

This is my 18′ Carolina dory. Materials are from local lumber yards except for the bronze screws. This was a fun project, the plans from Spira International were easy to read and the boat gets plenty of compliments.