Gypsy Skiff

Builder Name:
George Wolfe and Dan Hamilton

George Wolfe and Dan Hamilton built this Gypsy skiff from Dynamite Payson’s book Build the New Instant Boats. He said the plans were very straightforward, and the boat went together easily. He did not expect to spend quite so long sanding to get her mirror finish.

Wood Duck Kayak

Builder Name:
Dominic McFadden and Ned Farinholt

James McFadden, age 4, has a wonderful pilot in his 11-year-old brother Dominic, on this Chesapeake Light Craft 14′ Wood Duck Double Kayak. Dominic built it with a little help from his grandfather, Ned Farinholt. Dominic and James live near the Shenandoah River in Front Royal, Virginia.

Kaholo Paddleboard

Builder Name:
Jim Rester

Jim Rester built this 14′ Kaholo paddleboard from a kit by Chesapeake Light Craft. The hull is made from okoume plywood, with a mesquite transom. Jim made the paddle from black walnut. 

KNIPAN

Builder Name:
Larserik Blixt

KNIPAN is the name of a black seabird with a dark green head, and of this 14′ boat built by Larserik Blixt, of Yxlan, Sweden. They launched her on May 7th amidst friends and family and warm spring sunshine.

FRED

Builder Name:
Brooke Elgie

When Bill Short designed the San Francisco Pelican in the 1970s, he made it 12′ long; later he stretched it to 17′ long, and called that version the Great Pelican. Brooke Elgie of Tenakee Springs, Alaska, extended Short's design still farther, to 19′6″, what he calls the Great Alaskan Pelican.

JANI J

Builder Name:
Martin and Janice Houston

Martin Houston designed and built this mini-tugboat, JANI J, that he named for his wife, Janice Jeanette. The two of them built her over five years at their home in South Dakota, epoxying plywood onto fir frames, then covered with fiberglass cloth.

Lazy Sunday Rower

Builder Name:
J. M. Rollins

Jeff Rollins of J. M. Rollins Rowboats in Hudson Falls, NY recently designed and built this Lazy Sunday Rower, 10′4″ long and 4′ wide.

FIRST TRY

Builder Name:
Chris Via

FIRST TRY is constructed with yellow pine framing covered in a fiberglassed and gelcoated southern pine exterior plywood hull. The stem is ash tying into an oak keel with oak bottom rubbers. The chines, gunwale rubbers, coamings, windshield frame, etc are made of Honduran mahogany.

PUFFIN

Builder Name:
Tavish and Niam Rogers supervised by Dave Racicot

After the parts were cut from marine plywood by their grandfather, Tavish and Niam Rogers assembled their first boat using copper ring nails and polyurethane construction adhesive.

NPW

Builder Name:
N. P. White

I built this kayak all by my lonesome in a little shop in Pemaquid, Maine. She’s a beauty (takes after her owner is what I’ve been told), and handles something like a Corvette. I just finished a trip with her up the coast to Machias Port, and am back home dry and tired.