When I first saw WoodenBoat Magazine’s boat design competition to design a modern wooden runabout, I was very excited. I’m sure most of the other competitors in this competition feel the same way.
Pete McDonald and John Sherwood created this 12′ x 8′ pontoon boat to their own design, and called the BUCKEYE PADDLER. She is built with three pontoons, two with deep-v bottoms, the other flat bottomed. Two 30″ paddlewheels propel her through the lakes of eastern Ohio.
Though he’s read WoodenBoat magazine for most his adult life, Andrew Noble of Basket Range, South Australia, finally built his first boat. MOLLIE is a 7′10″ Auk design by Iain Oughtred, and carries 42 sq ft of sail. Andrew bought the plans from Duck Flat Wooden Boats.
Dean Lasseter built this 16′ wood-strip canoe from plans by Bear Mountain Boats, named WARBLER by his daughter. He reports that the lines were taken by Bill Mason, drawn by Ted Moores, and faired by Steve Killing.
Tom Willess of Oakton, Virginia discovered Chesapeake Light Craft a few years ago and has fallen in love with building their kayaks. He has already built two 12′ Wood Duck Hybrids that are stitch-and-glue constructed from one of CLC’s kits.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.