Lapstrake Canoe

Builder Name:
Bill McCullom

Bill McCullom of Boxford, Massachusetts, took a lofting class at Lowell's Boat Shop in Amesbury, Massachusetts, before buying the plans for Walter Simmons's 17' lapstrake canoe.

NATANGA

Builder Name:
Daniel Swenson

Daniel Swenson "just followed  the instructions" in "How to Build a Shellback Dinghy" by Eric Dow and found the process "very straightforward." Building NATANGA took five years, during which Daniel experienced the loss of "three close people...but the project was always there for grounding.

HORNET

Builder Name:
Charles Hankins & Sons, Lavallette, NJ

HORNET is a 1981, 18' Hankins sailing skiff, recently relaunched by Damian Siekonic of Privateer Media Built by Charles Hankins & sons of Lavallette, New Jersey, as hull number CHS-812-M81G, HORNET has appeared in three films since being bought by Siekonic in 2000.

CHOCOLATE CHIP3

Builder Name:
Van Dam Custom Boats, Boyne City, Michigan

Van Dam Custom Boats launched a new 30' lapatrake design, CHOCOLATE CHIP3. This daycruiser features an open cockpit that includes a galley, dinette, and wet bar. With a 10' beam and enough seats for a crowd, CHOCOLATE CHIP3 provides a stable cruising platform.

BLUE LOBSTER

Builder Name:
James Gowen

James Gowen and his family launched this Catspaw Dinghy, BLUE LOBSTER, in their family pool at their home in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.  BLUE LOBSTER was designed by Joel White, and is 12'8" long, with a 4'6" beam.  James planked the hull with white cedar on oak frames.

Baltic Ocean Racer

Builder Name:
Sven Östensson

Sven Östenson of Oxelösund, Sweden, bought this ocean racing yacht for about US$700 when he found it lying derelict in a local boat yard. He writes the boat, a Lage Eklund design, has a rounded turtle-deck, which leaked and caused a great deal of rot.

HOBO

Builder Name:
John Seymour

John Seymour modified M.B. Alford's design for the Tursiops Kayak by shortening the length a foot and lengthening to cockpit entry to make it easier to get in and out of the boat. He launched HOBO in Lake of Bays in Ontario, Canada.

Cartopper

Builder Name:
Jim French and Jim Tuck

Jim French was needing a boat when his friend Jim Tuck received Dynamite Payson's book, Build the New Instant Boats, for Christmas. So Jim Tuck lent his friend the book, and the use of his shop, and some wood, and a bit of help, now and then.

CRADLE BOAT

Builder Name:
Stu Fyfe

Stu Fyfe of Brewster, Massachusetts, launchged this 54" Beach Pea Baby Cradle just about the time of the launch of his grandson, Owen James Fyfe.

WAGEMAKER RUNABOUT

Builder Name:
Chuck Nagy, Burn Pile Restorations

Chuck Nagy of Burn Pile Restorations rescued a 50-year-old Wolverine, model no. 2, made by Wagemaker Boats of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  He turned a derelict hull with no transom or seats, and a five-foot crack down one side, into this beautiful fishing skiff.