Riley Hall was born and raised in Gig Harbor, Washington, a quiet town nestled around a narrow, mile-long inlet that shares the town’s name. The shoreline is bristling with piers and the water is dotted with boats at anchor. Surrounded by boats, it was only natural that Riley began building and working on them at a young age. He kept at it through high school and began restoring a 1940s-vintage canvas-covered cedar-strip rowing boat at home. For his senior-year project, he chose to work at the Gig Harbor BoatShop, documenting and disassembling hull #2 of the Ben Seaborn–designed Thunderbird.After graduating, his interest in the restoration of old boats led him to move across the country to Rhode Island to study at Newport’s International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS). While enrolled there, he spent winter evenings and weekends restoring a 1963 Snipe. After graduating from IYRS in 2012 he got a job maintaining and restoring mostly classic racing yachts at Baltic Boatworks in nearby Bristol.During the time he had been on his career path—restoring large yachts and working boats—Riley had been toying with the concept of small boats built from a single sheet of plywood. He designed and built his first one-sheet rowing skiff while home for Christmas in 2014. He had brought the paper patterns for the skiff with him to Rhode Island and shared them with Don Betts, a local boatbuilder who had built a 31’ six-oared Cornish gig, and the one-sheet skiff Don built led to two more, built with the help of a group of Sea Scouts.
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Is it possible to get plans? Looks like fun.
Andy
I should not have read this. It is too tempting by far. Maybe a bit bigger and 6 hp because I am a bit heavy. Looks like really cheap fun. Maybe one doesn’t need plans.
Yes, please let me know if plans are to be had.
Whoa, way cool! That is one sweet little speedster!
There was an Avanti in my neighborhood growing up, that was just a beautiful car!
Yes – plans please Riley!!
I’ll bet an electric outboard would be cool, and stealthy! It’s short enough to put the batteries at the bow without too much loss of voltage. That might allow a more comfortable riding position.
Yes! Put me 5th in line for plans!
Another request for simple plans, Riley! Looks like a hoot (and I happen to have a little Suzuki 2.5hp engine, already). I’d be happy to give you anything from my site as a return gift (you’re still a climber?).
Hey folks, thank you for your interest and curiosity towards my silly little boat Vespa. At this point there are no plans drawn for the boat as it was developed as I went along without proper documentation. I can make some patterns, take some measurements and develop a basic set of as builds with basic construction details, and see about making those available to folks. For now you can think about acquiring a sheet of plywood 3/16-1/4″ should do and assembling your 1x scrap wood into 1′ , 3′ 4′ and 8′ lengths. Folks heavier than I, with larger outboards in mind, might consider sourcing a 5×10 sheet of plywood and longer lengths of scrap wood.
Hi Riley
If you do make some rudimentary “study plans” available, I would love to acquire them!
Love the boat and design elements you put into it!
Jerry Welch
Really nice. Congrats!
At 6′ 5″ and 220 lbs, I won’t be building anything similar anytime soon. The 10′ sailing dink I built was awkward enough. But I just had to send congrats on the steering bar. Very cool and fitting.
Looks like a ton of fun! I love tiny boats, but they don’t love me. At 5′ 9″ and 215, I’m guessing it won’t plane.
It will with a 5 hp 2 stroke.
Way to go Riley!! Dream and build.
Love this!
Fit’s inside a pickup bed
Go electric!
Bravo!
We understand the envelope can still be pushed !!! Bravo Sir !!!!
Riley, this is a cruel way to get a fella’s mind flying in all directions. I have 2 sheets of 1/4″ x 4′ x 16′ fir marine ply that I have been storing for 30 years. Bought at Edensaw when you can still buy the long stuff. How’s that for getting your mind roaming? Still looking for a project for the panels. I’m in Everett.
If there are any quick dimensions that could be taken off your working model, that would be a great starting point. Thanks!
Just too cool!
Cheers,
Rob