April 2024 Archives - Small Boats Magazine

3M Stikit Hand Block

Jenny Bennett — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 18:25:26 +0000

That 3M Stikit Soft Hand Block felt good in my hand. It was flexible and soft enough that I could sense the surface below, and it molded to the curves on which I was working, rather than sanding right through them. Indeed, I seemed to get a smoother, more even surface, not only with less effort, but also in less time. I tossed the wood block back into the offcuts bin and have never looked back.

The post 3M Stikit Hand Block appeared first on Small Boats Magazine.

The First Caledonia Yawl

Christopher Cunningham — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 18:12:12 +0000

Drew got in touch with Iain at the time he’d bought the old double-ender and learned that it was the first Caledonia Yawl ever built. It marked an important point in Iain’s career. In Iain Oughtred: a Life in Wooden Boats, author Nic Compton writes: “With so many designs available for amateur construction nowadays, it’s easy to forget what a landmark the Caledonia Yawl was.” While it did not come early in his work as a designer, trailing his first design by 21 years, “…the Caledonia Yawl,” Compton writes, “and the range of double-enders which followed soon came to be associated with Iain more than any other design of his.”

The post The First Caledonia Yawl appeared first on Small Boats Magazine.

Coloring Cordage

Christopher Cunningham — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 18:09:33 +0000

A few months ago, I saw a beautifully appointed Caledonia yawl, rigged with what I thought was Unmanila. I asked the builder, Mark Bratton, about it and he said the running rigging was ordinary white nylon three-strand that he had dyed a lovely café-au-lait hue. Nat Wilson, a Maine-based master sailmaker specializing in sails for traditional ships, had told Mark how to dye synthetic rope, and Mark passed the technique along to me.

The post Coloring Cordage appeared first on Small Boats Magazine.

Car-Door Steps

Christopher Cunningham — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 18:04:27 +0000

Rodney Lewis of Santa Barbara, California, realized that cars didn’t need ladders, they just need a step. Coming up with a step was easy; how to support it was the hard part. The genius of his solution was recognizing that vehicles already had built into them the place to attach the step: the door striker plate.

The post Car-Door Steps appeared first on Small Boats Magazine.

RIPPLE

Jenny Bennett — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 16:28:59 +0000

“I really wanted to build something from scratch, design it myself from the ground up,” he says, “but that seemed like a project I might never actually move forward with. So, one fall, I bought a stitch-and-glue kayak kit and set myself up in the basement of our house.” He built it over the winter and, by the end of a “really enjoyable project,” had a “great little boat.”

The post RIPPLE appeared first on Small Boats Magazine.

Newfound Wherry

Jim Creighton — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:35:59 +0000

When the Newfound Wherry was resurrected in the fall of 2022, I built the updated version—equipped with a daggerboard and a larger spritsail—I bought the plans and complete kit provided by Newfound Woodworks.

The post Newfound Wherry appeared first on Small Boats Magazine.

CROW’s Last Sail

Drew Fetherston — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:31:02 +0000

Someday in the not terribly distant future, I will realize a long-held dream: I will set sail, alone, in a boat I have built myself, on a west-to-east voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The boat will be a version of a cat-yawl I’ve already built and sailed, with some important modifications: it will have a single square-rigged sail; it will not have a rudder; it will be 31″ long, with a 12″ beam. Me? I’ll lie snug below for the entire voyage, however long it may last. I’ll be dead, reduced to a few pounds of ashes, stowed below deck in the cabin.

The post CROW’s Last Sail appeared first on Small Boats Magazine.

Acorn 17

Elijah Davis — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 20:09:47 +0000

The Australian-born designer and builder developed his 7′10″ Acorn as a dinghy for oar and sail and expanded on the popular design to create its now most popular 11′8″ and 13′ versions. This family of lapstrake skiffs draws inspiration from the famous New York and Boston Whitehalls of the 19th century. They have sharp forefoot entries, slack ’midship bilges, and twisting garboards that finish on a heart-shaped transom.

The post Acorn 17 appeared first on Small Boats Magazine.