April 2022 Archives - Small Boats Magazine

I Spy

Christopher Cunningham — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:58:03 +0000

While there is a place for everything in my shop, there just isn’t enough space. The stocks of wood and metal I have leaning up against the walls and the tools piled on shelves are as unstable as mountain talus slopes. “Debris piles up to a characteristic angle of repose,” notes Encyclopedia Britannica, and “when new debris is added to the slope, thereby locally increasing the angle, the slope adjusts by movement of the debris to reestablish the angle.” It’s not uncommon while I’m working at the bench to hear something fall on the opposite side of the shop: an angle grinder, for example, sitting on a shelf 10′ away from me, spontaneously rolled off, dropped onto a box of soldering equipment sticking out from the shelf below it, and took it to the floor with itself, breaking one of the firebricks that was in the box.

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Hunky Dory

John Goodell — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:57:14 +0000

The Hunky Dory is a versatile design, although it is in some ways too much boat for many inland waters and has too much flat bottom surface area to be practical for moving at speed in waters known for chop. However, this tough, stable boat delivers you through the surf to productive fishing resources in a big ocean. For that alone, it’s a magical thing.

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La Paz

Mark and Ryan McDaniel — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:56:36 +0000

Our web search of designs led us to the Glen-L La Paz 22. We were drawn to its spacious self-bailing open cockpit, seaworthy deep-V hull, and the range its 100-gallon fuel capacity would provide. The La Paz was designed as a trailerable center-console sportfisherman by Ken Hankinson—Glen L. Witt’s friend and partner at Glen-L.

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Umbagog Lake

Tom DeVries — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:55:33 +0000

Early in September of 2021, our longtime friends Richard and Jessica Johnson, with their nimble kayaks, joined us for five days of paddling on Umbagog Lake, which straddles the border between Maine and New Hampshire and is the southernmost lake in Rangeley Lakes chain.

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A Small-Boat Chart Holder

David Cockey — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:52:29 +0000

I designed and built a couple of portable chart holders three years ago. They’re simple—a piece of plywood with shock cords to hold the chart in place and strips around the perimeter to provide a little lee for the edges of the chart. Ben Fuller has seen and used our holders, and this winter decided to build a couple. He modified the design, and we’ll see how his work this summer.

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Boat Medic

John Hartmann — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:50:57 +0000

The Boat Medic first-aid kit from My Medic is well-thought-out and very well stocked and packaged. It should allow responders to render care for a wide range of injuries and illness running the gamut from minor to life-threatening trauma.

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DeWalt 20v Random-Orbit Sander

Kent Lewis — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:48:41 +0000

With the 3Ah battery the DeWalt can sand for well over 20 minutes, which is plenty for my taste, and the larger 4Ah and 5Ah batteries offer extended sanding time beyond that. The 5Ah battery is a bit bulky, can tip the sander on edge, and limits access to some smaller spaces. The 20V XR Max brushless technology extends run time and provides excellent power.

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LAZY LIGHTNING

Christopher Cunningham — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:46:29 +0000

Dave Feder built a kayak and burned it. He also made countless tables, stools, benches, wine-bottle racks, cigar boxes, bowls, and plates and burned them all. And yet he has much more to show for his efforts than a heap of wood ash. He burns his woodworking by wetting it with an electrolytic solution—baking soda and water—and clamping a pair of electrodes to it.

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