I should begin with a confession: I am quite ignorant about wooden boats, even about boats in general, but I do love them. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been tying logs together and trying to get on the water in whatever small boat came my way. I had a coastal cruise in mind, but I couldn’t find the boat I wanted for anything close to a price I could afford, so it was clearly time to build one myself.After reading whatever books about building wooden boats I could get my hands on, I was convinced that I could turn a pile of lumber into a boat with little more than a handsaw and a hammer. I just needed a workshop.

Greg Goodman

Because we camp year-round, we tend to wear out a succession of large tents that we use as our primary shelter, so we ended up spending this summer in our smaller backpacking shelter. It was cozy with both of us and our dog, but with the long days and minimal bugs, it worked quite well. The big tarp overhead was a blessing when some heavy summer rainstorms blew in.

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