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This is a fascinating discussion. I've become hooked on skin-on-frame boats due to their light weight and ease of construction. Using Dave Gentry's techniques, one might be able to build a Monument...

No, there's no thread on building. I built it in a parking lot over winter--it was a covid project--and it's far from perfect. If you got up close you would see. I used to tell Dave that I was...

I built a Shenandoah Whitehall last year and like it quite a lot. I'm going to try to attach a photo here. It's a stretched version--I was aiming for 15' but ended up a few inches longer. I worked...

Does anyone have any experience with these? I'm thinking of making a smallish lug sail--just 52 sq. feet--and I'm wondering how long it might take me.

What would you estimate is the square footage? Would it work for my application?

I've been looking for a small sail for a SOF skiff I have, mainly for downwind sailing. Here's one that appeared on Marketplace--it's for a small pram. What kind of sail is it? Would it work? The...

I have a drawing--of the Chester Yawl by John Harris--with a sprit rig and a daggerboard. If I know the position of the daggerboard, does that tell me the position of the leeboard, too?

I had similar thoughts. But how does one know or figure out where to place the mast and the leeboard?

This has come up here but not, it seems, for quite a while. I'd like to build a sliding rigger rowing system. Piantedosi sells one, but I'd like to try to make one myself. Does anyone know where one...

Good point: It should be a little slippery but not TOO slippery. Cedar sounds like a good suggestion.

I have wooden cartop carriers and would like to put something on top of them that would allow my wooden rowing boat to slide more easily when I load it--and not get damaged. I was thinking of using...

Yesterday for the first time I tried out a modified sliding seat I fitted to my 15' Shenandoah Whitehall, a stretched version of one of Dave Gentry's designs. I used the same 7 /2' oars, attached at...

I've been obsessively trying to lighten my two small boats, and one thing I wonder about is what I might use for lighter thwarts. In both I use cedar--3/4 to 1/2 -- which is already pretty light. But...

I have a 17 foot rowboat, a lightweight dory that I store upside down next to my house and transport upside down on my car. I have a dolly to move it easily and a system for sliding it up on the car....

To be honest, I have a pretty good boat right now, a Northeaster Dory, which both rows and sails nicely. But it's pretty big and hard for me to move around at home. This other boat would be a little...

I'm considering buying a 15' wooden Whitehall-type boat, a Chester Yawl from CLC. It's 42" wide and built mainly for rowing, but apparently some have outfitted it with a sail and installed dagger...

I have a lightweight 16' wooden boat that I've been storing outside upside down with a canvas tarp over it. It seems to work fine. But now I'm trying to rig up a small lightweight "motorcycle"...

Thanks for the advice. Just what I needed.
Those are some nice looking boats in the background. Do you know what they are?

I'd like to outfit my rowing boat with a mirror to see where I'm going. Any suggestions?

I think there was epoxy applied before the paint. Does that change your advice?

I've got a 17' dory that has white paint on the inside. It's not real thick. Anyway, I'd like to remove it and apply varnish. I'm not sure that makes sense, but how would I do it?

I've had some luck finding clear cedar at Menards and even Lowes. It's not in the section with finished boards, however, but in the rough cut section. Sometimes you'll find a rough-cut 2 x 6 or 2 x 8...

What about Oyster White? Or Aqua Mist, if I want to be more daring? Or just Off White? These are TotalBoat colors.

Good question. I'm pretty sure it's mahogany.

Thanks. I meant to add that I plan to keep the rails and and interior bright. I'm mainly concerned that the hull color makes a pleasing contrast with the rails.

I'm finishing a Skerry from CLC--a 15' rowing/sailing dingy. I'm trying to figure out what to finish the hull with. In the interest of safety I thought I might choose a lighter color, though I'm not...

My Whitehall is about 15', a foot or so longer than Dave's plans. (I simply set the frames a little farther apart from each other.) The transom is raked; it's mainly a rowing boat. It's very...

I've built two of Dave Gentry's boats, and I urge you to reconsider them. They are not that hard to make. Anyone with basic woodworking skills can do it. They're also very forgiving. I.e., it's not...

So shorter than, let's say, 17', a sliding seat with sculling oars won't gain you much beyond what you would get with a shorter sliding seat rig, narrower outriggers, and shorter oars--i.e., a little...

Is there some reason why a LFH17, with it's dory-like flat bottom, a 17' canoe, and a lightweight 17' wherry of similar width, would perform differently as sliding seat rowing boats? Can someone who...

The only problem with the Herreshoff 17 as a SOF boat is that it was designed with a narrow flat bottom so that, like the dory, it could be pulled up on a beach. But that's not really something you...

The idea of inserting steam-bent ribs between the frames on a longer boat is a brilliant idea. It opens up a lot more possibilities. I wish I had thought of it!

My real aim is to build an sof boat for open water sliding seat rowing that’s 17 or so feet long and a little beamier than Dave Gentry’s Ruth (which I’ve already built). I have in mind something like...

I took my Alden 18 ocean shell out for a short jaunt this morning. Interestingly, the bottom of that boat doesn't look much different from a canoe, though maybe a little narrower. (The beam is 32...

I guess that's what I was wondering: what's the difference in rowing between, say, 17 foot canoe with a shallow V bottom and a slender wherry of the same length and close to the same width?

I've been looking at Platt Monfort's designs at Geodesic Aerolite boats (gaboats.com). The site suggests that the 16 and 18-foot Snowshoe canoes may be used with a sliding seat rowing rig. I'm just...

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. I consulted George Dyson, who passed on to me the weight of .500 aluminum tubing,, which he recommended. Using that, I doubt I would save enough weight over cedar...

I've built two skin on frame boats and am contemplating new ones. I like them because they're easy to build and, even more important, easy for me to transport by myself. And so I've become...

Thanks. I think the sail is from a super snark. Could I re-use an old aluminum centerboard for the leeboard?

One problem I have is that there's no thwart amidships, where the boat is widest. The nearest thwart is a little forward of that, where the gunwale turns slightly inward.
Also, I don't know how to...

That's very clever. The inside bracket goes all the way to the bottom of the boat, or just partway? How long is the board--and what did you make it of?

Yes, I've noticed that there are a lot of pictures on the internet--some commentary, too--but I couldn't find instructions on how to make it or mount it. But I'll keep looking.

I know it seems kind of dumb, but I don't have room for a full sized boat trailer, and they provide more capacity than I need. In fact, I'm considering restoring the folding function of my trailer,...

Does that mean I can use 1" bearings? What exactly should I beware of?

I've seen references to a Bolger leeboard but I can't find instructions on how to make or install one. Can someone point me the right direction?

It turns out that the trailer is a Besco Folding trailer made in Germany (or France). The previous owner replaced the aluminum tongue, which could be removed, with a steel tongue that can't. In...

Picked up the trailer today. The tongue looks like 2x2 steel. I was thinking of fashioning an extension of maybe 4' using a white oak timber I have. It's strong material and very rot resistant....

Where can I find instructions on building and installing a Bolger type leeboard?

Looks like the sail is about 9 x 9 x 9--40 sq feet (approximately).

I picked up a Sunfish sail and sailing rig that someone was giving away. It might not be a sunfish but a smaller version of the same triangular sail. I was going to repurpose the sail to use on my...