Search:

Any brand recommendations?

When I go looking for them on-line the Marinco keeps popping up, but all the negative reviews on amazon keeps me from ordering one. They are not cheap, and it's an...

I'm thinking about installing one or even two of those solar powered day / night ventilators in the cabin top of our sloop, right over the forward V berth, pulling air in. The idea is to have a nice,...

Huh, I've used exterior latex house paint that my wife mixed up from various leftover cans for this and haven't had any problems with it.....

I thought you'd be sailing for months now, but life does get in the way!

I have two new boats in the yard that I built last winter and have yet to launch either one! Most of my free time goes to...

Yep, I forwarded the Malibu plans to Pete in Australia to put on his site. I figured they needed a permanent home.
I got 'em from Gabriele Armeni early last year when I got interested in designing...

So let me get this straight....


You want someone to store yer boat for you and take Real good care of it, and pay you to boot...


Heh, ain't gonna happen.

Ouch!

Ah, remember, "happy wife, happy life!"

Now my wife is a very experienced canoe paddler with a full repertoire of pry and draw strokes, and she is always the bow paddler.
However,...

As a general thing, I find canoe seats are more comfortable up rather high. I'm 5'7" myself, I don't think height has much to do with it.

I have a modern kevlar canoe that came with the modern...

In Dart​ I set the seats about eight inches off the floor.
You want them pretty high for ease of paddling.
I set the boat on the ground and sat inside on various boxes and what-not to make sure I...

Heck, I'd grab it if I lived closer to you!

Something you can get on the water right away with??

Nothing is easier to build than the "200 dollar" verion of the Bolger Featherwind that Dave Carnell came up with.

I made mine outside over...

I used ordinary oil based Rustoleum on one of my canoes after a repair and it's held up fine. The red Rustoleum was a pretty good match for the original color. This is a kevlar canoe with no gelcoat,...

I second the Bolger Clam Skiff!

Not a Garvey bow, but no matter. Put a few old tires on the bow or grab a mess of old rope and cover the bow with baggywrinkle.

Plans are here, for 45 bucks.
...

Oh no!!

He's hooked! :d

It's true the Featherwind doesn't have seats. You don't usually get them in car-toppable boats.

Sailing in one looks like this -


109713

I should perhaps add that I car-topped it with a small two wheeled dolly connected to the stern like this -


This is a smaller boat, only 11-1/2 feet, but it's actually the same dolly which...

I recommend Dave Carnells "200 dollar" version of the Bolger Featherwind.

It is cheap, easy and fast to build. Four sheets of exterior grade 1/4 inch plywood, Titebond III glue, screws or nails (...

Interesting sliders, especially the one on the bow! Looks very well done, can't wait for a sailing report!

I'll add another vote for both the Whisp​, which can even be built with a portage yoke, rows so very well, sails well and is long enough to sleep in;
And the Summers Breeze, which no doubt falls...

Hey, it still floats right?!?

Who needs a project!

Thanks for the compliment, Alan.

Heh, that's actually my reloading bench I'm working on, but I can't find any primers or powder for several years now so I might as well use it for something else!...

Oh my, you know I do!

I like the canoe Rob. I used to carve little canoes, I think all canoeists do this now and again. I never thought about an outrigger canoe until I started hanging out here...

I know of one for sale in Idaho just now, but it isn't new.

It looks to me like this box contains the actual motor starter (with overloads, no doubt) and the switch is simply used to control this starter, which is basically just a big relay.
Thus, I bet you...

Of course any new switch should match (or exceed ) the electrical rating of the original -

My table saw has a 2 H.P. motor and runs on 120 VAC, so I'd use this switch, which is rated to make and...

Heh, back in the stone age I was stationed at R.A.F. Bentwaters.
Driving around the countryside one day looking for a pub I saw a tiny sign that said "Sutton Hoo".

Huh? I'd read about that find...

Yeah, I see lots of this sort of thing pretty cheaply available.
This one can be screwed down to the side of the machine -

I'd prefer something mounted in a box myself, and leave the old switch...

You can get pre-wired rocker switches from an industrial supplier like Grainger -
Something like this is easy enough to install elsewhere on the unit.
...

Looking good! I bet you can't wait to get it out on the water.

Heh, once this winter we did use a canoe as a sled to move a generator. It was too big for the utility sled but fit the canoe fine -

108280

And yes, it was scarry going downhill!

We did go...

Now to make it a seat. First it's stained and varnished, of course.
We decided to weave the seat out of old bailing twine.

That may sound a little odd, but as any homesteader knows there is...

So I got this kevlar canoe that I got cheap and fixed up.

I needed to be straightened out and new gunwales fitted, which worked out well enough. I did a slap-dash job on the gunwales but it sure...

I call it R.O.U.S.


As in a "Rodent Of Unusual Size" from the film The Princess Bride. Which had nothing at all to do with house boats, but shanty boats are typically considered the lowest form...

Launched!

108264

Hey, the boat is totally supported by water, right?.....,

Actually, we almost really did launch this boat right down the hill when we pushed it out of the barn on rollers...

Since the ends would be decked, I naturally needed hatches or inspection ports of some kind to check for leaks, ventilate the ends during storage and maybe stash gear in there too. Looking at...

Meanwhile back out in the shop -
Time to fit the bottom. I did this the quick way with a belt sander.
Yes, I moved the boat yet again. Got Trinket ​out in the snow.


108256

Marking and...

I did design a minimal 16' plywood "shanty" boat last winter. Basically, an eight-foot cabin with four-foot stern and bow decks, about eight feet wide on centerline. Rockered bottom and curved sides...

No worries. Parts of the floor gets damp during spring thaw but so what?

Last winter I was building a boat and was trying to figure out the outboard mounting on the stern.
I just grabbed a...

Looks good!

Heh, you probably shouldn't show your daughter pictures of ​Hello Kitty, which is a fancy version of the same boat.
Wait, you did say teal and lavender!

...

Heh, I bet you could glass up the bottom of the Sunfish easily enough!
Ya gotta watch out, boats seem to multiply....

New Sunfish sails are quite cheap, that's not a bad way to go.

By the...

Here's mine -

Posts set into the ground (am I the only one with a dirt floored shop?) 2x6 frame and salvaged ply for the tops.
I like the L shape and lots of natural light.


107812

Oh good God yes, if you glue on the wales while the sides were flat the sides would never take the bend around the molds!

So I gather you have to take the boat apart to get it out of the...

Wait, what??

I don't think this is wise. Titebond III is good to go down to 40 degrees. I'm sure you could stick a portable electric heater next to the boat and it would be fine.



I guess...

Glad to see the boat under construction!

I loved mine, just wish I'd spent more than 12 bucks on the plywood...

You got the same type of ply that I'm using form my Dart build. I set a few...

One detail I didn't think about before on a plywood ama, is that I reckon I'd better put an inspection port in it to check for leaks, and let it air out when in storage for the winter.

Not to...

Hey Rob,

Initially I was going to use a 10' stick of light 4" PVC plastic drain pipe, as was used on the boat featured in the Shed magazine.
I just happen to have scrounged up several sticks of...

But wait, there's more!

The next day the sides are wrapped around the temp forms. Looks like a boat!


107396


I measured the bow and stern angle at 22 degrees with my handy dandy Harbor...

'Bout time I got around to starting this project!

I designed and modeled this little boat last winter and was so taken with it that I had to make a full size one! It didn't help that there was a...

What length of screw to use?
You use the longest that you can without going through the stringer!

Anyway, that's what was done when boats were held together with nails and screws instead of...

Cutting the slot cover out of an old above-ground pool liner I had stashed in the hayloft -

These things are a royal pain to handle in below freezing temps!

Well, come spring thaw when the ice...

As far as accommodations go, a little more room to stretch the legs might be nice on an all-day cruise, but if one isn't pressing his weight against the weather side in a desperate attempt to hold...