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I think I remember a couple of duck works magazine stories on a multi lake mess about up there? I wonder if Google can find them?

We've got threads when videos come out on other YouTube channels, but I'm not sure if I've seen one for Sailing Magic Carpet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr1IGQQNt_k

I enjoy watching Maya and...

The spars are almost 14 feet long with a ten-foot mast. They are shorter than the boat, but not by very much. That means they need to be run almost all the way up into the bow before they clear the...

I have rowed a fair bit with the mast up when I did get out this year. Since I am no good at rowing and have never rowed anything other than this boat before, I don’t think I noticed the drag of the...

Maybe? The sunfish gooseneck is bolted on and I haven’t been excited about pulling the mast on the water, usually because the boat is so crowded because of how much my kids and their friends love it....

I finished building my first boat this past summer and sailed it a few days before winter set in. It’s a 16’ plywood flatiron skiff, very cheaply built, and I love it, but I don’t love the lateen rig...

Joining the chorus, I have much gratitude this year for your generosity in sharing the stories and pictures of your travels here on WBF. We know there’s no monetization like on a YouTube video, so...

So beautiful Tom and a great reminder of the sublime small-ball experiences available for Midwestern small boat sailors. So much of the sailing writing that I see is racing or crossing oceans and...

Grolsch and other swing-top glass bottles are re-sealable and quite airtight, but I doubt they have positive buoyancy given the weight of the glass.

Not to hijack Mike’s thread displaying the results of such craftsmanship, but I want to say thank you to Alan for those words summarizing what I strive for and occasionally experience in a building...

Why the second leeboard? Mine works equally well on both tacks despite being on one side of the boat. There are lots of successful designs using off-centerboards with no practical problems with the...

Jim Michalaks Toto is in the same ballpark as Long Weekend, 13’ long, 45 pounds. https://duckworks.com/toto-plans/

Texas, plywood, shallow, sub-14’, how about the Welsford Saturday Night Special which was literally designed for tat scenario:...

Putting a different sail rig on an existing design is not trivial. The geometry of the sail determines the location of its “center of effort” which needs to have a specific relationship with the hull...

As the aspect ratio of the cross-section goes up (it gets thinner relative to its chord) then the lift and drag benefits of a better profile go down. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/8/9/677 is a nice...

I was just looking at these for making a breakdown double paddle. In case you are thinking of looking around for a better deal, don’t bother. Everything similar that I saw was double the price. $30...

Can you say more about “expensive and difficult to work”?

Every wood working tool I own has cut plywood as effectively as it has cut timber. What is it about plywood that is difficult to work?
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Great article. For general purpose writing about sailing, the reporter did a very nice job.

When I get my boat Bristol fashion, it’s usually in that sense of the word.

Just a status update, my local hardwood place only has SYP for pine, got a number to call for the right person at Endeavor Hardwoods. And heavens to Betsy I’ve got two, not one, count ‘em two leads...

My friends and I have dealt with lots of Amish sawmills for various projects, but the issue is that none of them saw for grade, and usually they are selling wood green right out of the woods, through...

For my second boat, I am excited to try something more traditional than a plywood flatiron skiff. I bought the plans for Harry Bryan’s 12 foot Fiddlehead and I have been enjoying reading the...

So happy to see this boat in the water before the end of the year. For three sheets of plywood, it’s a pretty fabulous creation. Lots of fun in a tiny bit of materials and simple construction...

Same here. We sailed on the Castle Rock flowage at Buckhorn State Park this weekend following Tom’s suggestion and it was exceptional. That part of the Wisconsin down to the Dells would be a fun...

I use the same sort of thing in a 15’ skiff that has no internal furniture, so everyone has to sit on the floor. If you need a plan, Jim Michalak has suggestions...

One of the post-launch tweaks still left is to paint the gunwales their accent color. My daughter the 6th grade artist picked the color scheme and it sure looks dramatic. Nobody Is going to mistake...

Thats very interesting, I remember reading a boat designer (can’t remember who right now) who used weight to estimate build time. I think his theory was that you could put 2 or 3 pounds of wood on in...

My recollection from the motor episode is that he has the main engine coupled to a motor-generator for hybrid propulsion, and also charging. I don’t think that we’ve seen any of those parts yet?

I would be out there with a hand plane for sure, but that’s much more familiar to me than a router. If you have a lot of material, more than you want to plane off, then you probably have enough to...

Another vote for this. Jim Michalak and Dave Carnell, two highly simplifying boat designers both make them this way.

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Carnell mentions in his plans that the 1/4” bolt through the tiller...

This is my plan right now. I am visiting my 3D printer friend in a couple of weeks and I figured I could easily design a flat plate with raised numbers that could be glued and screwed down. I...

Thanks for mentioning the federal requirement. USCG has this nicely detailed document https://uscgboating.org/library/boating-safety-circulars/BSC70.pdf on the subject. I’ll think about metal plates...

When I registered my boat at the County Recorder (so easy, just check the “homemade” box on the form!) they assigned me an HIN and said that I would need to carve it into the boat somewhere.

That...

Thanks for that encouragement, Dave, but I’m afraid I probably already have overthought it. But I did make a decision finally and got one of the MTI paddling foam vests. Thanks to everyone for the...

Now that my boat is done and going out sailing and rowing, I’d like to treat myself to a new, more functional PFD to replace the basic one-strap, blue-light-special that has been kicking around our...

Yes. You need another boat. Good luck with that!

Jim Michalak's Piccup Pram https://duckworks.com/piccup-pram-plans/ is a classic two-person, back-of-pickup boat.

Rick Willoughby is one of the masters of this type of design. https://openwaterbike.com/ has some of his ideas. He has also designed pedal drives for a number of the Race to Alaska teams. You could...

Not too many good pictures from today, but here's Clementine enjoying her time on the water very much.

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She's part poodle, so maybe it's in her bloodline.


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A great day was...

Launch day today. I've got a backlog of pictures from the last few projects to get ready, but here's what really matters.

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Sailing 4-up plus a dog in a home-built boat with a Sunfish...

Hung the rudder hardware back on with caulk to plug up the remaining holes in the transom and finished putting the oars and their “locks” on.

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Launch date is set for Labor Day...

And history repeats itself every decade or so here: http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?170261-Cruising-Lake-Nipigon

Tom already went there, according to Small Boats: https://smallboatsmonthly.com/article/lake-nipigon/

Or how about this thing? Lake Nipigon, Ontario, north of Thunder Bay and Lake Superior.

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How big do you figure the mosquitos are in July when the snow finally melts? ;)

I’ve been cruising the charts on the C-MAP app on my iPad (it’s free to just look!), searching for medium-sized puddles in the upper Midwest that could support some beginning sail camping adventures....

I’m a middle-age non-sailor in the middle of the country too and I’m nearing the end of my first flat-bottom plywood on frames boat. Welcome to an engaging and delightful process of building the boat...

Jim Michalak has an easy way to remember that one. With the wind blowing 14 knots, one square foot of sail catches one pound of force. For different speeds, scale the force as the square of the wind...

It was shades of Huck Finn in here today, I had three helpers from age 7 to 11 putting on the first coat of the inside paint. I snuck out after their bed time and put the second coat on.

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I think that a mechanical solution will be more robust to fuel than any adhesive. Four little stainless hose clamps? Double constrictor knots in a suitable cord?

Lots of boat work this Sunday, not too much to show for it in pictures though.

The final leeboard lamination is clamped up now. I did end up doing all of the joints pairwise, but they were fine...