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December

This Old Fibreglass Canoe - Part 1
What to do with an canoe you got cheap from a yard sale? Make it a sailing canoe of course. Part two tomorrow.

This Old Fibreglass Canoe - Part 2
Part two finishes this canoe conversion. Part 1 yesterday.

Bartender – A Rare Bird on the Chesapeake
This canoe sterned powerboat is rare these days. The difficult decision was made to restore it and the results are amazing.

Koolkat
This cat is Fred's own design. He wanted a Cat to fit in his pick up and he did it.

November

Wooboto - Part 1
The tidy build of a Michalak designed Wooboto is detailed here in a photo picture album. Part two appears tomorrow.

Wooboto - Part 2
This detailed account of the building of Wooboto ends with a great video of Voyager under sail.

The "Hiawatha" Cedar Strip Canoe
It started with receiving the wrong gift for Christmas many years ago. This finished cedar strip canoe is definitely a work of art.

Building Pathfinder - Part 8
Pikake is named. Perry has not had such a grin on his face since his first Captaincy in a boat which his Dad and he built years ago, but not everything went smoothly.

October

Selway Fisher Baby Kate Build - Part One
It's good for a beginner to start small. In terms of starts, this is a good one. The experienced among us might have a tip or two, but they might learn something themselves.

Selway Fisher Baby Kate Build - Part Two
This is part two of the build. Here the journey from plan, model to canoe is finished.

A Trip Dowm Memory Lane
Have you built a boat, sold it, gave it away or otherwise moved on? Have you seen that boat later and checked up on it? Eric caught up with his boat 28 years after he said goodbye. Here is what he saw.

Elle - A Personal Tribute to Phil Bolger
Mike John, who maintains our Boat Indexes, has written an account of a project of his. He modified one of Phil Bolger's designs and came away with a new admiration for the man.

Building Pathfinder - Part 7
When you watch NCIS, do you wonder how Jethro gets the boat out of his basement? Well, this is how Perry Burton got his Pathfinder out of his basement - with a "Lil Magic Trick".

September

Trilars
My friends Kenneth Purdy and his irrepressible wife, Maria (seen at left) have been regulars at Duckworks messabouts for years. Here is their latest project - Jim Michalak's Trilars.

An Ultralight Canoe
Peter Tapolyai is a guy who puts his money where his mouth is. He has built several boats and each time he refines the design to come closer to his ideal. Will this be his last? Stay tuned.

August

He Re-Created the Sindia
Over a century ago, Sindia, a 329 foot, ship ran aground off New Jersey. And as Mark Steele tells us, Ian Hunt spent 14 years building a wonderful model of the four-masted Barque.

PDR286 RANGER - Part 2
Along with 4 other PDRacers, Jon Kowitz successfully completed this year's Texas200. Here is part 2 of Jon's series on designing and building his expediton PDR, "Ranger".

A New Blackberry 14 in Canada
8 or 9 years ago, John Bell drew up a little rowing dory and offered the plans free on his website. A number have been built from the downloads including this 14 footer by Mike Shannon.

Building Pathfinder - Part 6
Perry Burton covers two big milestones in boatbuilding this time: The first turnover and painting. For him, the former is remarkably easy and the latter somewhat more problematic.

A 31' Handbuilt Houseboat
When you need a boat to do a certain job and you can't find one to buy, you may have to build your own boat. But as Justin Julian explains, there are some shortcuts you can take.

July

Building the Sprucegoose
Would it ever occur to you to build a canoe out of cheap spruce t&g wainscotting? It would not occur to me either. It occured to Brian Anderson, though. He built this boat in 20 hours, for $50

Building Pathfinder - Part 5
In this month's installment of Perry Burton's series, He tackles one of the most difficult parts of a John Welsford boat: the cockpit coaming. Take notes here because he nailes it.

June

Building EasyB in One "Easy" Month
When I got an invitation for two to paddle the Rio Grande River, I asked my friend Skip Johnson. I figured he would be able to build a boat for the trip in a month if anyone could.

One Sheet Wonders
In this story from Phillip McCracken down in New Zealand, we learn about his efforts to feed his "healthy obsession" to creat floatable plywood boats. He seems to be getting on fine.

Adding Art to your Favorite “Build”…
Glynn Sirmans has reported on building Totos here before. He has also shown some of his wonderful art work on those boats. Now he tells some of the secrets that lead to his success.

Building Pathfinder - Part 3
For the fourth installment of Perry Burton's story about his build of a John Welsdord Pathfinder, he chose the subtitle "Planking Nightmares" but as you'll see from the photos, he did just fine.

May

PDR286 RANGER
Last year three intrepid sailors amazed the world by completing the Texas200. Jon Kowitz wanted to be one of them but could not make it happen. This year he will and here is his new boat.

Building an 18ft Trailer sailer: Waller TS540
Don't be fooled by the title of this article. This is much more than a building log. Robert Ditterich actually discusses more of the "why" than the "how" of our boat building hobby.

Building Little Leon – A 16’ Brigantine
When Doug McKenzie was 12, he built his first model sailing ship. It took him two years. By the time he got to the rigging, he was thinking about building one big enough to sail...

Zamna
I'd say "Now for something completely different", but that is obvious. Luis Grauer saw this huge trimaran - yes, I said trimaran - being built on the beach at Vera Cruz, Mexico.

Flock of Egrets
Many of us had brushes with boat building as kids and some of us picked the habit up again many years later. David Donaldson is one of those and he is making up for lost time.

Building Pathfinder - Part 3
I love Perry Burton's subtitle for this installment: So Where's This Boat of Yours?. The early stages of a project can be pretty slow, but once you have a framework up - things change...

April

Builder's Report of the new Seil 18
François Vivier's designs are not yet well known here in the stated, but in Europe, the combination of classic lines and modern construction are. Heijo Alting builds François' Seil 18.

A CLC Oxford Rowing Shell
When you attempt to make an already light boat even lighter, you run several risks. Eric Staggs faced those risks and still ended up with a boat that his wife can launch by herself.

Two Proas at Once
Willi Prenninger is a clever fellow.  You can tell that from the pictures of his boat. But who would use the main hull (vaka) from a small boat as the outrigger (ama) for a larger one?

Lisa B Good
Here is an update on Duane Hedley's Lisa B Good. The design comes from Paul Browne who used to write a regular column for Duckworks. This is the first one I know of being built.

Building Pathfinder - Part 2
In this second part of a series, Perry Burton makes frames, sweats the transom, laminates a centerboard, pours lead and tries to explain to his wife why all this work and no boat.

I Built A Boat That Wouldn't Float
Pat Johnson wanted to build boats and sell them. He did not want to work on someone else's project - especially when that boat was not even intended to float in the first place.

March

The Rise of the Phoenix - Part 2
The Phoenix is a bird from Egyptian, Phonecian and Greek mythology that burned and then was reborn and rose from the ashes. Steve Bosquette's Phoenix story is even stranger.

Going to the Lake with the Boat You Have
All David Sanborn had was an old patched-up aluminum rowboat and when he decided to give sailing a try, ingenuity, some lumber and a little hardware to made it happen.

Building Pathfinder - Part 1 - One of Those
Since the article by Steve Earley in Woodenboat Magazine, John Welsford's Pathfinder has become a popular boat. This article is the first of a construction series by Perry Burton.

February

Ruby
What better way to honor your 40th wedding anniversary than to build a boat and name it after the gem that is associated with that milestone. And Fred Nightz' boat is a special one too.

Building Michalak's Raider #1 in Estonia
Norm Wolfe commissioned Jim Michalak to design a boat to use for Raid Finland. This is the story of how Norm got the boat built and delivered to the starting line in Lovisa, Finland

Kejak - A Funny Boat
I can only imagine what it is like to build a boat on a remote Pacific island with severly limited materials and funds. Alan Berry knows, and having been through it, tells us his story.

Building a 26' Birch Bark Canoe
Not many people would want to build a birch bark canoe let alone a 26 footer. Adam Wicks not only helped build one but he also wrote this wonderful building log with many great pictures.

Building the Ladybug
You can learn a lot from Murray Stevens. He know that life is short and that you have to make the most of it. He also knows how to build boats. It's hard to believe this was his first one.

January

River Runner Update

A Canoe for Mornings on the River
You would expect Max Wawrzyniak to bring some clever solutions to any problem and you would be right.  Read what happened when he decided to reduce his CO2 footprint.

Montgomery 17 Joinery
I always imagine what it would be like to do a fancy refinish job on the interior of a boat like a Montgomery 17, but I never have. Stacy Smith has, though, and he did a really nice job.

Oracle in New Jersey
Jim Michalak is known for easy to build boats that give up nothing in terms of performance. Ted Kilsdonk built Jim's Oracle and rows it in New Jersey with his two sons.

Helping Build the Goat Island Skiff - Part 3
In this final installment, Gary Blankenship and Olivier Chamel finish the Goat Island Skiff and take her sailing. Gary was good enough to include several interesting video clips this time.




 


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