Launchings

I built this kayak for my 12-year-old granddaughter. When her mom was that age she had a small sailboat. So I decided to add a drop-in sail rig to the kayak so she can use the boat either way.

Andy Rockwood launched this John Gardner Surf Dory on June 24, 2001. He built the boat for Stuart Walker of North Muskegon, MI, who plans to use the boat on the Great Lakes. Andy built the boat using traditional methods with white pine planking on white oak frames.

Jaakko Toiviainen found in fall 2021 a neglegted Haven 12,5 bare hull in the corner of the boat hall where he kept his sailing yacht. It appeared that the hull had been built by a professional boatbuilder some twenty years ago, but for some reason never completed.

Hope is a semi-dory built according to plans supplied by John Karbott. She will be rowed and powered by a 5hp outboard on the Westport and Sakonnet rivers. This is my first boat. It took six months to complete, and was a perfect complement to my work as a psychologist!

Wayne Kaler built this 11′6″ Car Topper skiff designed by Phil Bolger, in an airplane hangar in Oakland, California. Fittingly, he called it FLYING ZUCCHINI.  He enjoyed sailing and rowing the boat on San Francisco Bay.

L. Jan Childers took a six-hour canoe and tripled it. He writes that he built the canoe from plans in WoodenBoat, and then key adding until he had a sailing trimaran. Launching her in july 2012, Jan won a special award at the Cape Fear Community College for his innovative idea.

Terry Matthews of Mt. Vernon, WA, built not one but two boats for his granddaughter, Etta Cameron, who was  launched herself in April 2010.

My 9′6″ Nutshell Pram. I commissioned it to be built by the Long Island School of Wooden Boatbuilding where I lent a hand and became part of the process. I launched it on 9/23/2018 — and can say with confidence that it is the best boat I’ve ever sailed.

LOTTE was built in 1928 by Lake Union Drydock in Seattle. She was moved to Vermont in 2008 and has undergone substantial renovation including cold molding the hull from waterline to keel and is now repowered with a BMW marine diesel.

John Burke built this pirogue using the Zydeco 14 plans by Applegate Boatworks of Veneta, Oregon. He writes "it is 13'3" in length and 34" in beam, constructed of 9mm okoume plywood on the bottom, and 6mm for the sides, a total of two 4 x 8 sheets were needed to construct the hull.