“Mayfly”- The idea of “Mayfly” came from a co-worker, Patty, who at 5’2” and 120 lbs, needed a double paddle canoe she could load on the roof of her car. Patty’s other unique need was, she had no disposable cash. So the boat had to be cheap! At the library I found Skip Snaith’s (say that 3 times, fast”) book on Canoes and Kayaks for the Backyard Builder. His 10 ½’ canoe was designed for batten seam construction. I selected his plan because it included the plank shapes, which allowed me to shift to glu-lap construction. On Day One, I bought 3 sheets of over-the-counter ¼” Douglas-fir AC plywood ($10.50/sheet) and scarfed them into 12’ panels. On Day Two I cut out the planks (4 to a side), adding an inch to the topside of each plank so I could convert the construction to frameless glu-lap. Then I cut out the molds (3), assembled them on a ladder-frame, and stitched the garboards together at the keel stitch-and-glue style. On days 3, 4, and 5, the remaining planks went on using glu-lap construction with sheetrock screws to hold the planks together until the epoxy hardened. I used no stems, but just wired the plank ends together “Fred Shell-style.” The breast-hooks, in-wale spacers, and in-wales went on conventionally. In 3 weeks of evenings, and weekends, Patty had a canoe. Total cost- $83! Actually, Patty paid me $100, and my co-workers and I spent the $17 “tip” on beer.

Patty had a great summer paddling her little boat. People generally loved it! Then………things went sour! Everyone knows that the grain on Douglas-fir plywood “lifts” when exposed to weather. (Rule 1: never used Douglas-fir plywood on a boat unless you’re going to sheathe it with fiberglass cloth). By fall, Patty’s boat looked like it was made of mohair! At Patty’s request, I dutifully sanded off the hull, worked epoxy into the cracks, and repainted it. Unfortunately, by mid-season the next year, the boat looked worse than ever, especially at the ends. (Rule 2: when there’s a lot of twist involved, like in the plank ends of a very short canoe, Douglas-fir “lifts” about 10 times worse than it does in panels with little or no twist). After two or three more years of this cycle, a very disappointed Patty gave the canoe to a high school kid who didn’t care what the boat looked like. But like I told Patty, “Hey for a 100 bucks…….???”

“Tursiops”- I the early ‘90’s I offered to build a custom boat for an environmental organization’s fund-raising auction. The high bidder, a 70-year-old gentleman, selected the Tursiops sea kayak design. It wouldn’t have been my first choice. Tursiops was designed with pre-epoxy technology (4mm ply on full frames and stringers). While I substituted epoxy for mechanical fasteners, the boat ended up at least 15 lbs heavier than what a comparable stitch-and-glue kayak would have weighed. While that might not have been an issue for many people, it unfortunately was an issue for my not-terribly-robust client. Nonetheless, according to a discussion I had with his daughter a few years later, the man reputably loved his boat. After all, it was pretty, if a bit heavy.

“The little boat”- In 1998, I built what my wife refers to as “the little boat”, to provide me a vehicle for a 3 week boating adventure in coastal British Columbia to celebrate my half-century mark. I found the “wide-stern canoe” in Bolger’s Boats with an Open Mind. Originally developed for strip construction, I converted it to glu-lap construction, and added steam-bent ash ribs and side decks to make it extra strong. I used only 5 planks per side, so the boat has a quaint “knuckle” appearance. The transom has extreme tumblehome, and while I like tumblehome, it does give the sheer an odd “humpiness” at certain angles. I traveled ~200 miles in the Southern BC Desolation Sound area in the boat, subsisting on clams and oysters and the occasional bottom fish. A 5hp outboard provided easy planing speed, and I found I could travel greater than 100 miles on two 6 gallon tanks of gas. I generally felt safe in the little boat (I say generally- there were two occurrences where I felt anything but safe- which ultimately lead to the 19’8” semi-dory I’m currently building). Bystanders absolutely loved this boat, and it even got a smile and enquiry from the US border guard.

Headwater 14 Drift Boat- In western Montana, everybody fly-fishes, which means everybody has either a rubber raft or a drift boat. As a donation for another fund-raiser (same concept, different organization) I built a drift boat for the high bidder. I used Tracy O’Brien’s Headwater 14 design. It’s a stitch-and-glue design that uses only 2 sheets of 12 mm and 2 sheets of 9 mm plywood. It’s an amazingly simple boat to build. On Day One I scarfed the panels. On Day Two I cut out the panels and stitched them together….and….. then I went fishing because the day was still young! In the next 6 weeks of evenings and weekends, I finished the interior. The interior is all pretty standard construction (brainless and boring). I occasionally cross paths with the couple that owns the boat. They claim their boat is a “fishing machine” and perfect for western Montana’s (generally fairly low gradient) rivers.

“Bulls-Eye” or the “Kevorkian II”- In the late ‘80’s I drew up plans for a 10’, round-bilged, lapstrake sailboat. I built the boat of cheap AC exterior plywood, laminated a solid spruce mast, and used a 60 square foot leg-o-mutton sail I had laying around. The boat stunk! The bilges were too soft to carry sail. The mast was too heavy. The sail was too big. Worst of all, the daggerboard trunk was too far aft, giving the boat lee helm! A co-worker dubbed it “The Kevorkian” (as in “death machine”). I quickly gave it away and tried to forget about it. Unfortunately, a young couple I know, John and Elizabeth, acquired it, and used it for fishing on local lakes (although they reputedly used the mast for kindling). Interestingly, John, proposed to Elizabeth in the ‘Kevorkian.” Unfortunately, this also made them sentimentally attached to the boat. I demanded that I be allowed to replace the boat as a wedding gift if they’d guarantee that the Kevorkian hull suffered the same fate as the mast.

I’d always been intrigued by Glen-L’s “Fast-G” stitch-and-glue method. Fast-G is a method where the entire boat is layed out flat, then wired together, and “folded” into a boat, origami-style. Subsequently, I ordered plans for Gen-l’s 11’ “Bulls-Eye.” Like Tracy O’Brien’s Headwater drift boat, wiring the Bulls-Eye together is an afternoon job. Glen-L provides an amazing number of full-size patterns for every conceivable piece of wood. This makes construction a little boring. But if finishing the boat is the goal, rather than figuring out how to accomplish certain tasks, this may be the method for you! The finished boat is pretty neat, although the sheer at the bow is a little exaggerated for my taste. John and Elizabeth like the boat, although they refer to it as The Kevorkian II. Some things you just can’t leave behind.