Duckworks Magazine

Projects

December

	Navigator Update You can't accuse Robbie Powick of rushing through his Navigator project. He is chipping away steadily, though and what he has so far looks great.

	Martin's Cat We had heard rumors that a strange cat would appear at the Lake Powell Messabout and we were not dissappointed. Here is Martin's story:

	Comanche What happens when you scale an already short 12 foot canoe down to 10 feet? Les Brown knows - and he has a few other tricks up his sleeve.

	Building a Michalak Jon jr. In this article Tim Lehman recounts his experience building Jim Michalak's Jon jr. from constructing a model to the launch in Ft. Wayne Indiana.

	Almost There - The Build The Colorado 100 Race has come and gone but we are just now getting around to posting Skip Johnson's foam strip/glass/kevlar composite building log.

November

	More AF4 Mike Russon is making good progress on his AF4. Fortunately for him, he has some very well qualified helpers, and good help is not easy to find.

	Campskiff - Final Report Bob Chamberland's Campskiff took a lot of tweaking before he was satisfied with the way it handled. Now he is ready to move on.

	Bob's Cat (part 2) In the second part of his Bolger Bobcat story, Bobby Chilek really catches the wide eyed amazement and giddy enthusiasm of a first time builder.

	Sundowner Redux You have probably heard about Charlie Whipple's trip around the world. John Welsford designed the boat and is overseeing construction; here is report:

	Tammie Norrie When Phillip Hirst sailed his 45' yacht from sub tropical Australia down to Tasmania, he suddenly discovered that his inflatable tender would no longer suffice.

	Two Boats Bill Siddens just likes to build boats. Recently, he built two of Steven Lewis' designs: Chugger and Poorboy. Bill says he is going to keep on building too.

October

	A Mayfly 14 Story Tom Burton and his dad were building an ariplane, but then they bought a canoe and started sailing it, but they really wanted to build a sailboat....

	FatCat Not too many of Jim Michalak's FatCat2's have ever been build. It looks like Kenneth Purdy is going to make it, though. Just a few more bits to go.

	Building a Toto When he first tried his Toto, Joseph Murray got swamped - so he decided to depart from the plans and add a deck. Now he's happy with the boat.

	Stripper Troutboat Update Larry Pullon builds strange boats like the jetski powered fishing boat and the folding jonboat. Now he is working on a strip planked folding jonboat.

	Bob's Cat Bobby Chilek showed up at the last Duckworks messabout with a nice Bobcat. He took me for a sail and I asked for an article. Here is his story.

	Larsboat Most of us have to steal time to work on boats, but when moving house is iminent, boats take a back seat or get a workboat finish. Tom Raidna explains.

September

	Toto XL - Angler Edition Are you after a fishing boat that will really catch fish yet tow behind a bicycle? Glynn Sirmans built one and he tells all about it in this pictorial essay.

	Skat Sometimes an imperfect process leads to the perfect boat. Peter Simmons knows this well and tells his story with candor and humor.

	Short Waves Was Brek Brixius building a coffin? He is pretty sure it was a boat. Read this light-hearted account of a first boat building project.

	Shanty Saga Six months ago, Mike Smith got the notion to build a boat with more headroom and more deckspace. He has just launched the results of his Shantyboat Saga.

	My AS-29 - Walküre Mike Wagner is headed off for the Great Loop in his AS-29. Here are some nice photos and a link to his blog website.

August

	6 Metre Whaler Ok, so Bob Dalziel sent some pictures of his 6 Meter Whaler to Chip Humphreys who sent them to us - but at least we have them. Nice boat!

	A Flica 20 Sailboat Story This may sound like an advertisment for Roy McBride's boatshop, but it is more. It is also an interesting footnote to the ledgend of a fabeled pocket cruiser.

	River Runner Ben Phillips started out to build a standard River Runner. Then he thought about how it would work for him. Changes were made.

	Sisu Photos Michael Storer's little Goat Island Skiff has struck a chord with a lot of builders. David Greybeal is one. Check out these pictures of his GIS "Sisu".

	Building Guppy - Part 4 The thumbnail on the left shows what can happen to epoxy if it gets too cold. In this update, Steven Lewis shows you how to remedy this common problem.

	Mayfly 14 Update 2 Jim Michalak's Mayfly series is a popular set of flat iron skiffs. This is Tom Burton's second update on his Mayfly project and he seems to be doing a good job.

	River Runner - Stitch & Glue We needed a boat for a float trip on a mild western river. Jim Michalak's River Runner seemed to fill the bill, but we would have to make a few changes....

	The Launch of Fair Wind Boats always take longer to build that we think they are going to during the euphoria of the first day of construction. Just ask Ed Jones.

July

	Arinar Craig McEwan is off to a great start on his Bruce Roberts 19. You will be amazed at the functionality and thought that is going into this boat.

	Sneakerbox Andy Anderson is a fan of traditional small craft, so when he saw that Jim Michalak had designed a sneakerbox, he had to build a model.

	Building a Paradox by a Beginner Derek Clark may not have a lot of boatbuilding experience but he reads extesnively and he thinks about what he is doing.

	1942-Bird Class Tom Gale is always adopting "bargain" boats to fix up and then sending me photos of them. I thought these pictures were striking enough to include here.

	Kidyaks Kids like boats - especially small one-man boats where they can be captain. Marc Bourassa and his sons built two such boats and Marc sent this report:

June

	Building the Grey Seal I have admired a few boats, but Craig Hohm's project really get my attention. Iain Oughtred's Grey Seal is one of the prettiest cruising sailboats around.

	Building Sandpiper Arthur Ransom's books have inspired a lot of small boat sailors. Chris Partridge is one of those who fell victim to the siren call of "Swallows and Amazons".

	Trikye Dreamer Errol Smith was looking for the perfect boat. Arent' we all. He seems to have found one that is perfect for him, though, in Jim Michalak's Trilars.

	Building the Pod Yak 12 Steve Lewis is a designer who is not constraigned by convention. In this story, Tim Lehman describes building Steve's unusual double paddle boat.

	Stripper Troutboat Update Larry Pullon impressed us with his folding Jonboat, but that was nothing. Now he is making a tunnel hull folding Jonboat and it will be strip planked!

	A Square Rigger on a British Pond Radio control models are amazing. Mark Steele reports on one that is square rigged and even has real firing cannons.

May

	A Minor Houdini Modification Did you ever have a sailboat that constantly spit water out of the centerboard case. Burton Blais did and he did something about it.

	My Take on Philsboat I normally disscourage modifications to professional designers' plans. I have to admit, though, that Mick Mulcahy has actually improved Philsboat.

	Swift Model sailboats are always facinating. Especially ones that have actual working rigging just like a full sized one. Here is a story about one from Bob Means.

	Clancy A sailboat can be a thing of beauty, especially if you are as much of a craftsman as Vince Hoffmann. His Clancy is a simple boat but what a looker!

	A Tale of Two Boats Stephen Collins wanted a boat to take his daughter out in. Now he and his daughter are building two boats. Read his story to find out how that happened.

April

	The Dinghy Project Anyone who has built as many boats as Bob Means knows what he is doing. Fortunately for us, he shares a lot of this knowledge in this pictorial essay.

	Navigator Update - Part 4 After a bit of a pause, Robbie Powick is back to working on his Navigator. My money is on him finishing the boat..... eventually.

	Sundowner So Far Designing a boat days ahead of the builder is tough, but John Welsford wants to make sure Charlie Whipple is finished in time to sail around the world.

	Stitching Tim Timmerman bought some of our sailtwine and much to our amazement produced some beautiful work with just that, some canvas and a needle.

	Bolger's Hope If you ever doubted that Ross Lillistone was an accomplished boat builder, wait until you feast your eyes on these two boats. Warning: Boat porn

	Dockbox Model You have seen some nice models in these pages, but Steve Holley has built a model of Dockbox that looks like something out of Architectural Digest.

	Rifleman Part 5 Or how Bonham and I finished his Rifleman in a mad weekend of mounting the motor, adjusting the trailer and reversing the steering.

March

	King Canvasback Kayak Since 1973 when the plans for the King Canvasback were first published, quite a few have been built. Here is Tim Lehman's account of building his boat.

	Robert Bowles Boat Few people know more about designing and building canoes than Skip Johnson. In this short article, he tells us a bit about his latest project.

	Hydro Who doesn't get a silly grin on his face when he sees one of these little boats? Glynn Sirmans tells us how to go about building one of our own.

	Toto Glynn Sirmans built one of Jim Michalak's unique little double paddle canoes. They are easy and inexpensive to build and there is nothing else quite like them.

	Ladybug Bob Gerfy is building a Ladybug and if he has half as much fun with it as we have with ours, he will be more than satisfied.

	Northern Navigator Flemming Seestrandt Sørensen has added another Navigator to the fleet of that popular John Welsford Design.

February

	Chesapeake 16 Here is a short report from Tom Hamernik on his new Kayak. When you do those Eskimo rolls, Tom, have someone take pictures.

	Folding Kayak Guys like Brian Anderson, who make boats without plans deserve a lot of credit, especially when their projects turn out to be unqualified successes.

	Navigators Around the World John Welsford must have been feeling a bit of cabin fever the day he sent this little bit of eye candy for small boat sailors.

	A Sculling Skiff for Young Wil Occasionally grandfathers build boats for their grandsons. Just wait until you see the one Jack Hicks made for his grandson, Wil Gale.

	Little Hunk Chris Nichols has turned his Glen-L Little Hunk over and placed it on the trailer. As we say, he's half done with only 90% left to go.

	AF4 Jim Michalak's minimalist Outboard Cruiser has been a big hit with builders. Mike Russon has just begun his and he is pretty excited about it.

	Sundowner Update It's been a while since someone has built a boat, sailed it around the world and written a book about it. Charlie Whipple aims to do all three.

January

	Glen-L Power Skiff Interested in building this boat? Marc Bourassa built one and in this article he tells us what he thinks. There are some good construction tips here too.

	Voyage to Recovery Steve Bosquette got out of boatbuilding. Then he got back in. Here is his account of the first project of his second amateur boatbuilding career.

	Navigator Launch In the second such article this month, Martin Welby gives details of the launch of his John Welsford designed cruising dinghy.

	The Moaning Chair Have you seen the ad on TV that says: "Life comes at you fast"? Ed Einhorn knows that life can complicate deciding which boat to build.

	The PD Pirate The subtitle to this story is 'Hull #54 joins the fleet'. It looks like Shorty has a movement on his hands. Watch our calendar for the PDRacer World Championships

	MotorScout You can't get much simpler than this basic little boat. It was designed by Steve Lewis and built by Mark Karczewski.

	Tolman Jumbo Launch Bruce Armstrong sent us this account of the launch party given for Steve Dampier's Electric Yellow Tolman Jumbo - 'Shirley Lamar'.

	Navigator Launch Barrett Faneuf is building two of John Welsford's Navigators simultaneously. Here is a little about the launch of the first one - her Mother's.

	Rifleman 4 Finally, the long awaited fourth installment of the outboard runabout project that our son Bonham and I are building together.

	SPONGE A 7-1/2 hp hydro with a kids cartoon character as a theme? What is the connection? Read the story to find out. There is a bonus movie clip too!

Rigging Bits