@SampsonBoatCo
504K subscribers, 210 videos, 113m views, joined 2017
The king of boatbuilding YouTubers, Leo Sampson Goolden has developed a following through the restoration of his 47′ 6″ Albert Strange–designed gaff-cutter TALLY HO (see article, page 46). The British boatbuilder found the boat as a wreck in Oregon, bought her for $1, and restored her first in Sequim, Washington, and then, from 2021, in nearby Port Townsend. The boat was relaunched in April 2024.

@AcornToArabella
176K subscribers, 370 videos, 51m views, joined 2016
Two likable young men, Steve and Alix, build a 38′ William Atkin ketch from scratch. The videos follow the build from felling the trees on Steve’s family farm in western Massachusetts to launching the boat, ARABELLA, in June 2023, and learning to sail her. In between, there is a wealth of nitty-gritty details, from making copper rivets to casting a lead keel. It’s inspirational stuff.

@TipsfromaShipwrightvideos
193K subscribers, 232 videos, 46m views, joined 2012
No-nonsense shipwright Louis Sauzedde has been on the YouTube scene for longer than most. It started in June 2012 with a video about cutting “progressive bevels” on hull planking and carried on with whatever he happened to be working on at the time. His most popular video is “How to sharpen a chainsaw by hand with a file,” with 3.9 million views. He also has several series of videos following the construction of various skiffs and dories.

@Liaswardanibuatperahukayu
92.2K subscribers, 51 videos, 31m views, joined 2020
An unlikely YouTube star is Indonesian boatbuilder Lias Wardani. His video on how to build a traditional longtail fishing boat has clocked up 9.8 million views. It’s worth it just for the sequence on joining the hull planks with home-made dowels and bark caulking. Another popular video is, “An easy to make a wooden kayak for fishing in lakes and rivers” (1.7 million views), using concealed nails instead of dowels to join the planks.

@SaltandTar
85K subscribers, 328 videos, 24m views, joined 2015An attractive husband-and-wife team chasing a dream is usually a winning formula for a successful YouTube career, and Garrett and Ruth Jolly (aka Salt and Tar) show us why. The couple owned six boats before they started building the 35′ George Buehler–designed gaff ketch REDIVIVA. They launched the boat seven years later.

@SailingYaba
102K subscribers, 261 videos, 27m views, joined 2020
Ben and MP were complete novices when they bought the 65′ schooner YABÁ in Brazil. The boat turned out to be a complete wreck and had to be rebuilt from the keel up. Thanks to some remarkable craftsmen in a fishing boat yard near their home in southern Brazil, they managed to rebuild the boat in two years. As MP puts it: “We are very glad we didn’t know anything, because this has been the most thrilling journey of our lives.”

@TheArtofBoatBuilding
76K subscribers, 149 videos, 8m views, joined 2011
Bob Emser of Eureka, California, was a successful sculptor before he turned his attention to boatbuilding. For the past six years he’s been posting videos to “help demystify the boat building process” from his studio-workshop. Along the way, he’s built a Haven 12½ and a couple of yacht tenders, all to a very high standard. This is boatbuilding as art—or perhaps vice versa.

@MadisonBoatworks
66.7K subscribers, 25 videos, 8m views, joined 2019
Jonathan and Whitney spent four years restoring their 37′ William Atkin ketch, JULIA, in Seattle, then sailed south along the West Coast. The video of them leaving Mexico and setting off for the first time across the Pacific has notched up more than 3 million views. “We have long dreamed of sailing across an ocean,” it begins. There are also interesting videos on retrofitting laminated wooden floors and generally strengthening an old boat for ocean sailing.

@Building_a_Boat_by_the_River
13.2K subscribers, 67 videos, 1.1m views, joined 2022
Matt and Lefke are a likable YouTube couple in Tasmania who are building a 40′ pilot-cutter–inspired yacht designed by Paul Gartside. The couple work three days a week for money and four days a week on their dream. The strip-planked TARKINE is an exquisite boat that many people might aspire to build and sail around the world.

@FavouriteBoatworks
8.3K subscribers, 44 videos, 0.5m views, joined 2023
Based in the Pacific Northwest, Favourite Boatworks was founded by Lyle Franklin in 2020. The yard started posting videos in December 2023 as they embarked on the restoration of the 1935 NORTH STAR OF HERSCHEL ISLAND, the last surviving Inuvialuit Arctic fur-trading vessel. It’s an impressive project, with
beautifully filmed and edited videos featuring three dogs.