Articles

ISLA, New York 32 No.10 (of a total of 20), was thoroughly rebuilt by Buzzards Bay Yacht Services of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. The job included a new mast, whose construction is detailed on the following pages.

Planking The first plank, as with almost any flat-bottomed boat, is the garboard. These planks are wide, requiring 18″ stock. If they were to be cut from a single straight...

Over the course of 80 years, the Amesbury Skiff from Lowell’s Boat Shop in Amesbury, Massachusetts, earned a reputation for being exceptionally stable, seaworthy, and rugged.

When making a pattern for a bulkhead where you have to deal with curved surfaces, things can get messy, especially if you have shelves, cleats, and stringers in the way. Here’s where the joggle stick comes into its own.

The most important skills in boatbuilding. It distinguishes the carpenter from the boatbuilder. It’s one thing to glue two boards together for a table top or to nail siding on...

I am the third generation of my family to build wooden ship’s wheels, and I can go to almost any harbor, anywhere, and see a wheel my family made. We’ve built all the wooden wheels for Edson Marine since at least 1965. I can tell by the turnings whether a wheel is one of mine or one built by my father or my grandfather.

The skylight whose construction I will describe here originates with Murray Peterson, who gave the essence of simplicity and practicality to every yacht he designed, from its overall shape to details such as those found in this skylight.

Many small boats are partially open with only a foredeck and narrow side decks, or have areas of decking both fore and aft connected by side decks. Decking adds strength and stiffness and helps keep water out.

If you are a novice, afraid of making a mistake and worried your paint job won’t look like a calendar photo, or if you are the experienced veteran who rushed the job to satisfy a schedule, I have some final words of advice for you: Don’t worry about it. It’s just paint. You will be doing it again next year anyway.

Five years ago, Reff Reinhart needed a new boat. Specifically, he needed an open motorboat of modest power that he, his wife, and a couple of guests could sit in, facing forward while underway, for outings on Michigan’s Lake Macatawa. This new boat would not be ornate...

When European Americans decided to replicate the native bark canoe in the late 19th century, they faithfully reproduced some aspects of the craft while using construction methods that were decidedly different from those used by Native Americans.