Barns Burnt Down, Now I Can See the Moon…. This Haiku really exemplifies what creating Ellie K with Devlin Designs was all about. A Life Changing Event.

Having always been interested in boats and boat building; I decided to make the commitment to Ellie K, following a divorce in 2004. She was launched under a Full Moon, appropriately, in December of 2005. In spite of my financial advisor firing me, when I decided to “Build a Boat”. I would not trade the life enriching experiences that 21 years of ownership of Ellie K has opened up for me. From the experience of watching a boat being built, marveling at artists creating a craft from concept to creation, a real treasure of an experience. My multiple trips to British Columbia, Alaska, a tour of Haida Gwaii, and 8 years on the Columbia River, the Puget Sound, a never tiring tour and the array of people along the way. I celebrated an engagement and married shortly after the Wooden Boat Festival 16 years ago, her condition to me was, “That I couldn’t sell my Boat”. We continue to cruise and work on Ellie K together.

We have logged some miles; nearly 27000 miles and 4500 hours as of the spring of 2026.
The John Deere 4045 diesel takes me from Anacortes, Wa to Ketchekan, AK on 200 gallons of fuel at 2.5 gallons/hour and 4.5 mpg. She is a small but stout boat and can handle and afternoon williwaw in Fredrick Sound if she has to, and has, with relative comfort. She can quietly negotiate any small anchorage and the bow thruster enables securing any tight moorage, no matter the current. We continue to change together, the most recent was a new dingy and davit system on the extended swim step.