Current Boats

The story of Clancy begins with Bob Pickett. Born in 1929 and raised in Florida, Pickett was a boat nut. His wife Erica settled in Anacortes in 1971, opening Flounder Bay Boat Lumber. Pickett was something of a local fixture. His sister-in-law would later note that Pickett “had a strong sense of how to enjoy life, including others, and build community. Boating did all three…” He helped found OARS, a rowing club in Anacortes, and pushed for the establishment of Seafarer’s Memorial Park. He also took an interest in making boat building more accessible to amateur builders.

The boat that was to become Clancy started as Pickett’s second effort to make boat building accessible to the amateur and was developed “in response to the need for a safe, small, lightweight, high-performance sailboat of distinction that was fully within the reach of any beginning builder. He commissioned the design from Richard S. Kolin, a Pacific Northwest boat designer, builder, and wooden boat teacher. Known for more traditional small craft, such as the lapstrake as Heidi 12 skiff and Catherine 14 Whitehall-style pulling boat, Kolin designed Clancy to be built as simply as possible using what Pickett described as stitch and glue (in truth, it is more of a hybrid between stitch and glue and plywood-on-frame). The 10-ft cat-rigged sailboat was named after Kolin’s dog, a fact reflected in the Clancy’s “C-Bone” class insignia.

This Abaco Dinghy was built by students of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. The original plans used were from the Apprentice Shop in Maine but were modified to make the boat larger. The modifications required new drafting, lofting, and setup. The project is a great example of a small boat built very much like a large boat. Winer Malone, the builder who popularized the design in the Bahamas and around the world, built the Abaco Dinghy almost entirely by eye and used only hand tools. It is believed that the Herreshoff 12 1/2 derived its lines from the Abaco Dinghy. There is a following in the sail racing community. The large, unstayed rig makes for exciting sailing.

Sound Experience sails the historic schooner Adventuress to educate, inspire, and empower an inclusive community that works to improve our marine environment and celebrates our maritime heritage. Since her launch in E. Boothbay, Maine, in 1913, the B.B. Crowninshield-designed schooner has traveled the Strait of Magellan and the Bering Sea on an arctic expedition for naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews; served as a Bar Pilot vessel off of San Francisco; patrolled the west coast during World War II; and trained young sailors in seamanship skills in Seattle with Youth Adventure. Adventuress has sailed on the waters of Puget Sound for almost three decades under the stewardship of nonprofit Sound Experience, offering hands-on environmental education and leadership development to thousands of young people annually and partnering with youth-serving organizations to reach at-risk kids. Sound Experience offers programs for all ages and backgrounds and takes pride in providing many levels of training opportunities for volunteer and paid crew. Adventuress is a National Historic Landmark officially recognized as “Puget Sound’s Environmental Tall Ship.”

When we think about boats, we often wonder, “Is she a keeper?” Alcyone is definitely a keeper. She was designed and built by Frank Prothero in his backyard in Seattle. He sailed her for 9 years and then sold her to the Hanke family who took care of her for 22 years. We have now owned Alcyone for 34 years, major maintenance projects are continually happening, but she has always been well maintained—never rebuilt—and remains a keeper.

Launched in 1956, she is one of the first replica boats, predating the Bluenose II, Pride, and Californian. Frank designed her after the Gloucester Fishing Schooners and built her in his backyard so as not to take up room in the commercial yard he and his brother ran on Lake Union. She was designed to have a square topsail. Frank even built three yards; that aspect of her rig was never finished.

When we bought Alcyone, in 1987, we wanted to add a yard for offshore sailing. Getting in touch with Frank, we found out that he still had the metalwork and the course yard in his shop—he had cut up the top yard for a bowsprit. So we bought the course yard, made a course and rafee, and sailed with them down the coast for our first offshore trip in 1988.

To Frank, Alcyone was a labor of love. She took 6 years to build and even though there was some community help, it was his personal project. When he sold her to the Hankes she had all hand-stitched cotton sails. We still have the hand-stitched fisherman. When asked about the sails he said he would spend his evenings, for months, watching TV and stitching. Alcyone can polish up and do a boat show with the best of them, lead a fleet of gaff-rigged schooners chasing down those pesky Marconi rigs in a race, and cross oceans in comfort, all the while always turning heads when she arrives in port.

To us, she has been a business, a home, and always an adventure. We lived aboard her for 22 years raising a family, operating a charter and sail training business, and completing 5 offshore trips, 100,000 blue water miles, and more than 6 years away from our homeport. At this point, to us, she is part of the family

Ama Natura is a 36’ custom gaff ketch motorsailer built by the NW School of Wooden Boatbuilding, launched at Point Hudson in 2008 and used each year since for marine decarbonization demonstration, clean water, wildlife protection advocacy, and exploration.

Under the expert design guidance and deep knowledge of the NWSWB’S Carl Chamberlain, AMA Natura (“She Loves Nature”) was collaboratively designed with the owner, Capt. Peter Wilcox, to be an extremely low-impact NW cruising vessel, and a floating laboratory of decarbonizing green technologies.

The 36′ LOA, 10-ton displacement nearly 14-year-old vessel has consistently utilized 100% waste source biofuels—first biodiesel (B100) and over the last two years Renewable diesel (R99)—in its 48HP naturally-aspirated, slow turning diesel, and the same for heat when needed. AMA’s sailing salmon troller-inspired hull was modeled for efficiency and with its 3:1 gear reduction and 24” feathering prop, AMA sips ¾ GPH or less at a non-cuprous bottom paint hull speed of about 7 knots. Her auxiliary is a modest gaff ketch sail rig with just over 500SF of canvas that both steadies her motion and drives her near hullspeed on a beam reach.

Even the motor oil, transmission fluid, and steering fluid used in AMA are low carbon, low toxicity, and bio-based, the same ones in fact that NOAA has employed in many of its fleet for the last 15 or so years. AMA has a composting Air Head, and 255 watts of solar PV capacity with four carbon-foam Firefly house batteries and an Optimal gel starting battery to meet her electrical needs at anchor or dock. She seldom uses shorepower while underway, and we normally only plug her in at dock for the darkest three months of the year.

AMA is the flagship of the Inside Passage Decarbonization Project, started and led by Capt. Peter and Mate/Decarbonizer Community Builder, Bridget. The “IPDP” has been building partnerships with First Nations, ports, resorts, fuel docks, environmental NGO’s like Greenpeace Canada, and boaters up and down the length of the Inside Passage to implement its 20-year vision of dramatically lowering carbon emissions, eliminating toxic liquids and implementing 100% renewable shorepower throughout the Inside Passage by 2035. The IPDP also researches and advocates for fully recyclable boatbuilding materials, including durable and stabilized woods.

ANJA’s design is based on the legendary Bristol Pilot Cutters of Britain. These boats were able to weather strong storms as well as be sailed short-handed. They would take the pilot out to large ships waiting in the Bristol Channel. Modern racing yachts evolved from this design. Construction is of mahogany plank on oak frames.
Roger Long of Woods Hole, Massachusetts designed this boat in 1976, and two have been built, a fiberglass version in Norway and Anja.

Bought by Arnt and Valerie Arntzen in 2019 and sailed to their home berth at Vancouver Maritime Museums Heritage Dock they started upgrading right away.
-steering wheel removed
-tiller added
-new mast
-new rigging
-cabin added with 7 portholes
-galley and saloon added to the interior

Arnt’s first build was a 36’ on deck steel gaff-rigged Pinky Schooner which he built with his father in their back yard.

Arnt and Valerie sailed this boat in 1980 to Monterey, California, and back. He also worked on the refit of Ancestor, a wood 40’ gaff cutter built in Grenada, WI, his brother Leif’s boat, and was in wooden boat festival.
Arnt built his last sailboat from a salvaged 20-foot aluminum lifeboat with lots of fabulous local wood most cut by himself. He is a master wood and metalworker. ODIN was featured in Pacific Yachting Magazine in June 2008. They sailed this boat for 20 years all over the coast of BC and circumnavigated Vancouver Island with ERN in 2014.  This year we plan to take her up to the Broughton archipelago and then circumnavigate Vancouver Is next year.

My Two-masted spirit sailboat was hand-made in Alaska from Sitka spruce with oak and Purple Heart blocks. The plans can be found in the book called Pete Culler’s boats, titled Skiffs for Maynard and Anne Bray. Unfortunately, Anne never saw the boat,

Bad Rabbit is a stitch and glue construction from a Chesapeake Light Craft kit. It was a COVID-19 pandemic project, helping the builder cope with social isolation. A boat that was built for my husband and named based on his sense of humor. She is painted red, has mahogany interior, and paw prints adorning her stern and bow.

Barquito II is a Chesapeake Bay dead rise skiff with a D.N. Hylan design hull and a builder imagined cabin. She is intended to be a slow cruising highly efficient camp cruiser.

Barquito II is a COVID-19 project. When it became evident in early 2020 that I would have time on my hands, I ordered the plans and started construction on April 3rd. We rolled the hull over on July 1st and commenced with finishing out the hull. Cabin creation commenced on November 22nd. Barquito II slid out the shop door and onto her trailer on May 17th.

The first boat started as a classroom project that quickly evolved into an independent undertaking. It features red cedar, white pine, and old-growth cedar, with gunnels, seat frames, and portage yoke done in white ash. The seats are hand canned with waterproof canning.

The second project demonstrates the growth and development in craftsmanship and aesthetic design. This one features red cedar, old-growth cedar, and blue pine. Again utilizing the white ash for the trim packaging.

Both projects are labors of love that took many hours and enjoyed family participation in the construction process.

The Birddog is a traditional Prospector design, very stable with larger loads due to the wide beam and taller side walls. She is 16 feet and is constructed with Birdseye Maple, Walnut, Black Walnut, Cherry, and Padouk with Mahogany, Ebony, and Red Cedar strips. My passion for bird hunting inspired me to build a handmade canoe that would blend with nature. I enjoy creating artistry with wood and using unique grains and designs.

BISH is a Murray Peterson Susan schooner. Port Orford Cedar on steam-bent white oak frames. Teak decks on laminated doug fir deck beams. Hand crank SABB lifeboat engine. All standing rigging is galvey 7×7, parcel and served. Built by Karl Bischoff in Georgetown, Seattle. It’s taken 12 years so far. For each task, I had to do research and take classes… NWSWB for stream bending, surveying, planking… Brion Toss’ loft for splicing/parcel/serving. BISH was my dad’s nickname. He was an armchair adventurer… always studying the Canadien Voyageurs, Wolves, Tugboat Captains of Oakland California, etc. He also loved to start organizations like the American Whitewater Association, American Canoe Association, Square-dance Callers of America, and American Spelunking Association (cave exploring). After living aboard my 37′ cutter for 8 years, I started my first build, a 15′ Whitehall named Leslie Jean (named for my lovely wife). So now there is BISH. I think I’ll name the dinghy Helen (my mom). It’s all in the family. Check out the whole build process at bischoffboatworks.com.

Built for an important Seattle architect, the Blue Peter is a true Seattle original. Most of the wood and other parts and materials were made or harvested right here in the Pacific Northwest. Designed and constructed by Seattle hands, the yacht entered service with the Seattle Yacht Club as one of her first appointments. During the 2nd world war, the yacht was conscripted by the US. Army and used to patrol the newly constructed Canol oil pipeline, in Canada and Alaska. She was later “Surplussed” by the army and was purchased by Horace McCurdy of Seattle, who had been a fan of the yacht since her original construction.
The McCurdy family brought the boat back to her original grandeur and maintained her until 2001. The Barbos bought the yacht from the McCurdys and continued to maintain and improve her care. In recent years, the Barbos have commissioned several large repair projects like the replacement of the teak decks, and the electrical system, repair and upgrading of the plumbing systems, and the upgrading of electronic equipment on the bridge, This past winter a large project to repair and replace elements of the drive-train and bearings, as well as replacing foundational woodwork in the stern of the hull were carried out by shipwrights at Haven Boat Works.
Blue Peter is employed primarily as a private yacht for the Barbos, their extended family, and for family friends. She is starting to become available for limited chartering here in our local waters. If you are interested to know more, the captain of the yacht will be available to answer further questions. Welcome Aboard!

Bright Star is a Tolman Jumbo 24, from a design by Renn Tolman of Homer, Alaska. As are all the Tolman boats, she is a plywood stitch-and-glue wooden boat.

The Tolman Alaskan Skiffs began as 18′ open boats, built for fishing in Alaskan waters. The basic design has evolved. Most now are cabin boats 22′-24′ long, with a few built at 26′, and built by the people who plan to use them.

Ray built her on our backporch. It took 2.5 years, from delivery of plywood to launching. We customized ours as a cabin cruiser, for cruising and fishing.

The boat is powered by a Cummins diesel MerCruiser 1.7L, 120hp, inboard/outboard. Cruising speed is 18 mph and cruising weight is 3800 pounds. The boat is light for its size and is easy to tow.

We get great fuel economy. With two 36-gallon tanks, we have a range of 300 miles, at speed. So far, we have 7500 statute miles under our keel. Note: This is at WBF application time. More cruising happens before Festival 2021.

Local home area day trips and cruising have been in the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. But most of our cruising has been up north, in saltwater. Having a trailerable boat allows us freedom easily to go farther, and get into saltwater in Washington and BC. As former long distance offshore sailboat cruisers, we find it great fun to get to places faster and have more time in ports for exploring.

We’ve explored the South Sound, spent a lot of time inside, along Vancouver Island, in the San Juans, more time in the Gulf Islands, went up the Fraser River, and north on the BC mainland side. We cruised in the Broughton Archipelago, taking the ferry Coho over to Victoria and driving up to Port McNeill to launch. An outside trip was from Port Townsend to Walters Cove, almost to Brooks Peninsula. It was off of Tofino, with a front coming in, that we learned Bright Star can fly. We went back to port, for four days, and headed out again.

2020 was a bust, as far as cruising. With more time at home, Ray built another boat. Based on a Tolman hull design, it is a 21′ open speedboat, modified to be all-electric, with Tesla batteries and solar panels.

More information on the building of cabin boat Bright Star — http://www.backporchboat.org/

— Ray Brown & Anne Thompson

Ceridwen was lofted in the Fall of 1982 at Magner & Sons Boatworks in Carlsborg, WA. Matt McCleary with the help of John and his son Kevin, started building the Atkins’ “Little Maid of Kent” Schooner. Poured 2500lbs of lead for Keel, Balua Keel Timbers, Oregon Oak floor timber’s and steam-bent oak frames, Port Orford Cedar planking, old-growth Douglas Fir cabin sides, Honduras Mahogany Taff rails, laid Teak decks over plywood sub deck, mahogany covering boards. All tankage (water and diesel), electrical system, and Diesel engine were installed. Pete Langley of PT Foundry cast most of Ceridwen’s deck and Spar hardware. Hassey-Petrich sails were built. Launched in August 1994, and then masts, bowsprit, and spars were finished and rigged.

Maiden voyage was in August 1996 from Port Angeles Marina to Port Hadlock Marina, Ceridwen’s Home Port to this day. Ceridwen’s custom interior was finished over many years from my garage shop in Hadlock. 20+ years now of adventures with family and friends in the San Juan Islands and Gulf Islands, BC.

Using only the lines drawing from the Dori book we measured and created a sheet of offsets to loft her. Thanks to the Newport Marine science center loft and bandsaw, I was able to fully loft her and then create her sawn frames in 1983. Thanks to Dick Tucker in Langlois Oregon I was able to order perfect Port Orford cedar for plankIng. Jamestown distributors was the only mail order supply company back then for Marine supplies (and linguica sausage)!! Coincidentally Silva Bans was being built in a nearby barn at the same time so had to have her!! The schooner Rueben de Cloux was just launched and sailed in Yaquina Bay to our delight and inspiration! Launched as an open row boat I explored the eirie Pools slough where another recluse boatbuilder was creating a wooden sailing masterpiece deep in the woods.

Chloe was launched in 1960. Details are sketchy until the late 1970’s when she was purchased by Greg Smith in Rowayton, CT. A survey identified her as having been built in Norway, but her builder is unknown. Because the original mahogany planking had deteriorated, Smith had the hull re-planked with bronze-fastened Alaskan Yellow Cedar by a shipwright called Pieter Den Hartog of Hamilton Woodworking. Greg sailed Chloe on Long Island Sound until 1985 when he moved to Seattle.

In the early 1990s, Chloe’s deck and sheer plank were damaged by a storm in Port Hadlock. A second restoration was undertaken by Greg’s brother, Charlie Smith, former captain of Neil Young’s 100′ Baltic Schooner, Ragland. The deck and house were replaced, and a self-baling cockpit was installed.

After many family adventures in the Salish Sea, Greg donated Chloe to The Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle in 2018. Brandt Faatz, then Executive Director at CWB, purchased Chloe. She was in fine condition but needed cosmetic work. After a haul-out to refresh bottom and topsides paint, Brandt stripped and refinished the mast in December 2019 using Awlwood. The house and comings were refinished as a spring 2020 lockdown project. Chloe sailed Seattle’s Lake Union through the summer of 2020 and relocated to Port Townsend in November. She now resides in Port Townsend’s Boat Haven.

Cito along with her sisters (Da Capo, Pia, Eio, & Skoal’s), all of the same 38M2 Danish Spidsgatter class, were shipped together from Copenhagen to Vancouver B.C. in the early 1950s. There they stayed and raced together for many years, slowly dispersing to other areas in coastal B.C. and eventually to Washington state. Skoal is still sailing in B.C. off of Brentwood Bay.

Cito was built by J. Wass, a professional boatbuilder, in his backyard in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, after WWII as things were pretty bleak in Europe, he had sold her. Cito along with her sisters and many other fine sailing craft enjoyed the many years of fun racing and cruising before the war reached Denmark and everything changed. She has spent the majority of her time enjoying racing and cruising here in the Salish Sea.

Clatawa is a nine-foot flat-bottomed skiff from the design boards of Edwin Monk, who wished to give people with basic woodworking skills and a few sheets of plywood the means to build a simple rowboat to go fishing in. I found a set of these circa 1940s plans and built the skiff with quarter-inch Okoume. I took several liberties with the design to arguably improve its appearance.
I have a strong interest in unconventional human-powered boats and enjoy sketching offbeat propulsion systems. My main objective in this example was to find an alternative to rotary input (i.e. bicycle pedals) which virtually everyone who builds these vessels employs, including me with my double-ended canoe named Hiyu which I bring to the Festival every year. Clatawa utilizes reciprocating foot pedals and hand levers which provide linear inputs much like an elliptical exercise machine.
I had a great deal of fun puzzling out the challenge of converting linear movement into rotary motion. In this case, the push-pull action from the skipper pulls a rope back and forth which turns a pair of drums mounted on one-way “sprag” bearings. The drums rotate a shaft placed athwartship in the hull. Large pulleys located on the shaft distribute this motion to two smaller shafts running fore-and-aft, one being enclosed within the other, in the center of the boat. Vee belt pulleys on these central shafts turn in opposite directions and supply power to the port and starboard propeller shafts, which rotate twin screws in opposite directions, in proper powerboat style. The Captain’s chair has furnished with a lever on either side, each controlling a clutch which shifts its accompanying propeller shaft into forward or reverses. Steering is accomplished this way, so the boat is not provided with a rudder.
This rather dry description betrays the light-heartedness of this admittedly impractical design, which I concocted for the challenge and pleasure of getting from here to there using simple mechanical devices. Whether the boat is cool or laughable is unknown until people have a chance to react to it. I have a difficult relationship with computers but am at home with mechanical stuff, which I hope Festival-goers will find refreshing.
Clatawa is a Chinook jargon word meaning “to go.” I was tempted to name the boat “Rube,” after Mr. Goldberg, but was afraid anyone under 60 wouldn’t get the joke.

This is the first boat that I’ve ever built and apart from hanging a shelf now and then, it was pretty much my introduction into woodwork. Now I’m hooked! I built Connie using the glued-lapstrake method with okoume plywood planks fastened to meranti stringers (not a stitch in sight!). There’s also a fair amount of sapele involved and even some locust and iroko. The mast, yard, and oars are all from a single plank of Sitka spruce. The boom is reworked from an old boom that I managed to snap on my former 1964 Chevy Lee ketch. I sewed the sail with a kit from Sail-rite.

She has two rowing stations and glides through the water like a hot knife through butter. She seems to sail nicely too, though I’m no expert dinghy sailor.

CORSAIR II
“Corsair II”, custom designed by naval architect Leigh Coolidge and built in 1926 by Martinac in Tacoma for B. F. Jacobs, was a predicted log racer. Martinac Shipyard remains an active boat builder, yet built only four yachts. She appeared in Buffalo Marine Engine and Union Oil advertising, touting Jacobs’ skills winning races like the Olympia – Victoria “in 50 knot gales.”

Bob Bryan who lived aboard for 17 years, and son Brandy , who grew up on the boat and is now a career naval officer acquired her in 1979. In 1986 they cruised to Vancouver to participate in the World’s Fair Maritime Exhibit. In 2001, fortuity came into play for Sally and Bob, when explaining the boat to neighbors, the lady said, “I’ve been on your boat and I dated a guy that was a live aboard. He had it beached on the ship canal. She provided photos as proof.

The original owner’s grandnephew visited with stories of the boat’s 1920’s adventures, including the fact that she had been commissioned for mapping in Alaska. It brought dimension to vintage photos of fur coated men and women with rifles on deck and another shows the hull badly scraped having been sucked into a fish weir by current.
When asked how she handles in rough seas, Bob says the obvious: “That’s what she was built for. She always comes back right side up”.

Rumrunner? An old fisherman in Pender said: “I know your boat. She had a foot well in the afterdeck where those planks are strangely butted. When I was a kid guys from the Olmstead gang came in on her with women mad because they were drunk. The men left to find a bar. The women invited us aboard. We partied until the men returned and we ran like hell!” [Olmstead -Seattle Police Captain was convicted of tax evasion during Prohibition. His wife broadcast radio children’s’ stories which contained coded drop point messages.]

The Corsair remains a blessing for Sally and Bob. Sally signed on after a chance meeting in the Ballard locks thirty years ago – love at first sight with the Corsair… and Bob. They have been anchoring in the damndest places together ever since.

Daddy’s Third is a 26 ft St. Pierre Dory powered by two electric trolling motors. This is the third version of an electric dory I have built since 1996 and incorporates some recent innovations in electric propulsion. The two 36 volt Minn Kota motors and lithium iron phosphate batteries give us a range of 50 nautical miles at hull speed (5knots) or 150 nautical miles at 2.8 knots. 540 watts of flexible solar panels augment the power stored in the batteries at a rate of 4 hrs of sunlight = 1 hr cruising at hull speed.

Discovery was custom built in 1963 for James McCurdy. She has benefitted from caring and diligent ownership throughout her life. The Bjorklund family are her third owners and we look forward to continuing this tradition.

She has one of the first extruded aluminum masts on the West Coast of the United States (shipped from England) and still has her trusty 1963 Perkins diesel engine. The Vic Franck Yard on Lake Union in Seattle was well known for their Yacht quality construction, and use of the best materials available.

The Bjorklund family has owned the vessel for nearly three years and looks forward to voyaging near and far on this well-constructed piece of NW maritime history.

Dr. Petra has navigated the Yaquina river as well as part of the Columbia River and completed last years Salish 100 from Olympia to Port Townsend, WA. Completed in 2017, she took 2 yrs 10 months to build and is constructed of straight-grained Doug fir and Doug fir plywood. Fastenings are silicone bronze and some stainless steel. She has also been featured in Small Boats Annual Magazine where a more detailed description is available. I like the fact that the enclosed cabin extends the boating season from early Spring to early Fall. She spends most of her time moored on the lake. Then she’s in the barn for the Winter.

A number of such installations have been made on the West Coast and are being watched with keen interest by motor boat operators everywhere.

A particularly striking yacht installation was that made in the 44-foot power cruiser El Mistico owned by E. Michelson of the Seattle Yacht Club. The El Mistico was built by the Ballard Marine Railway of Seattle from designs by Thearle and Nordstrom and embodies a number of striking features in design, construction, and arrangement.

The power plant is one of the new four-cylinder Fairbanks-Morse marine Diesel engines developing 40 h.p. at 650 r.p.m. This engine is of the two-cycle type. The installation was made under the personal supervision of A. F. Whitehead, manager of the service department of the Seattle branch of Fairbanks-Morse & Company.

A feature of the job is the special unit control stand designed by Fairbanks-Morse engineers, and due to the success of the El Mistico will be made standard on this type of craft. By the use of this control, which is in a single bronze casting, the engine can be started, the clutch manipulated, the speed regulated and the reverse operated by the man at the wheel. Air and oil pressures are carried to the pilot house so that the owner can at all times follow the operating conditions of the engine. There is a thermostatic monometer for indicating engine temperature.

…The centralization of controls enables one man to operate the boat readily.

Electric Philosophy is a unique design for a fully solar-powered, electric cruising power catamaran. The boat form is driven by the requirements for the large solar array and large battery banks. Electric Philosophy grew out of the owners’ use of solar electric power on their Airstream travel trailer, and visits to the Wooden Boat Festival where the idea of independent solar-powered propulsion on a boat was presented as a possibility.
This boat was designed by Sam Devlin, in collaboration with the owner, Ed Pauley, who designed and built the solar electric propulsion system. After more than a year of construction, it will be commissioned in June 2021, to begin extended coastal cruising in the Pacific Northwest. It is designed for continuous use without shore charging and can run for 2-3 days with no solar input due to weather or darkness. A small portable generator is carried for emergency only use.

Emma Rose is a new family member. We came upon her up-island on Vancouver while returning from our yearly cruise two summers ago and immediately recognized it was time to reef and move to a more accommodating cruiser. She’s gracious and sea-worthy.

Community Boat Project has sought for over a decade to create the ultimate non-motorized educational vessel. Schooner-rigged, rowing 8 oars and capable of the multi-day unsupported sailing expedition, Epic is an ultimate teaching platform for all ages.