Category Archive

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 …

RAVEN was built by Frank Black, a fish boat builder in Coos Bay, OR, for his own use in 1974. We were attracted to her sturdy design by Kenneth Smith of Grand Banks fame as well as her workboat construction and outfit by Mr. Black, and found her for sale at Fisherman’s Terminal in Seattle in 1996. We enjoyed cruising …

Leslie Jean is a 15′ Whitehall that is a combination of many designs. Mostly the lines were taken from an article in National Fisherman Magazine from 1954 and 1977 written by John Gardner. She was a learning project that took 10 years to complete. Each year the builder took a class, first from the Wooden Boat Shop in Seattle and …

12 of these stout crew boats where commisioned by the navy to ferry crews from alternate locations to both Bangor and Bremerton shipyards during the cold war. However due to Seattle voting in the fast ferry system, The marlineers never seen active service and where turn out to supplus where a New Car Dealership (Cadilliac) purchased 11 of the 12 …

Vito Dumas started her life as “Irupe” in the Rio de la Plata area of Argentina. She made her way to San Diego in 1975 after a voyage up to the Caribbean and Panama Canal by Pepe and Julio Ozan. I purchased then named Vito Dumas in early 1976 with a partner. We spent a winter in San Diego doing …

Jean Alden uses the traditional catboat configuration to achieve the objectives of a weatherly pocket cruiser that maximize my available shop space while still fitting on a trailer. Mostly I built “by eye” with little attempt to follow a plan other than to steal some hull sections from Phil Bolger’s twelve foot Bobcat. My shop is large enough for a …

Lorraine is a Nordic Folkboat built in Denmark in 1959. She was imported for racing in San Francisco Bay then trucked to the Northwest for cruising. I bought Lorraine (named after my mother) in 1979. Since then, Lorraine has taken me and my family to many of the Salish Sea’s most beautiful cruising grounds. Port Townsend’s finest marine tradespeople are …

Windsong was built by a school teacher in Grapeview, WA. She has mostly cruised between Olympia and Desolation Sound. Her longest voyage was to SE Alaska up the inside and 14 days from Icy Straits to Straits of Juan De Fuca, on the outside. We have owned the boat twice, first time in Oly in the 80’s, and now in …

The design is Rascal by Ken Bassett. She was built by the owner and completed in 2014. Cold molded, batten seam construction, planked in mahogany and maple. The bottom incorporates a 12″ wide speed pad allowing for tremendous acceleration and top speed with moderate power. The vintage Mercury outboard powering her uses a 1980 140HP powerhead with a short shaft …

Built on Bainbridge Island in the 1980’s, TUMBLEHOME has a sheathed epoxy-cedar strip planked hull. A curvaceous teak wheelhouse allows inside or outside steering. The hull form fairs to a canoe stern, with long overhangs, and a notably round tumblehome mid-section. The interior is Alaskan yellow cedar and Honduras mahogany. A lead fin keel balances the sloop rig with a …