Category Archive

Madame Libby’s journey began in 1931 at Libby Cannery in Alaska with just a haul and sail; she spent days filled to the gunnels hauling fish back to the cannery. In her retirement, she made her way to Seattle to the Center of Wooden Boats. Where she caught the eye of Jake Rufer who saw her beauty and had big …

Combination of westry & African Star/Andy; no plans from Garden on record for this style as it was a one-off and Bill was a friend of Andy’s family who we understand helped him design it. This custom-built cutter was built on Bainbridge Island by sailor and shipwright Andy Goodwin. Sam Fry acquired and meticulously restored the wood, cabin tops, cap …

La Vita e’ Bella was named by her previous owner who was of proud Italian heritage and a skilled model boat builder. Her name means “This Life is Beautiful!” and I thought that was so perfect, I simply couldn’t change it! Her hull is glued lap construction in mahogany ply, with 3/4 steam bent oak frames, with no visible fastenings. …

Built in 1962 at the renowned Cheoy Lee Shipyard in Hong Kong to race the TransPac, Isobar is a 45’ LOA full-keel sloop with a 12’ maximum beam and a 28,000 lb. displacement. Her original design was a monocoque wineglass hull of strip-planked Philippine mahogany, spacious teak decks and a counter stern. She sports a low aspect mainsail rig (48’ …

Celeste is the second kayak I have built of this design. The first I built for my wife and she has enjoyed it paddling around Washington and Vancouver Island, B.C. I was quite pleased with the design but wanted to change the second one to challenge my building skills a bit more and add more artistry. While I knew I …

Que Será is hull number 11 of a limited production run of 19 K43 Sloops built by Kettenburg Marine, San Diego in the mid-1960s. To our knowledge, she is one of three K43s built with teak decks, house and cockpit. She was extensively raced by her original owners in Southern California winning the Wrigley Cup shortly after her launch. We …

The Aleutian Tern was designed in 1963 by the legendary Northwest designer William Garden, for Seattle builder Warren Teller. Teller built her in the yard at his home in Seattle over the next 3 years, launching her in 1966. She is very heavily built on lines paralleling those of the halibut schooners of the Northwest. With a wheelhouse aft, a …

Talaria has been cruising the Northeast since she was built in 1953 at the Hinckley yard in Southwest Harbor, Maine. The Hinckley 36 “standard” sloop was only ever built in wood. She is very similar to the Hinckley Pilot 35, which was also initially built in wood but which Hinckley began producing as one of their first fiberglass production boats. …

Restoration of This Boat, Hull #246: Beware of the “free” boat. Hull number 246 was past its useful life when it came into my possession. Large sections of planking had rotted along with the keel beam around the centerboard trunk. Despite cracked deck skin there was something compelling about the boat. I initially resisted the offer to take this “free” …

Nearing retirement, I decided to build one last boat. Little did I know this project would take almost 10 years! Paul and Eric at Bieker Boats had been thinking of an updated Thunderbird design using stitch and glue construction and integrating carbon in a number of the parts. Their design includes a lifting keel for trailering and a canting bowsprit. …