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 …
Ørn
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. …
Alcyone
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, …
Sockeye
Sockeye is an Ed Monk Sr. design, built by Jacobson Brothers in Ballard, WA. She started a long trolling career in 1944. Known back then as Nestor, she retired from fishing in the early 2000s when Port Townsend’s Les and Libby Schnick started her long conversion to a recreational boat. Her aft cabin emerged in 2008 from what was once …
PickPocket
Bill Garden published this design in his 1977 book Yacht Designs. She traces her roots to George F. Holmes who is described as the father of the canoe yawl and to Albert Strange who played a key role in developing the type. In fact, Mr. Garden named his design after one of Holmes’ boats. John MacGregor famously described his travels …
Planet X
When I was 13 years old, I built my first boat, a 10-foot plywood skiff. Other boats followed until college, parenthood, and a career in the aerospace industry set a different direction. Fast forward to the 2017 Wooden Boat Festival at Port Townsend. I had volunteered, and by coincidence admired the lines of a sleek little wineglass wherry by Pygmy …
Red Bomber
Red Bomber is a double-cockpit runabout with a mahogany planked plywood hull, ring shank bronze fastened on sawn frames. Complete with Croslet-Aerojet pre-packaged 21-hp OHC 4-cylinder engine and belt-driven Vee-drive gasoline propulsion unit. Original 6-volt electrical system with an air horn.
RIPTIDE
RIPTIDE was built in 1927 by the Schertzer Brothers Boat and Machine Company, then located on the north end of Lake Union near the foot of Stone Way in Seattle. She is planked in port orford cedar, copper riveted to white oak frames over an apitong backbone. Although there is no records extent confirming her designers, tantalizing hints in her …
Emma Rose
Emma Rose is relatively new to us. After 20 years of sailing the Salish Sea and Canadian North Coast it was time to for a powered cruiser to make the journey all the way to Alaska in a little more warmth and comfort. This mahogany-planked Grand Banks 32 ably fit the bill. With all new electronics, plumbing, heat, navigation, ground …
Boris!
1500 hours from first sketches to varnish. The boat is a cedar-strip, recreational/open-water scull, loosely based on Graeme King’s immortal Kingfisher. It’s built with 1/8-inch Western red cedar & Alaska yellow cedar pin-striping. The hull is covered with 2-oz fiberglass, inside & out. All strips are block-planed with a rolling bevel to mold into the hull shape. The soft-chined, V-hull …