Category Archive

Built-in 1965 by John Wright of Philadelphia PA. The boat was sailed for two years before the owner passed. For fifty years the boat remained in the owner’s garage untouched. Later it competed in the Penguin Fleet of Chicago Il before moving to New Jersey where I discovered it on the internet. In 2021 I tailored the Penguin on its …

S/V Tullamore came into my life in June 2020, passed on by Scott McEniry of Bellingham. Scott had recently tossed a brand new Yanmar into “Tully,” thank you Scott. My stewardship of her begins with some additions/changes—a new and vastly improved propeller, a shortening of the tiller, carving out of the inevitable rotten planks, and—hopefully—adding a mainsheet winch and opening …

Teal was built for the Alaskan Department of Commerce for the fish and game patrol. She was completely restored by the Port Townsend Shipwrights to yacht standards.

I spent 20 years looking for a boat design that I could build when I retired. I was set to build a Devlin “Black Crown” and even rented one several times. My plans changed when I found Brian Dixon’s design “Great Alaskan”. I chose his design because of the planing hull. I started the build in January of 2019 and …

Built at Cowes, Isle of Wight, to ocean race under RORC rules and competed in 1966 and 1967. When IOR rules came in, the boat was not competitive and was sold. It was then sailed across the Atlantic, through the Panama canal across to Hawaii. Then onto Victoria. Summertime has been displayed in Vancouver, Victoria, and Port Townsend, winning best …

The Krokenen is a robustly built, wooden classic built in 1977 in Grimstad, Norway. The hull form can generally be attributed to the coastal fishing boats of the country and was most probably built by a yard experienced with purpose built workboats and pocket cruising yachts for the fjords and waterways. The name means ‘Hiding Place’ as the builder’s son …

I built the Haven 12 1/2 in 2008. It was my second carvel planked boat. After over 45 years as a fine furniture maker, I converted to boats. This soon became quite a passion. Years and a few boats later, I would say this was the hardest boat I have built. But the reward is a boat that is sweet …

This is a splendid example of a Howard Chapelle designed Pinky Schooner. Chapelle spent a lot of time and research effort on Pinky Schooners, which he considered to be one of the finest sea-going traditional crafts ever built. ‘Pleiades’ is based on Chapelle’s ‘Pinky Yacht’ design (as seen in his book American Sailing Craft), and it represents a slightly modified …

Built in 1931 for a Colonel E.R.Tooley (Victorian Regiment, BC) as a “Gentleman’s Cruiser”, MEKO was subsequently bought as a derelict vessel by retired shipwright Mike Haas of Squamish, B.C., in the early 2000s, as a project boat. He stripped the boat back to frames and started a rebuild that would take between 2005 – 2012. Mike passed away in …