Small boats – Page 312 – intheboatshed.net

Ultrasimple Boatbuilding is now on sale!

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The book that has filled my life for the last 18 months is finally published. Naturally, I think about this event in much the same was as I would regard having to gybe in a strong wind – but there’s no going back now. Having done the best I can to make sure everything’s as tight and ship-shape as can be, I’ll just have to grit my teeth, pray the book gets a favourable reception, duck my head and concentrate on following the best course out of the gybe.

Readers might be interested the blurb published by Amazon, and presumably provided by International Marine. I hope the book and I live up to it!

Ultrasimple Boat Building (Paperback) by Gavin Atkin

The first complete how-to guide for building the latest generation of quick and easy boats

In Ultrasimple Boatbuilding, renowned designer Gavin Atkin shows you how to create elegant, seaworthy plywood boats with a minimum of time, experience, and expense. Using clearly written and illustrated step-by-step instructions, Atkin explains the basics of stitch-and-glue construction, tools, materials, shop safety, and more, as he helps you choose and build the simple boat of your dreams.

Gavin Atkin is known around the world for his minimalist boat designs. His award-winning creations, including the celebrated Mouse, have been built by countless boat enthusiasts.

Buy it here: Ultrasimple Boat Building: 17 Plywood Boats Anyone Can Build

More of Nick Smith’s handsome clinker-built launches

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Two photos of Puffin on a grand day out with the Steam Boat Association and a new small motor launch both built by Nick Smith

Traditional boatbuilder Nick Smith has sent some more shots for our entertainment.

The first two shots of Puffin and other small steamers are from the Steam Boat Association rally at Bucklers Hard, near Beaulieu, a few weeks ago.

The little 12ft 6in mahogany runabout on the stocks in these photos is nearly finished and is now for sale – get onto Nick via the WBTA site now if you’d like to buy her!

Tell us about your traditional or traditionally-derived boat. Email me at gmatkin@gmail.com!

A successful first adventure for the paddling and sailing expedition boat Expedition Mouse

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The maiden outing for Dan Noble’s Expedition Mouse seems to have been a little more exciting than anyone intended, but even with two grown men aboard she seems to have coped pretty well. Sailing nearby the Statue of Liberty seems rather exotic from my perspective in Kent, England

I’ve said it before, but boat designers love a builder who follows the plans, builds the boat well and makes good use of it. But even those of us who are lucky in our builders have at least a little nervousness before a launch, for there’s always the danger that something about the boat might not work quite as expected.

Well, Dan Noble’s done a nice job of building the Expedition Mouse, and I seem to have got away with it – as once again one of my little boats has proved to work the way it should. Thanks Dan!

The Expedition Mouse is a stretched 14ft variant of my Mouseboat series of easy and cheap to build designs, but instead of being intended for the pond or river at the end of the road, this one is intended for real trips, perhaps involving camping. Many people would say that she’s an unusual looking craft with a surprisingly large sail are, but there is method in my madness. Her scow shape and hard chine makes her stable enough to stand up to quite a lot of sail, but her entry and exit are sufficiently easy that she’s easy to paddle much like a conventional cruising kayak. Her builder has reported that she while she sails well, she paddles ‘like a dream’.

The plans for the Expedition Mouse are available for free and can be downloaded at the Yahoogroup Mouseboats.

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