Small Wooden Boats and More

Category: Boats

  • About Time — Sail Report June 23 2015

    About Time — Sail Report June 23 2015

    I had mentioned before (in passing) that my wife was pregnant.  Well, now she isn’t pregnant.  Samuel Hyrum Earl was born just before midnight on May 20th.  It was a pretty exciting day.  KaeLynn had an emergency C-section and everything.  On the bright side Sam is here now, and everyone is safe, and I have…

  • Puddle Duck Racer Build — Spars

    Puddle Duck Racer Build — Spars

    First of all, let me apologize in advance for this post.  This should be a trip report, but between the weather and the fact that my wife is nearly 9 months pregnant I have not been able to go sailing.  So instead I am going to write about building spars the Earl way.

  • Nephi’s Courage — Design Notes

    Nephi’s Courage — Design Notes

    Like most small boat builders I spent a fair amount of time agonizing over which boat I would build.  In fact, I came very close to building a Rebel Cat, and I still think that a multihull would be pretty fun to build.  In the end I decided on a Puddle Duck Racer, mostly because…

  • Bird Island

    Bird Island

    Even before I started building my first boat my girls were fascinated about the stories I told about visiting the various islands of Moses Lake, Washington, where I grew up.  Some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around paddling, rowing, or sailing to Goat Herd Island or Marsh Island, and my girls were intrigued by…

  • Utah Lake State Park

    Utah Lake State Park

    For the second weekend in a row I was able to get my boats out on the lake.  Like last week all three of my littlest girls came along.  This time my son Zachary was able to come with us as well.  It was a lot of people for two small boats, but we made…

  • Puddle Duck Racer Refit — Leeboard

    I am not a naval architect, but designing boats is sort of fun.  My pdracer is inexpensive enough that I am more than happy to experiment, and at some point I am hoping that experimentation includes some racing.  To me, that’s the beauty of the Puddle Duck Racer.  They are easy and inexpensive to build,…

  • First Boat Outing 2015

    First Boat Outing 2015

    The stars finally aligned, and I got my boats out on the water for the first time this year. The day got off to an inauspicious start. Eliza had a bad cough, Abby wasn’t feeling well, and Stella, well Stella is always a little difficult. However, Eliza and Abby have been dying to try the…

  • Puddle Duck Racer Refit — Gunter Rig

    Puddle Duck Racer Refit — Gunter Rig

    Nephi’s Courage sports a nifty gunter rig, and I really like it.  The rig allows me to sport a ridiculous amount of sail area on spars made from 12 foot 2×6 boards.  Yes, 12 foot spars don’t fit in the boat, but they do fit well on top of my minivan. Of all of the…

  • Mouse Boat One — Details

    Mouse Boat One — Details

    This last summer, while picnicking (and sailing) at Lake Cleveland we met a really nice family that let my children paddle some of their Lifetime “Wave Junior” kayaks. The kids had so much fun with these boats that I realized that I had to get one. Not only would this give the opportunity for the…

  • Serial Boat Builder

    Serial Boat Builder

    This Saturday the girls and I finished our second boat.  The tentative name is “Lizer Pizer,” but Eliza doesn’t get to officially name her boat until I have built one for Abigail as well (I am going to vote for Fabbylosa for that one).