February

Puget Sound Solo Cruiser Contest Entries: 1-9
All nine entries are posted. Now the judges can begin their work, and in a month or so, we will post the results.

Projects

Chesapeake 16
Here is a short report from Tom Hamernik on his new Kayak. When you do those Eskimo rolls, Tom, have someone take pictures.

Folding Kayak
Guys like Brian Anderson, who make boats without plans deserve a lot of credit, especially when their projects turn out to be unqualified successes.

Navigators Around the World
John Welsford must have been feeling a bit of cabin fever the day he sent this little bit of eye candy for small boat sailors.

A Sculling Skiff for Young Wil
Occasionally grandfathers build boats for their grandsons. Just wait until you see the one Jack Hicks made for his grandson, Wil Gale.

Little Hunk
Chris Nichols has turned his Glen-L Little Hunk over and placed it on the trailer. As we say, he's half done with only 90% left to go.

AF4
Jim Michalak's minimalist Outboard Cruiser has been a big hit with builders. Mike Russon has just begun his and he is pretty excited about it.

Sundowner Update
It's been a while since someone has built a boat, sailed it around the world and written a book about it. Charlie Whipple aims to do all three.

How To

Making Stays/Shrouds
Want to replace the rigging on your sailboat but don't want to pay a fortune? Do it yourself. Shorty shows you the tools and techniques you will need.

Lumpy - the carbon-fiber sprit boom
Gary and I will be sailing his Frolic2 in the upcoming Watertribe Everglades Challenge. Here he reports on one of his upgrades to the boat

Boat Shed Dust Collection
Roger Palmer has been around for a while and has learned a lot about dust collection. Here he describes his system and tells you why you need one too.

Gatherings

23rd Annual Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival
A popular event, the MASCF is well attended as well. Michael the traveling nurse went this past fall and filed this report

Chicagoland Messabout 2005
Our friends up north found a great venue and a good turnout in spite of a short notice. Rob Rohde-Szudy reports on this first anual event.

Shootout at Reynolds Creek Park
PDRacers duke it out for the Trophy. Paul Haynie drove all the way from Chicago to Texas to bring you all the gorey details.

Kokopeli 2005
Kim Apel is one of the lucky few who made it to Jim Thayer's anual Kokopeli cruise. This year it was held at Lake Mohave due to low water at Lake Powell.

Raid Finland
There is a new type of boating activity growing in popularity around the world. It is called a Raid and this story is about one of the earliest ones.

Columns

Painting Primer
Lets hope Ron Magen is better at paining than he is at puns. There are lots of good tips here on buying, applying, and storing paint.

Lower Units - Part 2
This is the final part of Max Wawrzyniak's primer on tearing down and repairing the lower units on old outboard engines. Better take notes.

Steaming Lake Windermere
It's not easy to find a steamboat for rent these days, but Al Wasey did and rode it right through the heart of Arthur Ransom's Swallows and Amazons country.

Nikon Binoculars for Boating
Want a quality pair of binoculars for your boat but are confused by all the hype. Chris Ostlind gives us the straight skinny on three you can choose from.

Captain Charlie Self
We welcome Captain Ron Thweatt as a regular columnist. His first effort is a sort of eulogy to the man who taught him to sail.

Simple Rigs
We will excuse Ross Lillistone if he waxes a bit too romantic. After all, we like sailing too, especially on boats with simple, traditional sailing rigs.

Homemade Boat Trailers - Part 3
This is the final installment of Rob Rohde-Szudy's great series on building your own boat trailer. Rob has provided a scale drawing of his trailer as a guide.

Outings

The Drascombe in Mississippi
Long before the recent hurricanes, Frank San Miguel got to take a dream cruise along the coast that is now drastically changed. Here is his story.

Navigation
Sad to say it is usually huge and expensive mistakes are sometimes the best learning experiences. Lee Martin relates something he learned here.

Of Mice and Boys - Part 2
Kellan Hatch and his two sons built a couple of Mouse boats. This is a report on how they perform and all the places they went last summer.

A Jumbo Trip to Lake Powell
Kevin Beddoe took his family and their new Tolman Jumbo to Lake Powell for a week and sent these great pictures. They seem to have had a great time.

Adventures of Blue Canoe
Did you ever take a kid out in a boat and then discover he was too young to really appreciate the experience? Dirtsailor has.

Designs

A64 - Tacking Outrigger
It's not a catamaran; It's not a Trimaran; It's not a Proa. What is a Tacking Outrigger? Chris Ostlind reveals all in this preview of his new design.

Pocket Cruiser (comments wanted)
Bob Throne is designing a cruising sailboat for himself and he is taking the extraordinary step of exhibiting his plans so far and asking for comments.

More About American Proas
Proas have quite a few aficionados and Craig O'Donnell is definitely one of them. Here is a great short history of the developement of the American proa.

Reviews

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack De Crow
A good book review makes you really want to read the book in question. Here is a good book review from Michael Birch.

Reports

February Reports
Every month on the 15th we publish a page of assorted letters, press releases, photos, news stories and so forth. We call it Reports

Letters

February Letters