Weevee

The "soft launch" of my new boat "Dr Weevil". This is a Michalak Weevee, an 8 foot dinghy with a deep vee hull. Built in about 40 hours, coming in at about 150 bucks, from my scrappy records.

I've taken it rowing a couple of times already, it is hyper-sensitive to any movements, but goes like a rocket on the gentlest of oar strokes. Kind of an evil genius, hence the name. Michalak warns us in his write-up of the boat, and honestly that's exactly what I wanted.

I used my old 2 foot mast from the mixer, and the same 60sq ft LOM sprit. With the mast in place, the boat tips over to the right because of the extra weight of the leeboard. With my 40 pound daughter in there it balances just fine though, so I'm thinking some balast strapped into the vee is in order.

I strapped in two 55 liter dry bags as floatation. They worked nicely in my capsize test, holding the boat about one third in the water. It wont sink, but righting the boat may prove difficult. As in, impossible without your feet on the floor. Not a boat for the deep, cold Lake Tahoe, more a boat for my local friendly walk-around-it-in-an-hour pond, called Quarry Lake in Fremont, CA.

Over winter I might build in airboxes and decks, but they'll likely make the boat too heavy to cartop, which is one of the prime requirements for this boat. The other prime requirement was to be short enough to not have to deal with dmv registration and the county property tax thieves.

It needs another coat of varnish, and the balast thinking, so I likely won't get to actually sail it for a few weeks. I'm anticipating a fast and furious sail, ending in wetness and a long swim. All part of the fun, in my opinion.

Wee Lassie

Maiden voyage of my Dave Gentry Wee Lassie at Beaver Lake in Arkansas. Even with a temporary seat it paddled very well.

Thomas

Duo/Tryst

Here are photos and comments from a recent Duo/Tryst builder:

Dear Richard:

I've just finished building a Duo and I'm enjoying it. Here's a picture, it's a little rough but it's my first ever woodworking project and I'm quite proud of it.

The oar spars work ok, they weigh about 3 pounds each so they're a bit heavier than they need to be but not bad.

I built in the fore and mid floatation but left out the aft chamber, I need a locker and don't quite have it figured out yet, think I'll build a bit of flotation at the bottom and the locker on top, the flotation chamber would protect the hull from the gear in the locker.

The sail is poly, about 35 sq. ft, and a lot of carpet tape and extra wide Gorilla tape :) I made it small because I tend to be a bit cocky and figured the small sail would protect me from myself, I'll make a bigger sail once I get a bit better at sailing, probably a sprit boom or a cat rig.

You're more than welcome to use the picture on your website if you like, I love showing off my boat, I wheel it down to the boat launch and folks often stop to admire it and ask questions.

Here's a few more pictures

Ready to go sailing:

Rigged for rowing:

I made a slight mod on the wing, I don't trust my knots much :) They lock in place when I lift the wing up and put the pins in and it's solid enough that I can row without it shifting, haven't had to sit out on the wing yet but I think it'll hold, once I get everything where I want it I'll put a couple wraps of 3" fiberglass tape around them. It does need something to protect the paint under the gunwale though, think I'll use fiberglass tape.

Couldn't get the gear for the rudder locally so whipped this up from a couple oarlock sockets and a couple 1/2" stainless bolts with the heads cut off.

As I said she's a bit rough, I want to refinish her properly but it'll take about a month for the paint and oil to cure and I don't want to be without a boat for that long which is why I'm looking to build a second boat, at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it :)

Richard Woods of Woods Designs 
sailing catamaran designers

www.sailingcatamarans.com

Mia 15

It's always a pleasure to get feedback from builders and to see photographs of work in progress, completed boats and launch reports.

Kevin Strathy from Sebring, Florida has just completed a very nice example of my Mia 15 design. He reports that, "she handles fine" and says "thanks for a great first time builder project."

Check out the detail in the photographs.

Now that's what I call mutual satisfaction :)

Andrew Walters

Plans are in the Duckworks Store.

andrewwaltersdesign.com

Tween

Tween, a Michalak 7’5” dinghy, was modified as following:

• Decks added as John Welsford did in his "Kiwi Duck";
• Air-tight compartments in each corner, accessible by Duckworks supplied 6" Seadog White Deck Plates;
• Changed sail to 44 SF (4.1sm) lug;
• Changed rudder to a Mike Storer style holster with push-pull tiller
• Bottom of the rudder has a plate to improve flow and the bottom of the holster has a corresponding plate (1/2" thick) which also acts as a step for reboarding;
• Used two skegs rather than one.

I used TiteBond 2 and 3 for all construction and sheathing (6oz fiberglass cloth from Duckworks) on bottom up to the waterline. Deck is sheathed with same 6oz cloth bedded in paint, which works well. In the future, I'll continue to use TB for construction, but not for sheathing. For the latter, I'll use fiberglass cloth bedded in epoxy and then multiple coats of epoxy/graphite (which is what I did on Lillistone's Flint, "Raven", and which has held up for three seasons with zero problems).

Hull and deck are 6mm Ocume plywood. Frames, spars, etc. from White Pine with high-lights of Western Red Cedar, all of which I'll use in the future.

Biggest construction issue: Bending the two bottom sheets up to the bow transom. I left two 'tabs', about 3" (8cm) by 4" (10cm) long on the outside corners of the bottom which enabled the bottom to be pulled up to the bow transom. Much 'Soprano' style language accompanied this effort.

Paint is Rustoleum White (oil based) enamel (except bottom). The Rustoleum enamel is really good and I'll use in the future.

Boot top is red duct tape, which I will not use again (wrinkled). In the past, I've used Bootstripe tape from West Marine and it has held up for three seasons and still working on "Raven".

Things yet to be done:

• Finish painting the leeboard and rudder;
• Make a sail from one of Dave’s Polysail kits to replace (and duplicate) the borrowed blue sail shown in the photos;
• Add ‘thumb’ cleats to the coaming for the sheet;
• Add full-length floor boards which will enable sleeping (feet under the fore-deck between the two air boxes and head under the after-deck between the other two air boxes). My 6’2” (188cm) height just (JUST) fits.;
• Add a ‘graphic’ to the transom representing A. A. Milne’s character, “Tigger”, from his “Pooh” books.

Transportation: the photo shows the boat on a custom rack. I can just barely load and unload the boat by myself on level smooth ground. I store the boat in my garage, using the same rack that's on the car, hanging above "Raven". Thanks to my friend Paul (who also took the photos) we were able to off-load (and re-load) with the low water level at Round Valley in New Jersey.

Sailing: According to GPS, we were doing 4 knots in an approximately 8 knot breeze when the bow-on photo was taken.

Tom Clarke, Newark, NJ

EasyB

Happy wife, happy life. Launch of the EasyB canoe.

Scott

Wa'apa Finished a Long Time Ago

Well I finished my Wa'apa a couple of months ago. Havent sailed it yet, but it works great for salt water fly fishing which was my intened purpose for this boat.

I think I will hook a trolling motor up to it as it doesn't like to be paddled into the wind! Maybe I should say I dont like to paddle this thing into the wind!

Over all very stable and a great fishing platform. I purposely over built the amas and can stand on the iako and barely submerge the amas. Overall pretty happy with it.

Martin

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