parham
Active Member
- Joined
- May 31, 2007
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I feel I may be alone on this, but is anyone here into small, trailerable boats? To be more specific, wooden boats! Sailboats, powerboats, rowboats, kayaks, canoes, or any other watercraft that can rot! I'm trying to motivate myself to start spring maintenance in time for when the weather breaks.
I grew up around Chesapeake Bay using all types of pleasure craft as a kid, then got away from the water until a few years ago. Rediscovering small boats helped me realize this might be the ticket to manageable boat ownership.
Everybody loves a Chris-Craft or Riva mahogany runabout, but that's serious cash, a lot of time varnishing, and a preponderance of douchy-old guys spraying down teak and polishing chrome. This thread is for those that appreciate the cheaper, smaller, more affordable classics, the stuff that was common post-war to the 70s, before fiberglass totally took over and made everything monochrome and stripey. The stuff you can build and/or repair in your basement, and gets looks because everyone's confused about wooden boats.
Small boats are great. Pros: you can hang small boats on walls or from the ceiling out of the way, they're much more affordable and easier to maintain than larger boats, and are easy to car-top or pop one (or three) on a trailer. Cons: your friends all need their own boats to join you on the water, your spouse might think you're crazy (maybe it's all the epoxy fumes?), and it's very easy to become a hoarder of small boats.
In honor of my first kid (due in about a month), I bought a new boat so we can all fit for a day on the water. It's a 1960 Thompson Sea Lancer 17' wooden laptrake "utility runabout" built in Cortland, NY. Only had it a few weeks, but I'm truly impressed by the build-quality on these floating mid-century pickup trucks. She doesn't leak, but needs new interior varnish. Chris-Craft built these kinds of boats too, but other popular brands of the period were Century, Lyman, Cruisers Inc, T&T, etc.
We have a few other small boats (the garage no longer houses cars, only boats, motorcycles, and tools):
*1968 Hampton One Design - 18' wooden racing sloop native to Chesapeake Bay
*1960 Alcort Sailfish - 13'7" fiberglass "board-boat" that preceded the iconic Sailfish
*1978 Alcort Minifish - 11'7" fiberglass dinghy, baby-sibling to the Sunfish
*1980s-era canvas-on-oak kayak - 14' Greenland-style homebuilt scored at a yard-sale
*Assorted watercraft - old surfboards (9' turd, 6' foot shorty), paddleboards (12'), and an 8' plastic kayak from TJ Maxx
*When we travel to the water, a few of the smaller craft can fit into the powerboat so that the whole family has options.
*Wishlist to round out the collection - a wooden stand-up paddleboard, an old canvas-on-wood canoe, a Beetle Cat, and maybe a larger catboat or daysailer like a Watch Hill 15 or Wianno Senior.
I grew up around Chesapeake Bay using all types of pleasure craft as a kid, then got away from the water until a few years ago. Rediscovering small boats helped me realize this might be the ticket to manageable boat ownership.
Everybody loves a Chris-Craft or Riva mahogany runabout, but that's serious cash, a lot of time varnishing, and a preponderance of douchy-old guys spraying down teak and polishing chrome. This thread is for those that appreciate the cheaper, smaller, more affordable classics, the stuff that was common post-war to the 70s, before fiberglass totally took over and made everything monochrome and stripey. The stuff you can build and/or repair in your basement, and gets looks because everyone's confused about wooden boats.
Small boats are great. Pros: you can hang small boats on walls or from the ceiling out of the way, they're much more affordable and easier to maintain than larger boats, and are easy to car-top or pop one (or three) on a trailer. Cons: your friends all need their own boats to join you on the water, your spouse might think you're crazy (maybe it's all the epoxy fumes?), and it's very easy to become a hoarder of small boats.
In honor of my first kid (due in about a month), I bought a new boat so we can all fit for a day on the water. It's a 1960 Thompson Sea Lancer 17' wooden laptrake "utility runabout" built in Cortland, NY. Only had it a few weeks, but I'm truly impressed by the build-quality on these floating mid-century pickup trucks. She doesn't leak, but needs new interior varnish. Chris-Craft built these kinds of boats too, but other popular brands of the period were Century, Lyman, Cruisers Inc, T&T, etc.
We have a few other small boats (the garage no longer houses cars, only boats, motorcycles, and tools):
*1968 Hampton One Design - 18' wooden racing sloop native to Chesapeake Bay
*1960 Alcort Sailfish - 13'7" fiberglass "board-boat" that preceded the iconic Sailfish
*1978 Alcort Minifish - 11'7" fiberglass dinghy, baby-sibling to the Sunfish
*1980s-era canvas-on-oak kayak - 14' Greenland-style homebuilt scored at a yard-sale
*Assorted watercraft - old surfboards (9' turd, 6' foot shorty), paddleboards (12'), and an 8' plastic kayak from TJ Maxx
*When we travel to the water, a few of the smaller craft can fit into the powerboat so that the whole family has options.
*Wishlist to round out the collection - a wooden stand-up paddleboard, an old canvas-on-wood canoe, a Beetle Cat, and maybe a larger catboat or daysailer like a Watch Hill 15 or Wianno Senior.
