Mast Building
Dave Lucas

$20, 15#, and not a birdsmouth

Salt on the Sound
Scott Brumenschenkel

A brisk sail in a melonseed

2nd Trip to Key West (12/12)
Mike Wick
Kevin and Mike do it again

JACKAROO, a Haven 12 ½
Mick Wick

Mike adds another to his fleet.

Small Boat Sailing in the 20th Century
Key West to the Dry Tortugas
Mike Wick

Read about their voyage in a open 15' Marsh Cat

Key West to Dry Tortugas Voyage Log

Modeling, not just for kids
Steve Brookman

An article about modeling as it relates to boat building past and present.

(click here for the article)

Total 100% Opposites
David Lucas

Here are two boats built on the same mold with about 200 years difference in technique and materials. One is the most beautiful boat I have ever seen and the other, we'll see.

Read the article in Duckworks magazine about building in styrofoam

Post from the other Coast: A visit to the Graveyard of the Pacific
Steve Brookman

A visit to the Oregon coast and Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria.

Jury Rig
Mike Wick

Mike's adventure in his melonseed, PEPITA, with a substitute rig doesn't work out at planned.

Read about it in his Jury Rig article

Building a Melonseed or any boat the fast and easy way
Dave Lucas

Dave shows how you how to build a complicated, fancy hull really simple and fast. With additional tips and photos added 5/14

Read the article

The Matinicus Island Double-Ender
Jim Luton

Reprint from Ash Breeze Summer 2009

The Library of Congress
Research Centers

BOATBUILDING DOCUMENTATION
IN THE ARCHIVE OF FOLK CULTURE

In the archives of the American Folklife Center is a collection of mostly sound recordings documenting interviews with traditional boatbuilders. These are available on tape or cassette. Here is a selection of interest to builders:
AFS 22,155-22,157 Seven inch tapes of railbird hunting on the upper Chesapeake.
AFS 22,418 A4 22-421A3 Wartime shipfitting in Baltimore.
AFS 22,132A9 Canal and gunboats on Lake Champlain by Frank Winans
AFS 7207B 7312A1 12 inch discs of how burchbark canoes were made by Indians in the old days, spoken by former Micmac Chief, William Paul.

The Joy of Sharpies
John MacBeath Watkins

The following was written for the benefits of students taking a class in sharpie sailing at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle, Washington. The class is taught in a New Haven sharpie and an Egret replica. Read the article

Punt Guns
Mike Wick

If you were to review the Crawford Melonseed website, you might not think right away about shooting ducks, most of them are more concerned with more peaceful pursuits, but that was the original purpose of the melonseed....Read the article