We’ve become very interested in lightweight, fuel-efficient power multihulls. Slightly Dangerous is a 26’ plywood commuter cat for the San Juan Islands, from Bieker Boats, built by the owners, Gordy and Judy Cole.
Slightly Dangerous is not a kit boat really, but all the plywood and foam parts were NC cut for easy assembly. The hulls are 9 and 6mm Okoume ply, finished off at the bow with a foam crash-box. The deck is 3” blue foam with…
One topic on everyone’s lips at the PT Wooden Boat Festival this year is the Race to Alaska, a sail/row/paddle race from PT to Ketchikan, AK sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Center, and promoted by our friends at Smallcraft Advisor. It’s a 750 mile “Aquatic Iditarod” with no rules except no engines allowed but muscle and wind. First prize is $10,000, and there is no second.
The start is set for June 4, 2015, which is a notoriously…
Seeing a Stiletto catamaran in 2014 always causes a “what the hell happened?” moment. The Stiletto was launched in 1975, the first (and possibly the last) production boat moulded in an autoclave of prepreg epoxy fiberglass/kevlar over a Nomex honeycomb core. This was aerospace tech for the middle class, and the multihull future looked bright indeed back in the 70’s. The styling was pure aerospace as well, and the boat stoked my teenage…
This photo of a top hatted Victorian era gentleman sailing a catamaran named “Duster” by the San Francisco waterfront has recently come to the attention of the internet. After some initial uncertainty as to its vintage, the craft is now known to date from 1894, as in that year it participated in sailing regattas run at Sausalito, California by the San Francisco Yacht Club.
Unfortunately, beyond its name, not much more is known.…
Here is a 17’ Balinese double outrigger canoe available in Victoria, BC, Canada. From the seller:
17’ Balinese Jukung can be sailed or paddled. This is a very rare opportunity to own an original imported hand made Bali double outrigger dugout canoe with a large carrying capacity & great stability and speed in the ocean. Add a small motor for more versitality. Can be disassembled for transport. This a beautifully sculpted Natural…
Every year in September, Port Townsend turns itself into a virtual Victorian seaport bristling with wooden masts, steam funnels, pirates, boatbuilders and sailors, the smell of tar, varnish and frying cod, and thousands of tourists soaking it all in. The odd multihull is occasionally found nestled between the ratlines and the bow sprits… this is what I saw this year.
The only “multihull” to claim bonafide antique status was the 16’…
Pacific Voyagers Charitable Trust is an NGO that builds sailing vessels that only an NGO could build. Neither the market driven yachting industry or corporate sponsored racing could even conceive of boats as cool as these, let alone build a fleet! This is Rangi, the second of the Vaka Motu line of inter-island cargo, passenger, and fishing double canoes. Intended not as a reproduction of prior art, the Vaka Motu imagine the future. The…
Luca Antara is a new 20m (65’-6”) proa nearing completion in Sagres, Portugal, and will be ready for sea trials early 2015, according to the owner and builder, Robin Warde. The hulls are strip-planked western red cedar sheathed in fiberglass both inside and out, with extra carbon fibre strengthening where required - mostly around the masts - but also around the beams. Most of the rest of the boat is built of foam. She features a…
