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"Never to land on an island from a boat of one's own building,
is to miss one of life's great moments." -- Arch Davis
All plans from Arch Davis Design are backed by a free advisory service. If you have a question or a problem when you are building your Arch Davis designed boat, call 207-930-9873 between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm, including weekends, for advice from the designer.
Chris Sawyer, of Carmel Valley, California, whose boat appears below, sent some more photos. He writes, “We finally made it to the water and our Penobscot performed beautifully.” He describes the plans as easy to understand and use. He adds, “Your DVD and instruction manual answered all the questions that occurred during construction. I loved the project and as a result am now building a 16’ strip planked Cape Cod catboat. Thanks Arch for giving me the confidence and experience to undertake this new endeavor.”
Eben Marsh, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, recently launched his Sand Dollar. He sent these photos and comments.
Hein Olivier, of Brisbane, Australia, recently completed a Bay Pilot 18. The picture shows his boat ready to have the motor fitted. He will use a 60 HP Yamaha. He reports that it was, “a great project. I think that I will enjoy the end product just as much.” He has promised more photos when he gets the boat back.
Christopher Sawyer, of Carmel Valley, CA sent these photos of his Penobscot 14. He writes, “This project was finished last fall and I just realized that I had not sent you any pictures. I think the project was highly successful and I loved the process. Your plans and video were perfect and the building went without a hitch. I am so excited about wooden boat building that I am now working on a 16' Fenwick Williams's catboat. This on is now in the strip planking stage. The positive experience I had on your design gave me the confidence to go on to my next effort.
Robert Mason, of Gulf Breeze, Florida, sent these pictures. He writes, “My name is Robert Mason. I built Laughing Gull in 2004. She came out
great and has been set aside for grandchildren. I just finished The
Jiffy V-22 and I love this boat. She runs great! Yamaha 115 EFI, 3 blade 17. I am getting 35 mph 5800 rpm. She cruises at 25, turns in her own length and runs very dry. Thank you for two beautiful designs. I will send better pictures as they become available.”
Progress has been slow on the 30 ft sailboat we have been building – there always seems to be something else that needs doing. However we have at last been getting some planking on. Progress is good, when we do find the time. These photos show the laminated floors that will take the keel bolts, and support the mast step. We glued these together in place, took them out and ran them through the thickness planer to clean them up, then glued them back in place. They will give a lot a strength to a highly stressed part of the hull. It took some time to make them, but was quicker and easier to do at this stage, rather than after planking was completed and the hull turned over.
George Dix, of Zion, Illinois, launched his Penobscot 17 last summer. He recently sent some photographs, and a very detailed account of building his boat. Unfortunately there is not space to reproduce it all, but here are a few extracts:
These pictures came from Bruce Bowlen, of Dorset, Vermont, who launched his boat last summer. He writes, “I worked primarily during the winter months. This has been my most ambitious project to date. All in all it went very smoothly. The plans were most complete and thorough. With your building guide, the project was very doable even for someone with my limited experience.