I have to admit something…I would have normally started off this newsletter by talking about the harsh February weather and how we survived here in Downeast Maine. How March is here and I can see grass for the first time in a while. However, like a lot of people on the peninsula, I ran and hid in warmer climes with my family. Don’t worry, work continued on making 2025 a successful year at WoodenBoat School, but with a different view.
While away, I thought a lot about the time spent with family on vacation and which parts of a trip make it memorable. What are the things that may stick in the corners of our minds? Things that we would talk about when my kids are adults themselves. For me it’s a good meal…sitting down and enjoying time together at the end of a day. For one of my daughters, I know it’s the experience of something new. And for the other, it’s an activity done together. Last, but not least, my wife just wants to hear the ocean hit land.
When I look at the list of things that make a good vacation for us I doubt we are unique in any way…it seems universal. It is with this list in mind that we designed the Family Boat Building course happening this August. It will check all those boxes and more. I hope you read Joe Youcha’s content below and how he’s prepping up to offer a new Joel White design for families to build together by trying it out at a high school in Virginia.
I know that a week at WoodenBoat School dining, playing, and experiencing new things together would be something everyone talks about in the future. If there are questions, please give us a call. We always have time to talk about wooden boats and how we can get you building or on the water.
I look forward to seeing you on campus.
Michael Gorman
Director, WoodenBoat School
Alumni Launchings
Ned Hill
From Nick Schade’s Fine Strip-Plank Boat Building course in 2017. Finished over four summers using a 20′x12′ party canopy as my workshop. We live in Deer Isle, Maine. The guide boat can be seen on the Lily Pond.
Erik Parker: ROBINSON CANOESO
I took the Sassafras 16 canoe course in July of 2022, with my brother-in-law David White assisting. A fun class and excellent instruction by George Krewson! Completed the boat at home in my NH garage by Veterans Day, with a maiden voyage on Robinson Pond in front of our house. David insisted all home-built boats deserve a name.
Thank you for all the submissions! We will highlight two every newsletter.
Have you completed a WoodenBoat School project at home or built a boat of your own? Send us a photo at school@woodenboat.com and we’ll include it in our next newsletter.
Family Boat Building: The Genesis of the Preacher Skiff
Back in the early to mid 1990s, Joel White started working on a design for a simple skiff to be built out of two sheets of unscarphed plywood. His client was a minister in nearby Ellsworth, Maine, who wanted to be building boats with kids. Joel shared a copy of this design with me before he passed away in 1997. After losing and rediscovering the plans, this winter seemed like the time to flesh out the design and build the boat.
Naturally, it needed to be built by young people. In a conversation with Michael Gorman from the WoodenBoat School, I went out on a limb and said we could try building this design with families at the school this summer. Brooklin was Joel’s hometown, and it seemed fitting.
I did add the caveat that we needed to build one first before we use this design for a family boat-building class. I enlisted the help of Kyle Godfrey, an excellent carpentry and architectural drafting teacher at my local high school Career Center in Arlington, Virginia. He agreed to help and use the boat as a project for his Carpentry 2 students. The digital arts instructor at the school, Tom O’Day, also agreed to have his students photograph and video the build.
Using measurements on the existing plan and CAD software, Kyle turned the photograph into an inch to the foot drawing. I then hand-drew 3 inch to the foot plants, from which I built models of the boat and the building mold.
It’s possible this boat could be built without molds and just over braced frames, but small boats have a lot of shape, especially at the bow. I didn’t want to figure that one out on the first boat—especially in front of a class of carpentry students. A model was then constructed, and the boat is currently underway.
Nine students have lofted her and are currently building the building mold. They’re doing a good job, working accurately and correcting mistakes in the drawing and offsets.
In my experience, when building a boat, some young people go through a four-step process:
Step One: “We can’t build a boat!”
Step Two: “Well, it’s not going to float.”
Step Three: “I’m not going to get in it.”
Step Four: When the boat is launched, they’re having such a good time they won’t get out of it, even when it has to come out of the water and go back into the shop!
The doubters in this group have progressed from Step One to Step Two. I’ll check in again to let you know if we reach Step Four.
We’ll catch up with Joe in a future newsletter. Until then, click here for information on this year’s Family Boat Building Course.
Instructor Spotlight: Dan Miller
Dan Miller has spent a lifetime building,restoring and studying canoes. This summer he will be teaching a wood and canvas canoe restoration class at WoodenBoat School for the first time. In addition to working with his hands, Dan also is the founder of the online Wooden Canoe Museum.