Arrowhead Custom Boats & Canoes

Great Lakes 2009 Build your own Wee Lassie Class

David — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:52:10 +0000

The Wee Lassie Class was a 10 day build your own boat class and at the end of the session two of the boats were put in the water and paddled before going home. All the boats were ready to have the final finish put on. The level of craftsmanship by everyone was amazing. All the boats were really beautiful examples of this great design……..This was a fun class to teach….actually all the classes I teach are fun classes to teach ……Look for a Video on Strip Built construction in the spring of 2010….

Pandion sails in the Les Cheneaux Islands

David — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:12:49 +0000

After launching in Lake Travis is Austin, TX PANDION was towed to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the Les Cheneaux Islands where she spent the summer while I taught at Great Lakes Boat Building School. I was able to sail her in a wide variety of wind conditions. The boat performed very well and proved herself to be Weatherly and sea kindly. The boat will sail through 100 degrees and makes no discernable leeway. Not bad for a boat that only draws 28 inches with the boards down. I found the boat tender to 10 degrees of heel and passed 10 degrees the boat stiffens up and in 15 to 20 MPH wind and no reefs I was not able to put the rail down. Light air performance seems to be good as well and the boat will ghost along in very light winds. It was a good summer sailing and a good summer teaching. Look for the book on building Pandion and her little sister in the Spring of 2010

Great Lakes Boat Building School Summer 2009

David — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:13:20 +0000

Starting on June 22 I’ll be teaching a sailing making class at Great Lakes Boat Building School in Cedarville, Michigan. We’ll Team build a 65 square foot gaff sail and then rig the skiff with the sail… a number of Boat building classes will follow. Look for more updates and photos!

WoodenBoat School September 2008

David — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:54:21 +0000

In September of this year I taught a “build your own boat” class at WoodenBoat in Brooklin, Maine. The class built 6 stitch and glue Voyagers and 1 stitch and glue Indian Girl in 5 1/2 days. As you can see from the photos the boats were basically ready to paint by the end of the 5 1/2 days. One of the students was in the 2007 class and wanted another Voyager. He did a great job in 2007 and a really great job this year. All the boats showed a high level of craftsmanship. Even the students that had very little boat building experince did a terrific job. The boats were all kits boats that can be purchased on this site.

Great Lakes Boat Building School Cedarville, MI 2008

David — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:46:01 +0000

Here are a few photos from this summer’s classes at Great Lakes Boat Building School. I taught a series of classes that included one day seminars, one week team building classes and build your own boat classes. It was a great time, the students were enthusiastic as well as talented and the Michigan’s Upper Penninsla is beautiful. I was very pleased to be teaching there again next summer. I’ll post the schedule for next year very soon.

Arrowhead Boats Profile on KLRU

David — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:42:38 +0000

Here is a piece that KLRU (Austin, Texas PBS station) did a few months back on Arrowhead Boats. Check it out!

Arrowhead Boatbuilding Kits Now Available!

David — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:09:45 +0000

We are pleased to announce that both our Stitch & Glue and Lapstrake boatbuilding kits are now available for purchase via this site. If you haven’t already, see how our templates make the difference!

» Indian Girl Stitch and Glue Kit
» Voyager Stitch and Glue Kit
» Kingfisher/Flyfisher Lapstrake Kit

David’s Latest Book Lapstrake Canoes Now Available for Purchase

David — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:32:15 +0000

We’re pleased to announce that signed copies of David’s second book, Lapstrake Canoes: Everything You Need to Know to Build a Light, Strong, Beautiful Boat, are now available for purchase via this website!

A lavishly illustrated guide to building a lapstrake canoe — with free plans for three canoes… Lapstrake boats are built by partially overlapping successive thin planks the length of the boat, to make a gorgeous shape that is lightweight, very strong, and stable. David Nichols makes “advanced” boatbuilding accessible to all ages and skill levels. He has written this book so that any highschooler with a bit of focus can build himself or herself a stunning canoe. Lapstrake Canoes is thoroughly illustrated with color photos and line drawings throughout, taking the reader step-by-step through every part of the process. The photos alone could teach you how to build a canoe. In addition, David Nichols’ written instructions are clear and deliberate, breaking down each job into a series of simple tasks, telling where to watch for common errors, imparting skills and good humor at every turn. He also includes free plans for three of his own canoe designs, ranging from 12 feet to 16 feet, plus plans for making your own paddle, and making a downwind sail. This book is an astonishing wealth of information and experience at your fingertips.

Portsmouth Maritime Museum

David — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:30:43 +0000

The Maritime Museum in Portsmouth is where Admiral Nelson’s Flagship, HMS Victory, is berthed. I took a picture of the deadeyes on HMS Victory because dead eyes are very useful on small boats as well…

They’re a great low tech way to deal with standing rigging. They can be complicated, like those on Victory or they can be simple like this system on a Standing Lug whaler also at the museum…

I liked the traveler on the whaler as well…

There were two other pieces of hardware that I also found I might want to duplicate at some point… The jib tack makes bending on the sail fast but what I liked best was the tiller arrangement… This clever system allows for the tiller to be removed quickly.

Next Bilge keels…

Notes from Greenwich, England

David — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:10:39 +0000

It would be hard, as a sailor, to come to London and not travel to Greenwich, home of the Prime Meridian… The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich covers a large area with a number of hands-on exhibits but I found the Observatory the most interesting… The exhibit on chronometers was fascinating… Really the main reason of this section of the trip was to stand with one foot in the Western Hemisphere and one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere… I only have a photo of the line as I was reluctant to hand my Nikon to a stranger to get a photo. On to Portsmouth!

The Prime Meridian in Greenwich, England

The Royal Observatory

Wind vane on top of the Royal Observatory

The view towards London from Greenwich.