The Catspaw Dinghy is Joel White’s 12’8” version of the famed Herreshoff Dinghy Columbia. Catspaw is a carvel planked with 1/2” cedar over steam-bent oak frames, and copper rivet fastened.

The beauty of this book is that the construction bugs have already been worked out of the designs. Plans, step-by-step instructions, material lists photographs and detailed diagrams.

Greg Rossel grew up cruising the waters of New York Harbor and spending time in the boatyards on the south shore of Staten Island where economics (more than anything else) made wooden boats the craft of choice. He makes his home in Maine where he specializes in the construction and repair of small wooden boats, as well as writing for several publications. Greg has been an instructor at WoodenBoat School in Maine since the mid-1980's, teaching lofting, skiff building, and the "Fundamentals of Boatbuilding".

Richard Kolin has been building boats for 25 years. He has designed and built skiffs for both plywood and plank construction.

You'll enjoy this? part story, part boatbuilding manual of a small, beetle-cat-like boat, from a legendary designer with probably more of his creations built than any other person. You'll find out not only how the boat is built, but also how the design came to be from someone with a (long!) lifetime of fooling around with boats. As told from Toad's Landing, on an island off British Columbia, it becomes quite apparent that whimsy and fun are not limited to young boys and girls. The first thing you may notice about Tom Cat is the handsome cuddy. The next thing to realize is she is constructed with a combination of the traditional-plank-on-frame (carvel) and modern-epoxy for the seams. The result is a rugged boat which doesn't require the swelling of planks, or the recaulking of seams in the years to come. If you are just too pure a traditionalist for epoxy, of course you can plank and caulk.

Step-by-step boatbuilding in the Herreshoff tradition. This is Joel White's keel/centerboard variation of the famous Herreshoff 12 1/2. Each step in this unique process is carefully explained and illustrated. This book, in combination with detailed construction plans, provides a thorough guide for advanced amateurs. No lofting is required.

This is a story told in pictures about what it mmeans for a craftsman to work in a way which connects him to a lager living tradition which he wants to continue and preserve. The story is about what makes some handcrafted wooden boats feel as if "something more" was built into them. Something more than all of the combined materials and different pieces and parts. It's "something more" that can only become part of the build if the craftsman works with his heart as well as his head and hands. When he works with a love of his craft, he gives the boats he builds a timeless sense of value which can be appreciated for generations to come.