You can pay money for dry bags to store gear in when canoeing, kayaking or sailing. Or pay even more for buoyancy bags that keep you boat afloat after capsize.

Here Ian tells us how we can make our own cheaply.

Thorne (aka David Luckhardt) is well known in both wooden boating and historical recreation circles (particularly those involving gunpowder).

He normally lurks around San Francisco, but on this occasion had driven up to Timothy Lake underneath the summit of Mount Hood.

I had the chance to interview him while sailing on Lake Timothy in Oregon.

I have already put extensive comments on my flickr gallery. http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik/sets/72157622510542194/ So let’s introduce the participants and the boats!  They gathered in the afternoon. People as far away as Texas, California and Australia (me).  Not a huge number, this cruise works well with up to around 12 to 15 boats.  A huge thanks to Jim [...]

Well a mind-boggling day today. Set is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik…7622312609441/ Some of the “Coots” boating group organised a joint trip for four of us to Astoria (named after the Astor Family who made their money in the fur industry a couple of hundred years ago. We got up early and went to meet Long 龍 at [...]

First we had a computer drawing Then pics of a mock up model Now we have pics from American where one is being built by some young people as part of the Compass Project organisation’s Classes. Often I am quite surprised by the actual appearance of a boat over what I expect. This plywood rowboat [...]