Ahoy, boaters! Welcome to yet another boating blog, this one focused mainly on small-craft cruising and boatbuilding on the canals and lakes of Ontario, Canada.

Many folks- like us- love the water, but have land-based commitments (you know, jobs and things like that) that prevent us from sailing off to the sunny south. That's OK- there are plenty of interesting places to cruise right here in Canada, many of which can be explored in a weekend (or perhaps a long weekend... or a week).

Our current flagship is Sunset Chaser, a five-metre runabout designed by Phil Bolger and built by Matthew B. Marsh. In the shop is the prototype of the Marsh Design Starwind 860 power trimaran, which we are building to extend our cruising grounds.

On The Water

Photos, ramblings and the occasional bit of useful information from our voyages aboard the runabout Sunset Chaser and other small boats.

Get Rid Of That Damn Kellet

Submitted by Matthew on

Kellets – those chunky cast-iron weights intended to be tied to the middle of the anchor rode – still exist, somehow, despite being useless (at best) or downright dangerous (at worst). Here's why yours deserves a date with the scrap bin.

Weekend Warrior Cruising

Submitted by Katy on

A lot has changed in life over the last several years. Getting out on the boat became a fair bit harder with the addition of one child, and then a second. Then there's owning a country property that was too small to start, so we added one addition...then a second. Both of which are nearly complete.

Of Booze And Boats

Submitted by Matthew on

I've seen an awful lot of ridiculous, idiotic, dangerous things out on the water. A remarkably large number of them seem to involve booze.

Regrets

Submitted by Matthew on

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In The Shop

Dispatches from the shop: Progress reports on our boat building projects, plus some useful information for those of you who are building, restoring or repairing your own boats.

Epoxy & Fibreglass in Winter

Submitted by Matthew on

It's still winter up here in the great frozen wilds of Ontario. That doesn't mean that boatbuilding has to come to a complete stop. We can, with a few tricks, turn ice-cold epoxy into something usable.

And Then There Were Two (Hulls)

Submitted by Matthew on

141214-200007-8151s.jpgThere's still a long way to go, but now it *looks* like two-thirds of a trimaran!

Epoxy on skin? Use vinegar.

Submitted by Matthew on

Wet epoxy is pretty hard to clean up, particularly if you get it on your skin.

The easy solution? White vinegar. Rub the epoxy-contaminated skin with a vinegar-soaked paper towl for about 30 seconds, then wash normally with soap and water.

The vinegar arrests the curing reaction and loosens the bonds that are starting to form, allowing you to easily wash the soft epoxy away.

Compound curvature in plywood

Submitted by Matthew on

Conventional wisdom says that plywood can't take compound curvature. That it can only be bent into conically developable sections.

That's not entirely true. The Starwind 860's amas have a bit of compound curvature, particularly in the forefoot. Here's how we create it.

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