Deer Isle Koster "KDI" Kit Version

Hull #3 of the KDI will soon be cut on the CNC machine and built. The computer model is a refined version of the first two built out west for designer Bruce Elfstrom. The modeling was done in collaboration with 3D CAD extraordinaire, Dan Clarke. We will keep folks posted as the first kit version is cut, built, and released to the market sometime this...

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A trip to sail the Deer Isle Koster aka, "KDI"

The Deer Isle Koster is a new kit that will hit the market by November. We are very excited aboutthis addition to the catalog. I finally had a chance to sail with the designer, Bruce Elfstrom, at his summer camp on Deer Isle in Maine. Bruce designed these boats for his daughters to sail. It is always wonderful to visit the provenance of a great design...

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New Stitch and Glue Dinghy

Congrats to Barbara Simon, the new owner of the Willard Beach Dory (WBD), a new stitch-and-glue dory skiff drawn by Roger Long who has retired and is off cruising. Roger left behind a few gorgeous designs for me to 'kit' and market as new boats, the (WBD) being one of them. The others are the YawlDory and a 16' Herreshoff-like double paddle canoe,...

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Small Reach Regatta Finishes in Drake Rowboat

This sail is right off a Shellback dinghy, but a new more efficient downwind rig is in the works when we aren't making other peoples' rigs!(photos by Christophe Matson in his Goat Island Skiff)My wife, Ellie Chase, and I finished up a fabulous 3 days of rowing and sailing in Drake along with almost 40 other boats ranging from 12 foot dinghies to 15...

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Sail rigs delivered, launched, and being shaped

Drop in Sail rig, ready to go with custom canvas sailbag.Yawldory Elyssa just launched. We built the masts and spars.Caledonia Yawl birdsmouth-hollow mast designed by Clint (giving the 'evil eye' above) and built in-house by Steven Bauer and the CY owner.One of our favorite projects is making birdsmouth-hollow masts and spars, but even more rewarding...

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Next Year's Family Boatbuilding Project?

A lot of people ask for a skiff that can take a motor.http://www.francois.vivier.info/albumsfr/sorine/sorine_moteur/index_fr.htmlhttp://www.francois.vivier.info/albumsfr/sorine/sorine_aviron/index_fr.htmlShe is a rowing/sailing/motoring skiff by Francois Vivier.What do you thi...

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Family & Corporate Boatbuilding

Some new photos up at my Flickr site for the two past corporate and family boatbuilding events at Mystic Seaport.One thing we love is that all our participants launch every boat on the third day and they always look great, the people and the boats! It is interesting that 29 boats were built at Family Boatbuilding and even out of the biggest group of...

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Family Boatbuilding at Wooden Boat Show

We (myself, Christophe Matson, Eric Risch the designer of the EBDS, and Steven Bauer) had a wonderful time guiding three wonderful families through the construction of 3 beautiful Echo Bay Dory Skiffs this past Friday through Sunday. The skiffs were all made from precut kits, allowing for the quick, efficient construction.Day 1 was assembling hull...

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Rowing & Sailing in France & Finland: Part 1

I recently returned from a wonderful 2 week business trip in Europe. The 'business' in France was to sail and better get to know Francois Vivier and his designs. I felt it was a good idea as his sole US and Canada kit agent and boatbuilder to better understand the cultural backdrop to his boats. I had also hoped to get on many of the that I carry in...

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Back to business: boat kits and complete boats

First off, I am now in 100% complete control of my Gmail account again. Someone in Egypt hacked in because I was not careful enough about protecting my password. Upgrade passwords and never have it on email anywhere! Learn from my mistakes. My email, boatkits@gmail.com, is completely safe, now.Pictured is a recent boat kit heading out of the shop...CNC...

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Goat Island Skiffs Rule

We have a new Facebook and Twitter presence!!!Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/clintchaseboatsLots of updates direct from boat show thanks to Chris Freeman and his social media prowess.Our Twitter iswww.twitter.com/clintchaseboatsThe Show is over. It was a great time and people loved the Goat Island Skiff. The message was clear: the GIS is about as much boat as you can get for the money/effort/time,...

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Maine BoatBuilders Show

Here is a boat moving in for the Show....it is that time of year again. The Maine Boatbuilders Show started Fri and tomorrow is day 3 already. This year has been a good show so far and tomorrow should bring even more interest. People are really intrigued by what I have to offer, a couple dozen truly unique boat kit designs most of which are available...

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Economics of Kit Building

I receive a lot of questions and comments regarding the true cost of building a boat from scratch, full size patterns, and kits. Since I track time and materials closely, I have found that building from kits makes a lot of sense from an economic stand point. I took some discussions with customers/potential customers and put together this PDF on the...

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New Blog by Francois Vivier

Francois Vivier, famous boat designer of France, has started a new blog. If you are using Google Chrome you can very successfully translate the page to English and read the text with little difficulty. Vivier has many designs that are not evident on his english website, mainly because he must translate all plans and building instruction to english,...

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