My quest for the ideal sailing skiff started two years ago. I wanted a sailboat that I could easily handle by myself. It had to be big enough to handle the waters of Puget Sound and Lake Washington, yet small enough to launch and sail in small local lakes. It had to be both an excellent sailing and rowing boat. I wanted to build a boat myself for quite some time, but since it was my first attempt at boatbuilding, I wanted a boat that was easy to build. I wanted a boat that had a classic, antique look about it, but it also had to have good performance. After a lot of searching, I finally came across the Melonseed and the Seaford Skiff. I knew that was the type of boat I wanted. When I discovered that Devlin sold plans for a stitch and glue version of these types of boats, I was hooked.

Construction of my Zephyr took about 4 months of evenings and weekends, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I used marine grade mahogany plywood for the hull and deck, and Douglas fir for all the spars and trim. I left the entire inside of the boat bright. Riding inside of it feels like you're surrounded by mahogany. I used lead shot from a local gun shop for centerboard ballast. I made the mast from a Douglas fir 4x4 by building a router lathe.

I made a few minor modifications - mostly cosmetic. I used a sprit pole for the boom for simplicity. I left off the keel strip on the bow, made the cockpit trim parallel to the side of the boat, and I trimmed some material from the middle bulkhead for a little more space.

I bought my sail from DuckworksBBS.com. They did an excellent job on it. I bought my boat trailer from Harbor Freight. It fit the boat perfectly after raising the pads a bit.

Every time I launch the boat it draws a crowd of admirers. The boat is fast, stable, and tracks straight as an arrow. Thanks, Sam, for designing my dream boat.

Contact Joel Bergen (jrbergen@verizon.net)