A Cabin Skiff Builder Shares His Story…

Stitch and glue boat building is touted by many as the preferred method of building for the first timer. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, this type of boat building is done by forming plywood panels around forms and then stitching them together.

Stitch and glue doesn’t require the fairing needed for plywood frame constructed boats. All of the pieces are patterned, including the planking, which makes it practically  fool-proof.

Another reason that stitch and glue building is suited to first time builders is because the boat actually looks like a boat quicker than with other methods. This arouses a certain amount of confidence and encouragement that helps with the motivation end of building a boat.

Ray Macke built our Cabin Skiff, a 16′ Cabin Cruiser built using the stitch & glue method.  Ray has taken his skiff, aptly named “Therapy”, down various intercoastal waterways totalling over 27,000 miles!  Our WebLetter has chronicled Ray’s adventures through his delightful stories describing his travels.

Ray’s website has been a tremendous help over the years to many a builder. He has detailed his building process making it the go-to site for many.

We were privileged to be able to talk to Ray at the 2009 Gathering of boatbuilders in Alabama and get a first hand view of his perspective of building a boat and what it has meant to him. Ray is an excellent craftsman and a genuinely kind man. Enjoy this short video and be sure and let us know what you think by posting a comment in the space below.

You can find other Stitch and Glue designs in our free online catalog. And you can learn more about this unique building method on our website.