Serenity - CLC Passagmaker 22 entries, 128 photos Back to the log

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new build

Serenity - CLC Passagmaker

Passagemaker Take-Apart

Gregory · 2025 to 2026

A build log

Serenity - CLC Passagmaker

Passagemaker Take-Apart

kept by Gregory

2025 to 2026

The boat

Passagemaker Take-Apart

Designer: John C. Harris
Plans from: Chesapeake Light Craft
Length overall: 11′ 7″ (3.53 m)
Beam: 4′ 8″ (1.42 m)
Construction: lapstrake plywood
Started: 11 November 2025
Launched: 19 January 2026
Built by: Gregory

With so many cruising boats carrying similar gray inflatable dinghies, I wanted something with its own character. S/V Kopelia is our personal home; her tender deserved the same care. Between November 2025 and January 2026, I built Serenity from a Chesapeake Light Craft Passagemaker Take-Apart kit. Her design is practical, too. She separates into two sections so we can stow her on deck during long passages. From the wood finish to her name sweeping across the transom, Serenity is another part of our life afloat made personal by hand.

What it took

By the numbers

Days written up

128

Photographs

128

Words written

The work

01 Hull Panels Dec 2025

Chapter 01

Hull Panels

Scarfing plywood, cutting panels, milling strips or planking stock.

1 day from December 2025

15 Dec 2025 Hull Panels

So it begins

Two big boxes full of parts and pieces.

17 Dec 2025

Photos from Wednesday 17 December 2025.

Passagemaker Take-Apart, under construction — Photo 1

19 Dec 2025

Photos from Friday 19 December 2025.

20 Dec 2025

Photos from Saturday 20 December 2025.

21 Dec 2025

Photos from Sunday 21 December 2025.

22 Dec 2025

Photos from Monday 22 December 2025.

24 Dec 2025

Photos from Wednesday 24 December 2025.

25 Dec 2025

Photos from Thursday 25 December 2025.

27 Dec 2025

Photos from Saturday 27 December 2025.

28 Dec 2025

Photos from Sunday 28 December 2025.

29 Dec 2025

Photos from Monday 29 December 2025.

30 Dec 2025

Photos from Tuesday 30 December 2025.

1 Jan 2026

Photos from Thursday 1 January 2026.

2 Jan 2026

Photos from Friday 2 January 2026.

3 Jan 2026

Photos from Saturday 3 January 2026.

7 Jan 2026

Photos from Wednesday 7 January 2026.

14 Jan 2026

Photos from Wednesday 14 January 2026.

15 Jan 2026

Photos from Thursday 15 January 2026.

18 Jan 2026

She rows beautifully. Even in the wind she tracked straight and true.

19 Jan 2026

Photos from Monday 19 January 2026.

6 Oct 2026

Mounted on the foredeck

The two halves sitting on the foredeck. The smaller forward section fits under the boom between the mast and cockpit. The larger section fits on the foredeck between the mast and bow