Design
Forest & Stream Skiff
Designed by Forest and Stream magazine
A small, sharp-bowed, flat-bottomed rowing skiff from a plan published in Forest and Stream magazine in 1890. The magazine did not credit a designer, and the drawing has long been free for anyone to build from.
The original is a little boat, under 8 ft. Gavin Atkin redrew it in 1997 and enlarged it to around 10 ft as free plywood plans, to be built either traditionally with internal chine logs or by stitch and glue, and that redraw is the version most builders use. Builders scale it to suit: one Swedish tender cut from two sheets of 4 mm plywood weighs about 23 kg without oars, and a German build stretched it to 12 ft with a small motor. Because the boats differ, no single length or beam is listed here.
What building a Forest & Stream Skiff actually takes
Medians from the build logs kept on this site, not the designer’s estimate.
Those medians firm up as more people log this boat.
Where the time goes
Hours summed per builder, then the median taken across builders, so someone who logs a step in fourteen short entries doesn’t outweigh someone who logged it in one. Example logs are excluded.
| Step | Median hours | Median spend | Builders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans & Lofting | 1.5 | n/a | 1 |
Builds of this boat
Boats like this one
Same type, closest in length.
| Design | Plans from | LOA | Logs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeaster Dory | Chesapeake Light Craft | 17′ 0″ (5.18 m) | 3 |
| 14 ft Rapid Robert | Roger Fletcher | 14′ 0″ (4.27 m) | 1 |
| 15' Rangeley Lake Boat | Newfound Woodworks | 15′ 0″ (4.57 m) | 1 |
| Passagemaker Take-Apart | Chesapeake Light Craft | 11′ 7″ (3.53 m) | 1 |
| Polliwog 8 | Devlin | 7′ 6″ (2.29 m) | 1 |
| The Guider | Chesapeake Light Craft | 18′ 7″ (5.66 m) | 1 |