WD12 at MASCF

Since I'm not a commercial venture having to justify paying a crew of cold, tired workers to haul boats and wait for absent customers to show up during low 60's temperatures with gusty wind and incessant rain, unlike CLC I went to the first day of MASCF. I took my trusty 14 year old WD12 which turned out to be the perfect boat for the occasion.

It's light enough and uncomplicated enough that getting it ready to go required no special prep - just toss in the paddles, PFD, spray deck and flotation bag, put on the cover and put it up on the racks on the truck. The drive across the Bay Bridge was exciting with the cross winds but the boat stayed on. Unloading in St. Michaels was easy except for the wind that kept trying to blow the boat out of my hands. Eventually I found an angle that let me "tack" down the boardwalk to the ramp.

The inner harbor ranged from glassy to millpond smooth, but as soon as I got out from the sheltered areas things got exhilarating and out on the Miles River it was full small craft advisory. Here's where the WD12 design proved its worth.

The stability let me travel broadside-on to the waves. The maneuverability let me surf down the waves without worrying about broaching. And the shape of the hull kept me mostly dry even though I was going through the waves almost as much as I was riding over them going upwind. At the post-paddle sponge-out there was less than 1/4 cup of water in the boat even though I had not worn a spray skirt.

It'd been years since I'd used the WD12 in a small craft advisory and I'd forgotten how well it can handle rough conditions. Anyone looking for a fun, general-purpose boat should consider this design. It's stable, comfortable, easy to get in and out of and equally at home on a millpond or a choppy river during a small craft advisory. Congratulations to Eric Schade on creating a timeless, versatile and fun design and to CLC for making it available as an easy-to-build kit.

Laszlo


5 replies:

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RE: WD12 at MASCF

Laszlo you ought to buy yourself a GoPro camera. You could then 'take us along' w/o burdening yourself and your choice of watercraft with needless ballast.

RE: WD12 at MASCF

spclark,

Thanks for spending my money for me :-)

Seriously, I've had one for years and have taken videos. They're just not interesting enough to share.

Laszlo

 

RE: WD12 at MASCF

 

   Hey Laszlo, sorry I missed you. You must have been out on the water which I wasn't chancing in that weather. Brave Man! Braved it on land myself.

https://www.imagevenue.com/ME15L6LS

 

RE: WD12 at MASCF

So that was your boat. I thought I recognized it. I actually spent quite a few minutes looking at it. It's even more impressive in person than in the pictures. I've got a question about that deck. It looked and sounded more like plastic than wood. What's going on with that? Some kind of special finish?

Sorry I missed you.

Laszlo

 

RE: WD12 at MASCF

   @ Laszlo I get asked that a lot  " is this made of wood?"

Nothing special at all. Okoume glassed with epoxy painted with Pettit E Z poxy topside paint ( platinum) thinned 10 % with Penetrol rolled on ( no tip) 

it was originally stained with a portion faired due to a mishap when glassing thus the decision to paint. I was able to salvage some of the stained look on other parts as you can see. I actually think the color combo came out better than originally planned. Not ashamed at all to admit it came about by accident . Hey everything happens for a reason. 
 

https://www.imagevenue.com/ME15MVG8

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