What's new—and old—at Brooks Boats Designs
Glued-lapstrake wooden boats
designed by John Brooks
Glued-lapstrake wooden boats
designed by John Brooks
Welcome. We are John Brooks and Ruth Hill. John designed and built his first glued-lapstrake boat (a light, fast rowboat) in 1987, and we have been designing and building glued-lapstrake boats together since 1990. For more than a decade, we ran our own custom shop building our designs. During that time, we published plans for two of our boats, the 12' Ellen sailing dinghy and the 18' Peregrine fast picnic rowboat. Over the years, we have had many requests for plans for more of our designs. They are coming. We will be publishing new plans each year.
NEW Somes Sound 12 1/2 plans. The plans for the Somes Sound 12 1/2 (above) are here. Save $20 now in our Summer Somes Sound special! DETAILS. . .
Ellen and Peregrine plans. We sell full sets of plans for our very popular, capable and fun 12' Ellen daysailer and 18' Peregrine fast light rowboat. Each detailed set includes many full-sized patterns; no lofting is required.
The Book. If you would like a copy of our book, How to Build Glued-Lapstrake Wooden Boats, you can order one from us. We would be happy to sign it for you. Just let us know exactly what you would like when you order.
New direction, new shop, new site. We are shifting our main focus from custom building to design, writing, and teaching. In 2003, we closed shop and moved from Mount Desert Island to West Brooklin, Maine. We are now finishing the shop/studio building and expanding the office to take over what was our (very small) house. By next summer, we'll be fully set up here. We are thinking about keeping a small store for plans and books and related items, and may offer additional things that are harder (heavier) to mail for folks who wish to stop by. We'd like to carry things that help you build your boat; we'd love to hear what you would like!
Blog. We've added a blog to talk about plan updates, new design ideas, and more. John has piles of notebooks and rolls of drawings full of boat designs and ideas. These will be making their way into the blog, along with more details and discussions on our published designs and useful techniques for building our boats. Here's the link: www.brooksboatsdesigns.blogspot.com.
Family business. John Zhong Hill Brooks (Zhong Zhong), age five, joined us in November, 2006; his brother, Simon Ray XiaoTie Hill Brooks (TieTie), age eight, joined us in July 2008. Their sister Leigh, the baby who stayed little forever on our old site, is nine. Our office hours are somewhat flexible at the moment, but we are generally near the office phone between 8:30 and 3:00 during the week. Please leave a message if you miss us and we will call back. Email also works well, better in fact since we can get back to you at some of the odder hours of the day. Thanks!
NEW Somes Sound 12 1/2 plans. The plans for the Somes Sound 12 1/2 (above) are here. Save $20 now in our Summer Somes Sound special! DETAILS. . .
Ellen and Peregrine plans. We sell full sets of plans for our very popular, capable and fun 12' Ellen daysailer and 18' Peregrine fast light rowboat. Each detailed set includes many full-sized patterns; no lofting is required.
The Book. If you would like a copy of our book, How to Build Glued-Lapstrake Wooden Boats, you can order one from us. We would be happy to sign it for you. Just let us know exactly what you would like when you order.
New direction, new shop, new site. We are shifting our main focus from custom building to design, writing, and teaching. In 2003, we closed shop and moved from Mount Desert Island to West Brooklin, Maine. We are now finishing the shop/studio building and expanding the office to take over what was our (very small) house. By next summer, we'll be fully set up here. We are thinking about keeping a small store for plans and books and related items, and may offer additional things that are harder (heavier) to mail for folks who wish to stop by. We'd like to carry things that help you build your boat; we'd love to hear what you would like!
Blog. We've added a blog to talk about plan updates, new design ideas, and more. John has piles of notebooks and rolls of drawings full of boat designs and ideas. These will be making their way into the blog, along with more details and discussions on our published designs and useful techniques for building our boats. Here's the link: www.brooksboatsdesigns.blogspot.com.
Family business. John Zhong Hill Brooks (Zhong Zhong), age five, joined us in November, 2006; his brother, Simon Ray XiaoTie Hill Brooks (TieTie), age eight, joined us in July 2008. Their sister Leigh, the baby who stayed little forever on our old site, is nine. Our office hours are somewhat flexible at the moment, but we are generally near the office phone between 8:30 and 3:00 during the week. Please leave a message if you miss us and we will call back. Email also works well, better in fact since we can get back to you at some of the odder hours of the day. Thanks!
Brooks Boats Designs
831 Reach Road
West Brooklin, ME 04616
207-359-2491
brooksboatsdesigns@gmail.com
If you call, please leave a message if you don't catch us in the office and we'll call you back. We check messages and email regularly. Thanks!
BLOG: Brooks Boats Designs notebook
831 Reach Road
West Brooklin, ME 04616
207-359-2491
brooksboatsdesigns@gmail.com
BLOG: Brooks Boats Designs notebook
Want to build your own beautiful wooden boat?
You can! We're here to help.
You can! We're here to help.
