The Cheap Pages.

Cheap Guitars, Proas, Sailing Canoes, Chinese Lugsails,
Plywood Boats, Tube Amps, Wanda the Cat,
Odd Sails from Polytarp, This & That & Bamboo

This will be the new home of Craig O'D's Cheap Pages, migrating and reorganizing in the first half of 2007. Until then the old Cheap Pages are still at the old location at friend.ly.net.

Last revision: March 11, 2007.

The production values will still be Cheap, and the pages will be fast to load (no video, no macroflash-o'media), but with far more space and faster connections I will be able to add a lot of content that has been lurking on disk for a few years; and also I'll upgrade some of the existing images to link higher resolution versions.

The Author,
dadadata@friend.ly.net,
before becoming addicted to boatbuilding.

 

What's New, an Index and Links

 Made on many Macintoshes  

"Speaking of Craig O'Donnell.... To date I've avoided listing Internet addresses on the theory that there are plenty of search engines out there and plenty of engineers to run them without my having to get in the way. But Craig's "Cheap Pages" are a lode of most interesting material, including the text and drawings of Herbert Warington Smyth's Mast and Sail in Europe and Asia (1906) and Tiphy's Practical Canoeing (1883), and deserve to be mentioned and recommended..." (Peter Spectre, WoodenBoat, June 1999]

The Cheap Pages are indexed & searchable thanks to Picosearch.

Brian Platt's The Chinese Sail

Essay from circa 1960, never published in full, via Anthony Platt.

...the Proa MBULI Launched

John Harris gets his boat into the rather chilly waters of the Chesapeake.
Then we took it to Florida, but that's another story.

 

 

C. Bowyer Vaux: Canoe Handling

An overview of The Sport as practiced in the 1880s and 1890s by the ever-amusing Vaux.

 

 Junk Sail Tutorial

Vincent Reddish on making a (more or less) traditional Chinese sail. Sail geometries by Hasler, Van Loan, Colvin and illustrations of Asian sails by Audemard and such.

 

 

eBooks!

 

Cruises, Mainly in the Bay of the Chesapeake (1909)

The early days of yachting on the Bay.

 

Dictionary of Yachting Terms (Dixon Kemp et al, 1913)

Illustrated, but I'm still working on that part.

 

William Alden on The Flying Proa (1877)

Man bites dog and then invents Hobie Cat. From Harper's. A related article by William Alden: The Perfect Canoe.

 

John MacGregor: The Voyage Alone in the Yawl Rob Roy

Man sails Channel in a smallish yawl in the 1860s.

 

More MacGregor: Rob Roy on the Baltic

Excerpts from the book as seen in Harper's, 1867.

 

A.J. Kenealy: Boat Sailing in Fair Weather and Foul

State of the art for 1908, the last hurrah for yachting under sail.

 

...& in the works:

The yachty bits of Warington Smyth's Five Years in Siam (1898)

Obscure bits from C.P. Kunhardt's Small Yachts and Supplement

Rothrock: Vacation Cruising on the Chesapeake.
I'm running out of Chesapeake cruising annals...

The Cabin Boat Primer (1913)

Speakman: Beyond Shanghai. A river voyage by an artist.

Canoe Sailing E-Books:

 

Charles Neidé: The Canoe Aurora

Lake George to Pensacola via the Mississippi, 1882

 

 

Perry Frazer: Canoe Cruising and Camping

How-to guide, published 1885 and 1897

 

 

Frederic Fenger: Alone in the Caribbean

A sailing canoe among the islands, 1911; a legendary cruise; includes photos from the 1919 edition.

 

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Reefing Schemes for Battened Sails.

Text and drawings from C.B. Vaux, Canoe Handling (1885).

 

 

Canoe Sailing Resources 2005:

Canoe Sailing Resources - always being revised, but coming along and catching up with the backlog of great old stuff from magazines. The 2007 revision is due soon!

Short Boats:

More small boat-ism including scows, sneakboxes, skiffs, garveys and what-have-you. Articles from the late 1800s and early 1900s on how they did it then. Links! Graphics! Whoopee!

Plus More!

a special page about sampans: Cranks With Planks;
the Seaside Bateau of Maryland's Eastern Shore: Fassitt & Bateau;
a page of info for one-armed sailors: E.F. Knight.

 

Stuff About Junks

Bibliographical items; links to Yangtze Pelican builders; a great illustrated article by Andrade, plus an R/C model; info about Audemard's books; a rare junk photo: Keying or not? (Not, but certainly the type).

Gilbertese Canoe

- by Robin Drews (1945)

The best short description of a Pacific canoe I've found. Text and Figures. No rig; however, all the info for the akas and platform is right here.

 

Mast & Sail in Europe and Asia - the classic by H. Warington Smyth (1906)

Many sketches and pen and ink plates.

 

Practical Canoeing - by Tiphys (1883)

The legendary canoe sailing book by C. Penrose, aka "Tiphys". Text and Figures.

 

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American Proas, 1898-1998.
Umm, 2000... -n- 1. Yikes! 2003!

Articles, photos drawings from The Rudder -- the definitive early material. Plus proa projects from a bunch of us -- including Jim Michalak's stitch-and-glue plywood proa. For some non-American proas, see Gary Dierking's website. (Especially these two links: Tarawa and Toroa.) Don't ask me about my proas. I am indeed the world's slowest builder.

The Proa Word has been spreading and proa talk can be found at Proafile and also at Duckworks Magazine.

About the Cheap Pages: Index

Things that are cheap, and still fun.

This Page:	Links to:
Cheap Guitars	itself (it's only a hobby™)
Chinese Lugsails	Photos, including Keying Bibliography Tutorial Lessons from a Sampan Rig Geometry Sailcut 8 Web Link
Odd Sails from Polytarp	Gunter & Batwing Sails Tiphys, Kemp, Stephens, me Sharpie Sail How-To Balanced Lugsail How-To Sailcut 4 and 8 Web Link Photos
Plywood Boats	Bolger Boat Bibliography & Web Links Bolger Boat Honor Roll Some Phil Bolger Boats Build Bolger's Peero Bolger Pirogue 12 Plans   Some Jim Michalak Boats Marc Pettingill's Sweet Dream Dave Carnell's $200 Sailboat St Michaels Sailing Scow Plan Short Boats: Scows, Skiffs, Sneakboxes   Craig's Boat Models Knots: Constrictor Hitch & More DIY Cleats Bamboo Paddles Bamboo Kayak
Proas	The Proa FAQ & Web Links ProaBoat: About Proas ProaBoat: American Proas 1898-1998   Munroe Proa Plans Mary & Lamb Plans Bolger's Proa UBU, the Scow-Proa My Cheap Coleman Proa Gilbertese Canoes
Sailing Canoes	Practical Canoeing The Sailing Canoe Pages Web Link W.P. Stephens Web Link Reefing Battened Sails from C.B. Vaux Batwing Gunter Rigs Canoe Rigs from W.P. Stephens My Cheap Coleman Sailing Canoe
This & That & Bamboo	The American Bamboo Society Web Link Bamboo Links Tray Boat of Tai Wan Bamboo Rafts Vietnamese Basket Boat Fridtjof Nansen's Bamboo Kayaks Bamboo Kayak Plans Scientific Americans Links
Tube Amps	itself (another hobby) Traynor Tube Amp Schematics
Wanda the Cat	Wanda the Wonder Cat herself Trouser, Digit, Bert when I can find the photos

Other Cheap Spots, including Many Johns, a Dave, Tim, Clyde, Joe and Ken:

A huge, enormous and giant list of Nautical Links from John Kohnen.

 Small Boating Calendar - Who's Doing What Where.

 The Boatbuilding Community - Resources Galore.

 Shantyboats courtesy of Joe McWilliams. Build one today and get going!

 Eric Eldred's e-Book site, Eldritch Press.

 Eric's site for Nathaniel Bishop - of Sneakbox, Paper Canoe and Pampas fame.

 Ancestor Stuff: Seafaring Fassitts, Lifesaving Hitchens, and the Seaside Bateau.

 John's Cool Boats - Doodles and Designs from John Harris.

 Gary Dierking's Proas - great stuff.

 Reuel Parker likes sharpies, skiffs and junks.

He has got to be one of the hippest designers going. Wonderful boats on a very elegant page.

 Uncle John's Cajun Pirogues - Skiffs too - Possibly the Simplest Boat Kit Made.

and Mike talks about building and sailing his (tarp sail alert!)

 Jim Michalak's Web Site - Plans and Interesting Essays.

 John's Nautical Stuff & Old Steam Navy - from John Kohnen.

 The Paper Boat Page - Paper was High Tech Once.

 Build a Paper Boat - Paper was Low Tech Once.

Dr. Mark's reprint of an old article, and cruising medical info.

Voyage of the Paper Canoe - N.H. Bishop

 Sailing Canoe Page - Rob Hupfield's overview of organized canoe sailing and racing.

 Wooden Canoe Heritage Assn - old canoeing articles & misc. A great site.

 MAIB - Bits and pieces of Messing About in Boats magazine on the Web. Index too.

 Tim Webber's Scram Pram - a Michalak Design.

 Clyde Wisner's Bolger LILY - an Electric-Powered 15-foot Skiff.

 Dave Carnell's Home Page

- Dave hits cyberspace with info on epoxy, preservatives, plans and more.

 Cold Moulded Spars - Lay Up Carbon Fiber in Your Spare Time.

 PVC Cleats and other great cheap stuff from David Beede. Us Cheap Guys must

Stick Together.

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 The Amateur Yacht Research Society - Simon Fishwick's "unofficial" page & links.

 The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum - Well, it's nearby and very nice.

and CBMM Boat Plans - Order Some Today!

 Selway Fisher Design - Sailing Canoes and such.

 Penny - and other MacNaughton Designs boats with a junk rig.

 San Francisco Pelican - the smallest Junk Rigged Small Boat?

Cheap Guitars Tube Amps Proas Wanda the Cat Sailing Canoes Odd Sails Chinese Lugsails This & That Plywood Boats Made on a Macintosh