Boat construction 

Panamá Yachting Services, James Laing, our experienced master shipwright, rigger, surveyor and former delivery captain, died in June last year.
 Below you can see some of his work.   We have two Walnuts for sale and the mould  for this fibre glass dinghy.

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The 'Walnut' dinghy

The Walnut dinghy is a stable load carrier - 9ft long and made locally in fibreglass. It can land on a surf beach, fits on top of a car or on deck and can be converted to sail.  

Its safety and stability were proven, when the original dinghy was rowed across Cook Strait - a rough stretch of water between New Zealand's North and South Islands.

The original dinghy, built in York Bay on Wellington Harbour lasted on York Bay beach for over 40 years. It was used to reach the family owned and built motor Sailor St Michael, moored in the Bay.  

And it was used as the motor sailor's dinghy when St Michael went to the Auckland Islands in 1972. It can be seen in the expedition photos with the voyage account.

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Wooden Boat magazines celebrated 'Whio'

Whio, an elegant New Zealand designed launch featured in Wooden Boat magazine in 2008.  Its designers, Peter Sewell and Bill Simpson had long held, that there is a place for combining the best of traditional launch design with modern materials, techniques and power sources. Their design won international accolades for its beauty and economy.

Light, trailerable and economical to run, she is a fore-runner of beautiful smaller boats, suitable for family or commercial use that do not cost a fortune to run.  

The boat can be taken by road anywhere and kept at home.  We built a slightly modified version of the Whio, for use in Panama. 

 And would love to build another to the original design and consider incorporating a steam engine - the original concept of her designers. Innovative and found of steam you can check them out here.