The Skerry, by Chesapeake Light Craft, first appeared in 2001. It’s a 15-foot double-ended wooden boat that has that rare quality of being as good at sailing as it is at rowing. Technically the design is most closely related to the round-sided dories of New England. But when we rolled out the production version it had acquired a strong Scandinavian flavor in look and feel, and we named it the “Skerry,” an old Norse word whose meanings include…”small boat.” 

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Skerries have been built on every continent except Antarctica. Some have undertaken long expeditions, but most are used for daysailing and exercise. There are three rig choices: a very traditional "sprit" rig, a high-powered sloop rig with jib and mainsail, and a "balanced lug" rig. The latter is by far the most popular, so that's how we've rigged our scale model.

This scale model of the Skerry is built just like the full-sized version, at 1/8th scale. Construction follows the same sequence as the full-sized version, so much so that you could probably use the original's instruction manual to build the model. The major difference is that the model requires no fiberglass and epoxy work! Nevertheless, we found that the assembly process was very similar at full and one-eighth scale. It's a great practice run for any of CLC's larger stitch-and-glue kits. This is a display model, not intended for pond or bathtub.

Videos: Scale Model Skerry

Wayne The Boat Guy Builds a Skerry Model