Happy Jack (of All Trades)

The inspiration for the Dunlin 22 came to me about 15 or so years back. It was a cold but calm November morning, and the night before, we had experienced a lively storm with lots of wind and rain. I had my little yard tugboat Godzilli and a high tide awaiting me. Quite often following these early winter storms, one can find good cedar logs (full tree’s branches and all). They are almost always free for the taking, as most landowners would have to pay day labor charges to have them removed from their waterfront homes.

I gathered up my son Mackenzie, who was 21 is a 16-foot boat with a shallow draft, a good tow bitt and a strong, high-thrust engine, almost ideal for the task. It was a great day of adventure: We ended up rescuing two neighbors’ boats that had drifted off their moorings; salvaged a section of a dock that had blown off its own mooring; and, at the end of the day, lashed onto a 60-foot cedar log that provided no boatbuilding lumber, but that did yield some nice siding for a small shop building we were constructing.