Steve Smith of Restharrow Boatworks

Some builders finish one boat and call it a life's work, but TotalBoat customer Steve Smith is on his eighth, with a ninth already sketched out.

Steve retired in 2008, and by most measures that would have been a fine place to stop and put his feet up. Instead, he headed into the shop at Restharrow Farm and Boatworks and kept building, one small boat after another. He'd already gotten a head start before retirement, having built a strip-built Nymph double paddle canoe back in 1998. Once he had the time to build in earnest, he never really slowed down.

Boatbuilding runs in the family. Steve's brother built full-size schooners, Eastwind and Appledore among them, seven in total, and sailed two of them around the world. It's the kind of family history that either intimidates you out of picking up a plane and a chisel or convinces you it's worth a try. Steve chose the latter.

Eight Boats and Counting

Here's the lineup, in order:

• Nymph double paddle canoe (1998) — his first build, strip-planked, completed before he'd even retired.
• Nutshell Pram (2000) — a small, simple dinghy that's become something of a rite of passage for new builders.
• Cosine Wherry (2011) — his first strip-built wherry, a sleek rowing design.
• Tandem Kayak (2014) — a strip-built double kayak, built to a Guillemot Kayaks design.
• Somes Sound 12½ (2016) — a John Brooks–designed sailing daysailer that took roughly 2,200 hours to complete, by Steve's own count one of his most involved projects.
• Beach Pea (2024) — a small sailing model, proof that even after two decades of building, Steve was still drawn to trying something new.
• Cosine Wherry (2026) — his second go at the wherry, strip-built again, this time with everything he'd learned since the first.

Next up is a Shellback Dinghy, which will bring his total to nine.

The Cosine Wherry fresh off the trailer

A look at the Wherry's interior joinery

Building Philosophy

Steve sums up his approach to boatbuilding simply: don't let your dreams be intimidated by the reality of doing. It's a good line for anyone eyeing a set of plans and wondering if they're really up to it. Steve's answer, demonstrated eight times over, is that you find out by starting.

Every one of his builds has relied on TotalBoat epoxy and finishing products, from the strip-planked hulls to the finish coats that make boats like the Somes Sound 12½ and the Beach Pea gleam on the water. That kind of consistency across eight builds and nearly three decades says a lot about trusting your materials once you've found what works.

You can see more of Steve's work, including build photos and progress shots from RestHarrow Boatworks, on his Facebook page.

Somes Sound 12½ under sail on Lake George

Have a Boat Story of Your Own?

We love hearing from builders like Steve who keep coming back to the shop, boat after boat, decade after decade. If you've built or restored a boat with TotalBoat products and want to be featured in a future Customer Spotlight, we'd love to hear about it!