Marlin Bree

One of the first things you've got to do when building a boat is decide what you want to work with: concrete, steel, aluminum, fiberglass or wood. Of these, the ones least likely to be satisfying to work with are the first two: steel and concrete. Both are likely to be lead sleds in (more…)

You should build a boat slowly, with love. Never rush a job. You'll only be sorry if you do later on. Have a goal of being a satisfied craftsman who learned something for his work.

When I began building Persistence, I thought it would be easy to build a hull, even though I had not done it before.One mail-order boat plan outfit said I could build this hull in three weeks. Close. Only seven years later, I had the boat done and in the water.

Most wanta-be boatbuilders have stars in their eyes figuring that if they build their own hull that they'll save a lot of money. Actually, the hull on Persistence cost only about 20 percent of the total amount I spent getting my little 20-footer in the water.

"You made my winter," writes Joyce from West Point, Iowa. It turns out that she read my story, Legacy of the Old Fishing Guide, in an Ensign magazine. Joyce and her husband Harold Dahlgren, used to go out fishing with the old guide Ray Kenney, of Rossport, Ontario. I met him while I was (more…)

I take pride in keeping my friends about me even if I no longer boat with them. Friends from a chance encounter on far-away island, or even a local harbor or marina, stay with me and share information and I count them as an honored part of my author's circle. A circle of friends (more…)

My great armchair adventure, The Last Battle of the Grampa Woo, seems to have caught the fancy of BWI judges who presented this five-page Ensign presentation a First Place Award in the 2009 writing contest. I'm very pleased since this was my favorite story. I sailed out of the same harbor as the Woo and (more…)

Wow. I was just mousing through Amazon.com's pages when I came across my book, Wake of the Green Storm: A Survor's Tale (Marlor Press, 2001). Not only does Amazon have a Look Inside the Book feature, but it also has snuck it onto its Kindle e-book. I'm delighted, because this is the first of my books to be Kindle-ized. The trade paperback sells for $13.95, but in Kindle format it goes for $9.95 (price set by Amazon). I'm wondering how the two-page drawings, charts and maps (I hate books without maps and such) will all turn out on Kindle format. Maybe I'll have to re-read this favorite of mine, even if I gotta pay for the Kindle version.

Now that the judging is over, all that remains is for Boating Writers International to announce the prize-winning writers for 2009 at the Miami Boat Show, coming up February 12. I've entered a few of my favorite stories--you can almost guess which ones from the ones I have posted here. I cross my fingers and my toes as well, hoping the writing judges liked the articled as much as I did writing them. But one never knows, do one?

Got a new Kindle...and it's absolutely great! I'm still learning how to use it...this takes a while. While books come across just fine, I don't think the e-delivery of magazines will compete with the real thing. Just can't get that quality--and color.