The recession may have diminished salaries and expectations, but it hasn’t killed the dream of boating for many people.

Recognizing that reality, marine publisher Mark Bunzel and boat designer and builder Sam Devlin have teamed up to offer an affordable option for boat ownership: a kit boat starting at $3,900.

The Candlefish 16 is a pointed bow open skiff with a lockable cargo hold and foam flotation to safeguard against sinking. Deep enough to be seaworthy in varying conditions, the boat was designed as a utility skiff that can be outfitted with an engine and used for anything from fishing to coastal exploring. And with a 5’9” beam and a weight of 325 pounds, the boat can be hauled by even a small car, Devlin said.

“I think of it as being like a small pickup truck,” he said. “It’s more of a utilitarian vehicle than a waterski boat or something like that.”

Bunzel, who showed the Candlefish 16 at the recent Seattle Boat Show, said while there are other companies offering boat kits, most are limited to rowboats no larger than 14 feet.

“We wanted something that had a bit more utility,” he said. 

The boats are built with stitch and glue construction, which uses wire sutures to hold together the panels of the boat’s plywood hull. Epoxy resin thickened with finely ground hardwood sawdust is applied to the seams, followed by fiberglass tape. When the seams are dried, the sutures are removed and the hull is sheathed in fiberglass.

The Candlefish kits, which can be purchased online, come with pre-cut wood and fiberglass panels, and all the materials needed to put the boat together. Also included are plans, a detailed instruction manual, the book “Wooden Boatbuilding with Sam Devlin” and three hours of technical support by phone. The hulls can be assembled in about six hours by one or two people, and sanding and finishing is estimated to take between 25 and 50 hours of work, depending on your standards.

Cruising on the Candlefish 16. Photo courtesy of Fine Edge Classic Kit-Built Boats.

The basic kit costs $3,900, with options such as a paint finish kit and an outboard motor package available at extra cost. If you want the boat built for you at Devlin’s shop, it’ll cost between $9,500 and $15,500, depending on trim and other features.

Bunzel and Devlin see the Candlefish 16 as a response to consumers who are looking for low-cost options as many pare down and redefine their values.

“It’s a return to basics,” Bunzel said. “The economy’s tough. People are cocooning. They want to pull things back in.”

Devlin said the economy has caused some people to scale back their boating fantasies, but not abandon them.

“I haven’t seen people quit thinking about boating or quit dreaming about boating,” he said. “But they have revised the dreams inward quite a bit. Instead of dreaming of getting a boat capable of going to Alaska, now they’re thinking, ‘Why am I thinking about that when I’m not even going on little day trips on the bay?’”

“I believe that in this new market, (boat) kits are going to be one of the few games that is going to make sense,” Devlin said.

The kits are a bit of a departure for both Bunzel and Devlin. A former technology and marketing executive, Bunzel purchased Fine Edge, an Anacortes-based publishing company, in 2002. The company specializes in nautical books, recreational guides and maps, and Bunzel said the addition of boats is a way of diversifying during a particularly challenging time in publishing.

Devlin, who started  Devlin Designing Boat Builders in Olympia in 1977, has long sold plans for his boats, but not kits. The Candlefish 16 is the first, and Devlin and Bunzel are now developing a kit for another of Devlin’s designs, an 18-foot power skiff modeled after the panga boats popular in Mexico, where Devlin’s wife is from. They are also working on several 21-foot versions of the same boat, which might include cabins.

The goal, Devlin said, is to determine what will most appeal to consumers in an ever-shifting market.

“In the marine industry, it’s a perpetual best-educated guess as to what the public wants and need and is willing to buy,” he said. “Boating is fairly dynamic as a market. A lot of what we’re doing is an attempt to sort of scattershot that and see what we can come up with that makes some sense.”

Editor’s note: This story is the first in an occasional series on affordable boating.