HipBoats
Welcome to HipBoats
Our simple goal is to help more people enjoy small wooden boats.
Hi, I’m Norm, a Seattleite and lifelong small boat enthusiast, living most of the year in Greece, and slowly building a CLC Passagemaker on a small Aegean island.
As I plug away, I’ve been thinking about all the other boats I would love to experience but will never have the money to buy, or the time to build. I’m also wondering if I can find a stout rowboat for a little crabbing on my next trip home.
HipBoats is the result of those daydreams and aspirations, offering new ways to share, rent, sell, and buy wooden boats directly with your fellow small craft enthusiasts.
This is an experiment and I’m inviting you to join in.
I heard from the community time and again that the lack of insurance is a barrier to sharing or renting. Insurance companies offer solutions for peer-to-peer power boat sharing platforms like Boatsetter, but have shied away from small wooden hulls.
I’m working on that. One of the first things we need is at least 100 boats listed on the platform as possible rentals. That starts the conversation with the underwriters.
If you can help, please consider listing your boat. It only takes a few minutes and there is no cost or obligation. Update or remove at any time. If you have questions, please reach out and I will answer personally.
All the Best!
Norm
No cost, no obligation. A few minutes of your time.
The designs
As part of the platform we will be documenting as many designs as possible. Here are a few of my personal favorites. We will be adding more so please let us know what we should include.
SCAMP
SCAMP
John Welsford · 11′11″Caledonia Yawl
Caledonia Yawl
Iain Oughtred · 19′6″Passagemaker
Passagemaker
John C. Harris · 11′7″Which designs should we document next?