About Ply Seas
Build boats. Go places. Tell the story.
Ply Seas is a home for people who like to make their own boats and actually use them—from backyard skiffs and camp cruisers to sharpies, dories, canoes, and more. It's a place to document the messy middle, celebrate the launches, and share what happens once the boat leaves the driveway.
This isn't a glossy yacht magazine. It's for the builders, tinkerers, experimenters, explorers, and anyone who loves smart, simple boats.
What you can do on Ply Seas
Document your builds
Create a Build Log for your boat, organize it into chapters, and post updates with photos, notes, and videos. Show your mistakes and breakthroughs, not just the final glamour shot.
Share your adventures
Log your days on the water in the Adventures section: upload GPX tracks, write the story, add photos, and (if you have them) embed YouTube videos. Think of it as a logbook that's seriously fun to read.
Explore boats and designs
Browse real boats from the community, linked to the designs they're built from. See how different builders interpret the same plans, and discover new designs to fall for and the designers who created them.
Learn from resources & columns
Read how-to articles, tips, and deeper dives on materials, techniques, and design thinking—plus columns and perspectives from designers and experienced builders.
Why Ply Seas exists
There's an incredible amount of small-boat wisdom scattered across old forums, mailing lists, half-broken blogs, and social media threads that vanish down the timeline.
Ply Seas exists to:
- Give boatbuilding its own dedicated space
- Make long-form build documentation easy and enjoyable
- Keep classic and modern designs visible and searchable
- Document adventures and see people get out on the water with the boats they build
Who's behind it?
Ply Seas is built and maintained by Sean McCambridge, a designer, developer, and small-boat tragic based in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
Sean has:
- Rescued and archived the Phil Bolger Yahoo Group and Jim Michalak's original website
- Built, sailed, rowed, and restored a rotating fleet of (mostly) plywood boats
- Spent way too many evenings digging through boat ads thinking, "This one deserves a home."
Ply Seas is his attempt to build that home—a long-term, community-driven archive of boats, builds, adventures, and ideas.
What's next?
Over time, Ply Seas will grow to include:
- Better search and tagging across boats, designs, and stories
- More tools for designers to share plans and insight
- Ways for events, messabouts, and races to plug into the platform
- Gentle, sustainable ways to support the project and the community
If you're building a boat, dreaming about one, or have stories from the water you want to share, you're in the right place.