Jim Michalak

Jim Michalak is one of the great pragmatists of modern small-craft design—a quiet revolutionary whose boats are built not for prestige, but for real people with real garages, real budgets, and real water under their keels. An engineer by training and a river sailor by temperament, Michalak stripped small-boat design down to its essentials and rebuilt it around accessibility. His plans champion plywood, simple geometry, and honest construction. They are boats that reward careful work rather than rarefied skill, boats meant to multiply the number of people who can point to something floating and say, “I made that.” His designs have become a gateway for countless home builders, especially those drawn to boats that are functional, easily maintained, and deeply capable despite their simplicity. His philosophy extends beyond the shape of his hulls—it’s baked into the culture he created around them. Michalak writes with a disarming mix of clarity and humility, teaching beginners not just how to build but why each choice matters. He encourages builders to experiment, take notes, and share their results so that the whole community benefits. Many of his boats—Piccup Pram, Mayfly, AF3, Mikesboat—have become iconic in the home-build world precisely because they carry his sensibility: practical, fast to build, delightfully efficient, and often surprisingly pretty in their plainspoken way. In an era obsessed with complication, Jim Michalak gave the boating world a reminder that the simplest boats can sometimes carry the deepest joy.