What's new in 2020?

It's been a while since I have posted any new videos or designs but I'm happy to say JB Watercraft is back up and running. Buying a house, moving into it and fixing it, all while still working full time at my day job has absorbed all of my time. Being without a computer for several months has also made things difficult after it got damaged during the move, then fixed, then died completely a week later. I now have a new computer and am working hard to catch up.

Recently I took the Unicat 2.4 out for it's second test sail with the new lug rig. It was great to get back out on the water, and I'm happy to report that the Unicat was a pleasure to sail. This time I had a steady although still light breeze around 5-8 knots with the occasional stronger gust and the Unicat performed great. Under sail it feels stable and forgiving but still has enough speed and acceleration to be fun. In fact, the new rig performs so much better, that it will be replacing the old Junk rig in the plans very soon. As soon as a day is available I will be trying it in stronger wind, I really want to see how fast I can make it go. As much as I have a soft spot for Junk rigs, the Lug rig seems to be much better suited to the Unicat.

Check out the video of the test sail below:

This year I plan on releasing several new designs. The first of these will be a range of new DIY plywood surfboards in several sizes. Some real outside the box thinking has gone into these and I'm sure the results will be worth it. The plans are now complete and this is just pending building and testing of the prototype.

Secondly, several new larger versions of the Unicat will be released this year. My customers have been asking for a larger Unicat for years and it's about time I gave them what they want.

More details about these boats will follow soon. I have explored several new ideas for the Unicat but in the end I have decided to stick with the same formula that made the original Unicat great.

Video production has sadly come to a grinding halt, with all the progress for the paddleboard build series lost on the old, dead computer. I will try to bring this out as soon as possible.

Thanks to all of my customers and viewers over the last year. This year I plan on working even harder to bring you more great designs and projects.