Port Townsend Watercraft BLOG » camp cruising

Builder Spotlight – A camper with a hatch to hold the PT11

Ashlyn Brown — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 16:47:00 +0000

People are amazing. Our customers remind us just how amazing they are every time they build a PT 11 and go adventuring in it. I want to start sharing more of those stories starting with a recent update from Professor Fisher.

Terry designed and built a tear drop camper that includes a special hatch on the forward face to accommodate the PT 11.

My plan is to use the boat for sailing on lakes and rowing on rivers. Why not simply carry the boat on top of the car? Partly to reduce air resistance and thus to increase mileage. (The trailer is designed to sit in the slipstream of my car.). And partly for security. (The trailer locks; thus I don't worry that the boat will be stolen when my dog and I go on hikes.)

Terry recently spent 6 1/2 weeks in his camper recently, detailed in this article.

Now that his PT 11 is almost finished, his next camping trip will include the dinghy.

The most gratifying part of our experience with Port Townsend Watercraft is that it is the 'gift that keeps on giving' when customers write to us with their stories, their joy, and comments like this::

Many thanks for designing such a remarkable craft — and enabling me to build one.

PT Skiff clips from summer 2010

admin — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:55:42 +0000

This last summer we drove the skiff across country and had some opportunities to splash in the Atlantic and Chesapeake. Alas, my video skills are not too hot. I compiled some of the better clips from the summer in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpJoJfkA0j0 I would like to mention that Russell has been working on the nesting ...continue reading

Port Townsend to Desolation Sound

admin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:21:04 +0000

On September 15th, as the City Hall tolled 9:00am, Russell and I were pulling out of Port Townsend Harbor in the PT Skiff. We were loaded up with nearly 600 lbs between the 2 of us and gear. It was foggy and cold on Puget Sound but that is nothing new.
We were headed for Desolation Sound BC to visit friends with a new baby. We had not devised a dodger and the weather was questionable but we were happy to be off on an adventure even if it was just for the short time we had available.

We spent 8 days total on our trip, camped ashore every night, travelled some 360 miles at an average of 15knots, and burned about 30 gallons of gasoline. We did prepare an option for sleeping onboard but never needed it since campsites were plentiful along the way. We got caught in the rain once between Ganges and Wallace Island but we had our foul weather gear and watertight bags.

Russell napping on the forward sole

The only semi rough water we encountered was East of Nanaimo and even that was mild. We didn’t even have to slow down, though trying to hand hold the camera steady enough to show the gps was a real trick. I will be putting together a short video of that day, surfing the Navy’s wake and Dodd Narrows.

beautiful day in Desolation Sound

The biggest threat of the trip was the raccoons!

'face-off'

On Wallace we had to tie our food bins up between 2 trees and chase the critters off, but our last night out on Jones Island in the San Juans, we were slack and the coons got into everything, devouring all the food we had left and making a disastrous mess in the boat and on the dock. We could have kicked ourselves. We mourned our stupidity over breakfast at Rocky Bay Cafe in Friday Harbor.

raccon prevention

The other difficulty was not having a tide chart with us. We had wanted to tie up at the very end of Sturt Bay on Texada but decided the risk of getting stranded in the morning low tide was too big. We tied the boat just south of where we had floated over a good 5 feet of water. The tune of rapids woke us before daylight and in the morning the whole area was high and dry. Our precaution paid off and the skiff still floated in a foot of water outside of the channel and we were free to continue our trip.

Sturt Bay lagoon

All the way home we had current against us but being able to hug the shore and make use of back eddies gave us a knot + on our speed.

riding the back eddies

It was a beautiful trip that climaxed at our friends homestead near Quadra. Add to that, fresh fish and a campfire dinner, hunting Chantrelle mushrooms and enjoying the amazing wildlife of BC at close range, such are the things that made the trip extremely memorable. The skiff made it easy to get away on short notice and return home in a short weather window.