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The Guider
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The Guider
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The Guider
Sale
The Guider
Sale
The Guider
Sale
The Guider
The Guider Thumbnail
The Guider Thumbnail
The Guider Thumbnail
The Guider Thumbnail
The Guider Thumbnail
The Guider Thumbnail

The Guider

Builder Testimonials

The Guider is the ultimate cruising dinghy. Capacious, versatile, powerful, and fast.

  • Skill Level Pro-Kit
  • Estimated Build Time 300 Hours

Build this boat if...

  • You are adventurer that enjoys spending as much time as possible in small boats.
  • Races such as the Everglades Challenge or the Race to Alaska sound exciting to you.
  • You enjoy woodworking and have some experience building boats.
  • For Woodcrafters

    Boatbuilders, sharpen your block planes! 

  • Sophisticated Design

    Nothing else like it to buy or build

  • Quality Materials

    Only the best professional-grade materials

Build Your Kit

We Can Help You Build this Boat

We offer classes for many of the boats we sell. For boats, such as this one, we can offer private classes upon request. Some customers also ask us to build the boat for them.

Specifications

Length
18' 7"
Beam
72"
Rowing Draft
9"
Sailing Draft
36"
Sail Area
125 sq. ft.
Hull Weight
600 lbs.
Max Payload
900 lbs.

Performance

Stability

4 out of 5
Very Tippy
Very Stable

Speed

4 out of 5
Cruiser
Racer

Cockpit Room

4 out of 5
Close Fit
Huge Cockpit

Payload

5 out of 5
Day Tripper
Freight Hauler

Ease of Construction

1 out of 5
Requires Patience
Very Easy
The Guider sailing the Wye River, MD
The Guider sailing the Wye River, MD

Overview

Pro-Kit     THIS IS A PRO-KIT

The photographer John Guider has traveled thousands of miles in small open sailboats. At least 8,000 of those miles were in the original Skerry Raid. which we developed for planned expedition to  sail and row around the Great Loop (circling the eastern portion of the United States).

In 2019, Guider returned to us for a new boat, this time so he could participate in the Race to Alaska. In his honor we named this design "The Guider." The new boat is almost four feet longer (18'7" versus 15' length), heavier, and has more storage than the Skerry Raid. It also is fast and handy under sail and oar, and has room for two adults to sleep in the 6'6" long cockpit in comfort. Our emphasis is on safety, so the boat is built with the intention of handling rough and windy conditions. 

It's quite possible that no CLC design has been subjected to such rigorous on-water testing before or since the Guider was launched in March 2019. From the unforgiving Race to Alaska course, to Chesapeake Bay gales, and a winter-time capsize drill, the Guider has proven itself to be a polished cruising machine for rowing and sailing.

The interior has plenty of built-in storage and flotation with a total of 12 watertight compartments. The footwell is small to reduce the amount of water that will stay aboard. The Guider is ballasted with 200 pounds of lead, which may be increased if daysailing or lightly loaded. The pivoting centerboard is cut from aluminum plate.

The rudder is in an inboard trunk, doubtless one of the more controversial features of the new design. Although it complicates the build slightly, designer John C. Harris likes the trunk-rudder for its efficiency and good looks. But most of all, to avoid having to grope awkwardly over the pointed stern to adjust the more typical kick-up rudder.

Construction is intended for builders who are already comfortable with epoxy, fiberglass, and stitch-and-glue boatbuilding. From stitching the plywood strakes to rigging and launch, we built the first Guider at CLC in 22 working days. Your building time will be longer; we did this with 3-5 professionals working from a pre-cut kit. 

Reports from our builders are that the assembly of the hull has proven to be smooth and efficient. Of particular note is the excellent 38-page manual, created by CLC's Dillon Majoros, which features beautiful, detailed drawings and plenty of assembly details. We highly recommend downloading the PDF of the manual as a first step so you can get a feel for the scope of the project.

Buying Options

Choose Your Boatbuilding Experience

Start your kit-building experience by selecting the option that best fits your goals. Don’t have the confidence to build on your own? No worries! Join a boatbuilding class or hire us to build a custom boat for you.

  1. Select Your Configuration

    Build From a Kit:
    Most Pro Kits include, at minimum, the CNC-cut marine plywood parts. Many include epoxy, fiberglass, and timber as well.
    Build From Scratch:

    Source your own materials and hardware, and work from traditional plans.
    Order Study Plans or Assembly Guides:
    Like to study up a bit first? Where available, download study plans or a copy of the assembly guide.

  2. Choose Options and Add-Ons

    Additional Components:
    If this is a sailboat, you’ll need the Sailing Component Kit. Depending on the model, you can choose different sail colors, order a Line & Cordage Package, add nonskid decking, storage covers, and more.

  3. Get Building!

    Computer-cut kits feature all of the latest tweaks for easy assembly, including slot-together frames, pre-drilled holes for stitching-and-gluing, puzzle joints, and precision in the fitting of parts.

Standard Configuration

Sale
$5,075.00 $4,400.00

The Guider base kit includes a 38-page, full-color step-by-st...

$4,125.00

The Guider sailing component kits include the CNC-cut 6061-T6...

Alternative Configurations

$3,076.00

Guider sailing component kits include the CNC-cut 6061-T6 alu...

$2,997.00

The Guider base kit includes a 38-page, full-color step-by-st...

$269.00

The plans-and-manual package for The Guider is for builders w...

$35.00

This option comprises the latest version of the full-color, n...

$30.00

This option comprises the latest version of the full-color, n...

Additional Options

$857.00

This package includes all of the hardware associated with sa...

$585.00

This package includes all of the deck hardware and associated...

$479.00

Bulletproof protection for the rubrail, as befits a serious b...

$375.00

Add this option to the Sailing Component Kit (with Sail) to g...

$375.00

Add this option to the Sailing Component Kit (with Sail) to g...

$55.00

We've been using this miraculous material as deck pads on Kah...

$145.00

Includes line for the halyard, mainsheet, downhaul, (2x) reef...

Videos

Building "The Guider," a Rowing-Sailing Raid Boat, in 10 Days

John Guider on the boat he used to retrace history

John Guider completes his journey retracing history

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I order this kit?

Click on the Buying Options tab the top left of this page and follow the directions.

How much does this boat weigh and how much can it carry?

The weight and payload of this boat, along with other statistics such length and beam, can be found under Specs in the Specifications section, which is just below the lead image seen at the top of this page.

Can you send me the plans digitally?

Sorry, but until digital rights management technology for marine architectural work catches up to that used for books and music, we are unable to transmit digital plans. Currently, only study plans and manuals can be sent digitally.

What is LapStitch Construction?

CLC'S LapStitch™ Construction

Patent No. 6,142,093 

Our system combines the unquestioned grace of lapstrake hulls with the proven ease of stitch-and-glue construction. The strength of the LapStitch™ joint is such that the designs require comparatively little fiberglass or fillet work, making them especially easy to build.

Lapstrake hull shapes evolved over millennia. Many would suggest that the type reached a high-water mark with the Viking longboats, but the actual building method was little changed right up into the 20th century. Planks were riveted together, and the technique required prodigious skill on the part of boatbuilders.

Over the last few decades, the advent of modern adhesives and high-quality marine plywood brought about the first major innovation in lapstrake building methods: "glued plywood" lapstrake hulls. This method of planking produces very strong, stiff, and beautiful hulls that never leak. This is progress, to be sure, but glued lapstrake boats still require molds and arcane joinery skills. It isn't a process suited to amateurs.

In 1997, Chesapeake Light Craft developed a way to build lapstrake boats without molds or complex "rolling bevels" on the lapstrake planking. Using sophisticated computer design software, we are now able to devise hull shapes that will assume a round-bottomed shape without a jig or "torturing" of the wood. A special "rabbet," or groove, is machined into each strake so that they are self-aligning. They are wired together just like a stitch-and-glue kayak. When these joints are filled with epoxy, the result is a remarkably stiff and strong hull that is visually indistinguishable from traditional lapstrake planking.

LapStitch construction is featured in these CLC boats:

After more than 15 years of development, the evolution of LapStitch™ has reached the stage where we can render complex lapstrake hull shapes in complete confidence without "strongback" molds.  Chesapeake Light Craft can design and build for you LapStitch™ hulls of any shape or size.  

Classes

We Can Help You Build this Boat

We offer classes for many of the boats we sell. For boats, such as this one, we can offer private classes upon request. Some customers also ask us to build the boat for them.

View Classes

Need Help Building it?

We’re here to help with any questions you might have during the build process.

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Available Mon – Fri, 9am–5pm EST

410.267.0137

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