You guessed it, boats. I have built a stitch and glue (plywood) sea kayak[0], an Aleutian-style skin-on-frame sea kayak[1], and a skin-on-frame canoe[2]. All were fairly approachable and straightforward projects (I built the first two with basically some hand tools, a drill and a jig saw, on my deck, but a table saw is highly recommended for skin on frame). Tons of fun and the feeling of being a couple miles offshore or cruising down rapids in a boat you built yourself is awesome.
Boatbuilding is fantastic. I've done a couple small ones (canoe, kayak), and am preparing to do a sailing dinghy. All stitch-and-glue. I'd really like to do an old-school one of Pete Culler's designs with plank on frame.
In a world full of beeping and booping, working with wood, even plywood, is a welcome relief.
Another would be boatbuilder checking in. I started a rather ambitious project during covid to build a 21 ft sailing dory. It's my first boat but I insisted on going with traditional solid timbers and rivets and all that. I'm just about to rivet the last plank and still have the gunwales, rigging, rudder, centreboard etc. to do. It's been an amazing process though and I already can't wait to begin another build.
I also built a kayak (in the 70s)! I forget the details, but I think the plans were obtained by a friend of mine, and we each built our own boats. There was a wooden frame with a canvas skin. We used airplane dope to make the skin waterproof. It lasted around 2 years of fairly steady use in the nearby American River, with no maintenance whatsoever.
Very cool! I've been wanting to build either a Cape Falcon canoe or F1 kayak for a few years (and might get the chance -- read, "have the space to" -- soon). If you see this & can elaborate, how did the Cape Falcon build process compare to the stitch and glue CLC and to the non-Cape Falcon skin-on-frame?
Also, do you find yourself using one or the other of the boats more or less?
Either way/no matter what, fun to see this answer on HN! Thanks!
The Cape Falcon plans are far more detailed so there is a lot less figuring out stuff by yourself, relative to getting written plans. It's definitely a much more efficient process and there is probably a lot less variance in the result. I winged it on my Aleutian kayak a lot with mixed results (I gave it a lot of rocker and some other whitewater-inspired geometry). Of the kayaks, I prefer the Aleutian skin on frame although it was quite painful before I got the seat dialed in, and sometimes I can't roll it very well (I'm an expert whitewater boater and have a very solid roll), and its top speed is low. But it is very light, maneuverable, quiet (waves hitting it don't make much sound) and the peaked deck sheds water so it doesn't spray your face when you are punching through waves in the surf. The F1 is probably best of both worlds.
The Cape Falcon canoe that I built deviates a bit from the design pattern because I wanted a wide and flat bottom with harder edges, similar to a lot of modern Royalex tandem canoes. It's a 16' tandem I think, and even though it is pretty wide, it is still less stable than most canoes. However it is fast and extremely maneuverable in Class III.
Skin on frame is also awesome because when you are loading or unloading a 17' boat in a crowded beach parking lot and smack the bow into the car next to yours, it doesn't do any damage to either car or boat, or so I hear.
Stitch and glue is straightforward but the woodworking part goes fast and then it's just a ton of fiberglass work, i.e. cycles of epoxy and sanding, which is not that enjoyable for its own sake. On the other hand, one of the great parts of skin on frame construction is that other than a short amount of time ripping the ribs on a table saw, the rest is basically quiet and without harsh chemicals, so you don't need earmuffs or a respirator and can listen to music and have a snack/drink.
Stitch and glue will last forever if you protect it from UV, however skin on frame will most likely need to be reskinned in 5-10 years or so.
[0]: https://clcboats.com/shop/boats/kayak-kits/petrel/stitch-and...
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Aleutian-Kayak-Construction-Tradition...
[2]: https://www.capefalconkayaks.com/canoes.html