20' Verity Skiff (2024) - LAURA JEAN

This is a little sister to the Grover 26, the first—and only—outboard powered boat to cross the Atlantic.
While I’ve always loved the 26, I needed something smaller. But I still wanted a boat that could handle Long Island’s rough shallow inlets, and also be trailerable. So, we dropped a transom into the 26’s original mold at 20 feet. Shorter, yes. But the good genes were still there.
At heart, it’s a Verity Skiff, which were built on the south shore of Long Island from about 1910 until the fifties. And were fished from Cape Cod to Hatteras with no reported losses. Locals used to say: “a Verity wasn’t a boat, it’s an insurance policy”. Which is why Al Grover, a Freeport boat dealer, used a survivor as a plug to preserve the form in fiberglass. They were used by the coast guard, and proved to be so seaworthy that Al and his son decided to drive one to Portugal.
As with the 26, my 20 slips through the water with a smooth gentle ride, and keeps going without pounding in the roughest conditions when others have slowed to crawl. It’s simple, rugged, roomy, and rather elegant—in a working class sorta way.