In 1982 Elrow LaRowe, a retired minister, was looking around for a small cruising boat design that he could build to sail in his retirement years. He couldn't find anything he liked and eventually sent a specification to Phil Bolger and asked for his help. The resulting design was the MICRO, and it has proved to be the most popular boat Bolger ever drew. When he got the design Elrow thought that he could sell some plan sets and bought the and bought the rights to the design from Phil and started LaRowe Boat Plans Co.

( Renamed "Common Sense Designs" by Bernie Wolfard when he bought the company after Elrow suffered a stroke in late 1988). After Micro, Elrow commissioned Bolger to design several other boats for the business. Elrow passed away in January 1989.

Archived here are copies of the Micro Newsletter he created to promote sales, pass on building tips and keep plan buyers in touch. As you can see, Elrow was quite a character, a real original, but as you read these old newsletters, you'll also meet a guy who cared, and was very enthusiastic about his new plans business and his new customers. He has been and will continue to be missed. The between the lines stuff aside, also contained herein is some good advice, building directions and tips. Probably the reason why his prose and syntax seems a little disjointed at times is because he was trying to get as much text as he could on one page to save printing and postage costs. (There are around 40 letters spanning a period of five years, and I'll keep scanning and adding to the archive as time permits.)

Click here to view Elrow's Original Micro Plan Set Sales Brochure