The WoodenBoai Series DESIGNS EVIEWED DESIGN COMMENTARIES BY THE EXPERTS Series Editor, Peter H. Spectre Introduction "The joy and satisfaction of planning a lovely thing like a cruising yacht, and of ivatching her grow until she is there beneath you, with her guiding helm in your own hand, trembling with the life that you, her creator, have given her — why it is the most satisfying thing in the world." — Maurice Griffiths I t is no secret that the anticipation of something can be equal to the achieve- ment of it. In many cases it can be even better. That is why the search for the ideal boat is generally more satisfying than the finding of it, and why more books and magazines on boats are sold than there are boats afloat. All that reading matter represents anticipation: of the next boat, of the best boat, of the boat of your dreams. This book is the anticipator's dream sheet. It contains reviews of some of the most interesting boat designs of our time, and a few from times past. Some even contain intimations of designs of the future. These reviews are objective and subjective at once. Objective, because they are written by reviewers with training and/or years of experience in design. Subjective, because these same reviewers are no different from the rest of us — they, too, are boat lovers, and they, too, have in their mind's eye the ideal boat, and for years they have been searching for it. Our reviewers, like us, are anticipators. All of these reviews have their origins in WoodenBoat magazine, which for nearly 25 years now has attempted to maintain a noble tradition of boating and yachting magazines of the past. That is, to be a forum for designers and their audience. Nearly every issue of the magazine contains a detailed look at a boat or yacht design; nearly every review includes more than one view of the design in question; almost always at least one of the views is the lines plan, the very essence of the design. (Without the lines plan, or a lines per- spective, any expression of what the boat is really like is merely conjecture.) A design forum such as WoodenBoat's is more than an entertainment, more than an outlet for the output of professional designers, more than floss for dreamers. It is a tool for anyone seeking an understanding of what makes a good boat and, by inference, what makes a bad boat. By reading the reviews and by comparing the commentary to the plans depicted, eventually anyone with an interest in boats will come to understand enough about design to sep- arate the good from the not-so-good. In short, reviews allow one to become at least an educated dreamer, at most an educated chooser of boats. ■ in ■ This book is a collection of many of the best reviews that have appeared in WoodenBoat magazine. They have been selected for many reasons, not the least of which is that they are timeless: They are excellent boats now, and they will be excellent boats in the future. Why? Because the sea is timeless; any- thing that can now take to the sea will always be able to take to the sea. Other criteria are the quality of the writing, the source of the perspective, the clarity of the analysis, and, of course, the ability of the boat to meet the needs of those who called for the design in the first place. I should mention that the vast majority of these reviews are from the last 10 years or so of WoodenBoat magazine. That is because since the mid- to late- 1980s Mike O'Brien has been the design review editor at WoodenBoat. Mike, a designer and boatbuilder in his own right, has an eye for a good boat and the understanding to choose the proper analyst for that boat. He is the one of late who has encouraged designers and naval architects to submit their plans for review, and he is the one who commissioned a good many of these reviews (he has written a great number of them, too). In editing this book, how could I go wrong? I was able to pick the best of Mike's best. I should also include a few cautions for readers of this book. All boat designs are an amalgam of compromises and should be judged in that light. All review- ers are subjective, and what they have to say should be compared to your own knowledge and experience. All beautiful boats are not necessarily good, and all good boats are not necessarily beautiful. And this book does not even attempt to include all the good, beautiful boat designs available today. If you can enjoy this book half as much as I enjoyed putting it together, you have many happy hours of reading — and anticipation — ahead of you. —Peter H. Spectre Spruce Head, Maine About the Authors MAYNARD BRAY, contributing editor of WoodenBoat magazine, is the for- mer superviser of the shipyard at Mystic Seaport Museum, a boatbuilder, a sailor, and a writer. He lives in Brooklin, Maine. SAM DEVLIN is a West Coast designer and boatbuilder best known for his stitch-and-glue craft. He lives and works in Olympia, Washington. WILLIAM GARDEN is a naval architect with hundreds of designs to his credit. He lives, works, sails, and writes in Victoria, British Columbia. MIKE O'BRIEN, senior editor of WoodenBoat magazine, is a boatbuilder, boat designer, enthusiastic sailor and paddler, and editor/publisher of Boat Design Quarterly. He lives in Brooklin, Maine. JOEL WHITE, owner for many years of Brooklin Boat Yard, Brooklin, Maine, where he lives, is a naval architect, boatbuilder, sailor, and writer. ■ iv ■ Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................Hi About the Authors ......................................................................................iv Chapter I..............Reading the Drawings................................................1 Chapter II.............Nesting Dinghies ........................................................3 Chapter III...........Simple and Able Touring Kayaks...............................8 ChapterIV............A Strip-Planked Touring Kayak...............................11 Chapter V.............Two Sea Kayaks .........................................................13 Chapter VI...........Two Double-Paddle Canoes.....................................17 Chapter VII...........A Sailing Canoe..........................................................21 Chapter VIII.........Two Daysailers, Chesapeake Fashion.....................23 Chapter IX...........Schooner and Flashboat............................................27 ChapterX.............Two Chesapeake Skiffs .............................................31 Chapter XI............A Rowing and Sailing Skiff.......................................35 Chapter XII..........A Lapstrake Open Boat.............................................37 Chapter XIII..........A Sloop Boat................................................................39 Chapter XIV..........A Beach-Cruising Yawl .............................................43 Chapter XV...........An Interclub Racing Dory.........................................47 ChapterXVI..........An Experimental Daysailer. .............49 continues — v — Chapter XVII......Three Knockabouts...............................................52 Chapter XVIII.....An Ultralight Cruiser............................................56 Chapter XIX........Two Small Cruisers ..............................................59 Chapter XX........A Simple Pocket Cruiser.......................................63 Chapter XXI........A Little Sloop.........................................................66 Chapter XXII......A Double-Ended Sloop ........................................69 Chapter XXIII......Two Plywood Pocket Cruisers..............................71 Chapter XXIV......An Electric Auxiliary Cutter.................................75 Chapter XXV.......Two Double-Enders..............................................78 Chapter XXVI.....Two Shoal-Draft Yawls ........................................82 Chapter XXVII....A Keel/Centerboard Sloop...................................86 Chapter XXVIII....A Pilothouse Sloop................................................88 Chapter XXIX....Three Concordia Cruisers.....................................91 Chapter XXX......A Double-Ended Sloop ........................................97 Chapter XXXI.....A Shoal-Draft Plywood Ketch ...........................100 Chapter XXXII.....A New Old-Fashioned Yawl...............................104 Chapter XXXIII....Two Chesapeake-Style Deadrise Yachts.............108 Chapter XXXIV....A Sloop or a Yawl.................................................112 Chapter XXXV....A Keel/Centerboard Sloop..................................115 Chapter XXXVI....A Chesapeake Skipjack .......................................117 ChapterXXXVII....A Cutter and a Sloop with Regional Roots.........121 Chapter XXXVIII..A Scottish Yawl...................................................128 Chapter XXXIX....A Scandinavian-Inspired Cutter..........................131 Chapter XL...........A Designer's Choice.................................................135 Chapter XL1.........A Stout Cruising Ketch ...........................................139 Chapter XLII........A Cold-Molded Cutter............................................142 Chapter XLIII.......A High-Performance Cruising Sloop......................145 Chapter XUV.......A Modern Traditional Yawl....................................148 Chapter XD/.........A Fast and Able Cruising Schooner......................150 Chapter XLVI........A Pilothouse Cutter.................................................152 Chapter XLVII......A Cutter of the Colin Archer Type.........................156 ChapterXLVIII.....A Masthead Yawl......................................................158 Chapter XLIX......A Shoal-Draft Ketch.................................................162 Chapter L.............A Big, Fast, Modern Cutter.....................................166 Chapter LI............A Modified Pungy...................................................169 Chapter LII...........AHeavy Cogge Ketch.............................................172 Chapter LIII.........Two Cruising Ketches ............................................176 Chapter LIV.........A Canoe-Sterned Sloop and Her Daughter .........181 Chapter LV...........A Fast Cruising Sloop .............................................186 Chapter LVI.........Three Simple Skiffs for Oar and Outboard............191 Chapter LVII.........Two Outboard-Powered Garveys .........................195 Chapter LVIII.......Two Low-Powered Inboard Skiffs.........................199 Chapter LIX.........Three Plywood Composite Outboard Boats..........203 ChapterLX...........Four Classic Outboard Cruisers.............................207 Chapter LXI.........A Displacement Launch .........................................212 Chapter LXII.......A Sheet-Plywood Lobster Skiff..............................216 continues -vn Chapter LXIII......A Stretched Lobster Skiff.....................................219 Chapter LXJV......A Seaworthy Double-Ended Powerboat..............222 Chapter LXV.......A Traditional Lobsterboat...................................225 Chapter LXVI.....A Modern Maine Picnic Boat..............................228 Chapter LXVII....A Troller-Cruiser..................................................231 Chapter LXVIII....Two Plywood Cruising Houseboats ..................235 Chapter LXIX.....A Motor Cruiser with Workboat Character........240 Chapter LXX......A Tunnel-Sterned Motor Cruiser........................244 Chapter LXXI......Two Seagoing Powerboats .................................248 ChapterLXXII.....A Deep-V Power Cruiser....................................253 Chapter LXXIII....A Swordfisherman..............................................257 Chapter LXXIV....Two Striking Power Yachts..................................261 vin Reading the Drawings by Mike O'Brien / h an attempt to represent three-dimensional Figure 2 boats on two-dimensional pieces of paper, designers Figure 3 resort to four basic drawings: the sail plan (or profile), accommodations (or arrangement), hull lines, and construction. Inexperienced eyes seem to view hull lines as being the least accessible of these presentations. In truth, reading the drawings isn't difficult. Once you learn the tricks, the lines will float from these pages as fully formed hulls. Boat design used to, and sometimes still does, begin with a wooden model of a hull. Imagine, if you will, taking such a model and slicing it as a loaf of bread (see Figure 1). Working to a common centerline and baseline, trace the outline of these slices or sections on a piece of paper. The resulting drawing (inset, Figure 4) gives a picture of the hull's shape as seen from the bow or stern. Usually, the designer shows only half of each section — relying on the builder's inherent sense of symmetry to produce a reliable mirror image. All of the half-sections are presented in a single drawing, the body plan. Most often, the right side shows the hull as if it were coming at you. The left side represents the view looking forward from the boat's wake. In your mind's eye, reassemble the wooden model. Slice it again, but this time cut the hull horizontally into layers (Figure 2). Trace the shapes of these slices (waterlines) on paper about a common centerline. This drawing shows the hull as seen from below (Figure 5). You should look at it much as you would study a contour map. Once again, put the model together with imaginary glue. Run your make-believe saw vertically and lon- gitudinally through the hull (Figure 3). The shapes revealed by these cuts are buttock lines, and they can be traced as were the other lines (Figure 4). — 1 — Reading the Drawings All of the lines described above appear in their Blue Moon own drawings as curves. They also show up in the Particulars other drawings, but they are seen there as straight LOD 22'10" lines. That is to say, the sections display their shape in LWL 19'8" the body plan, and appear as straight lines in the ele- Beam 8'7" vation (profile) and waterlines (half-breadth) draw- Draft 4'1" ings. The shapes of the other lines in various views Displ 7,750 lbs should yield to study of Figures 4 and 5. Sail 380 sq ft Although the three sets of lines we've discussed define the shape of a hull, designers almost always include a fourth set. Diagonals emanate from the cen- terline in the body plan as straight lines that intersect the curved section lines at more or less right angles. And therein lies the key to the diagonals' value. Nearly perpendicular crossings provide the greatest accuracy for fairing a set of lines, whether on the drawing table or, at full scale, on the loft floor. Plans for Blue Moon are available from The WoodenBoat Store, P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616; 800-273-7447. Blue Moon Designed by Thomas C. Gillmer In these specially labeled drawings of Blue Moon's hull lines, the sections are marked with Arabic numerals in all views. Note how they take on shape in the sections drawing or body plan. In the other views, the sections appear as straight lines. Similar reasoning can be applied to the waterlines (upper-case letters) and the buttock lines (Roman numerals). Lower-case letters mark the diagonals in the body plan. Figure 4 Elevation and body plan (inset) Nesting Dinghies Designs by Kaufman Design, Inc., Danny Greene, and Charles M. Strayer Commentary by Mike O'Brien Co nsider a tender's design criteria: The boat must ing and upkeep. They all have pram bows in order to be small, yet it will be called upon to carry huge make the best use of space and to provide adequate loads; it should row easily, but it will be wide buoyancy forward. But, whatever similarities in con- relative to its meager length in order to gain capacity; cept these three (five?) boats might share, they are quite in the interest of easy handling, it ought not weigh too different from one another in shape and detail. much, yet we know it will suffer terrible abuse. No Chameleon's V-bottom, with considerable twist and doubt about it, drawing a proper dinghy can be an deadrise in its forward sections, shows the influence exercise in contradiction. of the British Mirror Dinghy (an early stitch-and-glue The three dinghies shown here address the prob- design). The flat-bottomed JPDMBD has dory-like sec- lems of stowage, performance, and capacity by split- tions, and Strayer's Longsplice displays a multi-chine ting apart amidships. The resulting pieces will nest hull. neatly on the deck of a cruising boat or in a shoreside Danny Greene might lay claim to being the dean of storage shed. The smallest of the trio, Danny Greene's nesting-dinghy designers. By his count, more than a 10-foot 4-inch Chameleon, folds into a 5-foot 3-inch thousand boats have been built to the 10 break-apart package that lives on the forward deck of his 34-foot designs that have come from his drawing board. He ketch. After bisection, Mike Kaufman's and Charles describes Chameleon as "my best all around...by far." Strayer's longer (about 16-foot) boats can be nested — Construction is dirt simple: Cut out plywood panels for or they can sail off as separate, more or less equal, 8- sides and bottom, and join them with temporary butt foot halves. blocks (where they will be separated later). Lace the Kaufman describes the advantages of the type while hull together with monofilament fishing line. Insert explaining the reasoning behind his J.P. Downs the "matingbulkheads." After the "inside joints" have Memorial Bifurcating Dinghy (hereafter, the JPDMBD): been filleted with epoxy and fiberglass, and the rails "No one," he says, "gets stranded at a mooring while and quarter knees have been installed, the boat can be the dinghy is ashore, heavy loads can be carried, and separated into its forward and after halves. You should argumentative siblings can be sent off — in different understand that, although the hull goes together directions." quickly, considerable detail work is required for a two- Strayer's design allows "break-apart" racing: The piece dinghy. The designer, who built the prototype boats could sail the outward leg as separate 8-foot for his own use, estimates construction time at 100 dinghies, join together at the windward mark, and run hours for the rowing version, with an additional 40 home as 16-foot schooners. Or the process might be hours required to complete the sailing rig and reversed — that is, the boats could head out in their appendages. long configuration and sail for the finish as 8-footers. Two Yz-inch stainless-steel bolts located at the upper Given the latter format, I suspect that volunteers for outboard corners of the mating bulkheads and an inter- the race committee might be difficult to find. locking latch at the daggerboard trunk hold Chameleon All of the designs shown here specify plywood con- together when she's in the water. The boat can be struction for stiffness, light weight, and ease of build- assembled while afloat.