Big Sky Daysailor Designs

[Gary Davis]

I appreciate all of the advice received in the past regarding boat designs, rigging, etc. I've received some news recently that has set me on a different course. I know there have been some similar requests lately and I've checked the archives, but nothing seems quite in line with my criteria. I apologize for asking awfully-similar questions of you all.

I'm looking for a design for a half-decked, wooden lapstrake day sailor. I can't use plywood and adhesives because this is a project for my unheated Montana garage this winter. LOA needs to be 14-18' and I prefer more beam rather than less, but . . . . My water includes small and large lakes and reservoirs in the northern Rocky Mountains - not sure it will ever see saltwater. Uses would involve day sailing and camping with one or two passengers/crew. Rig is not critical, but I'm partial to the gaff - maybe as a yawl. No outboard for me.

I've looked at Welsford, Oughtred, Vivier, Atkins, Alden, Gartside, Campion, B&B, Shell, etc. but can't seem to find the right design for wood lapstrake. Double-enders are great, and Atkins has the lapstrake Teach, but it requires a ****load of lead ballast.

I was planning on a Gardner Swampscott, but now I want more of a sailor than an oar and sail design.

What/where have I overlooked?

Thanks - Gary

[johnw]

Uffa Ace?

http://www.uffafox.com/uffaace.htm

http://www.uffafox.com/uffaace.jpg

http://national18.com/Origins.html

[Clinton B Chase]

Paul Gartside has a bunch of wooden lapstrake designs...not sure how you can miss them. What didn't work for you? Skylark and Swansong are two beauties.

[Michael Beckman]

http://www.batritningar.se/default.aspx?Language=EN&Currency=USD&Page=BoatplansDetails&Id=5

http://www.batritningar.se/images/boatplans/5.jpg

[Gary Davis]

Thanks all. I'll check Gartside's site again.

Gary

[Steve Paskey]

It's been my understanding that Iain Oughtred's round-bilged lapstrake dinghys (such as the Acorn Skiff or Tammie Norrie) can be built in traditional lapstrake, rather than ply. If that's correct, then Penny Fee -- the largest of the bunch at 16' -- might work ... but she's not half-decked.

See: www.classicmarine.co.uk/details.asp?Name=Penny+Fee

Which other Atkin boats have you looked at? Davy Jones Too is a half-decked 18-footer with lapstrake sides.

Doug Hylan has an interesting new design, an 18-footer named Siri, based on a famous 19th century canoe yawl called Iris:
www.dhylanboats.com/

Doug's web site says it can be built in plywood lapstrake or traditional plank on frame ... if you like it, you might ask him whether you could build it in traditional lapstrake.

And which Gardner swampscott were you thinking of? I've always liked the unusually wide 16-footer in Building Classic Small Craft, but there's also the 18-foot Mower racing dory, a half-decked boat that was derived from the Swampscotts but was intended as more of a sailor.

.

[Thorne]

Culler's Concordia sloop might meet the bill -
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3427/3734101422_5d83c1008b_o.jpg
http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100593

[rbgarr]

A Walt Simmons' wherry: http://www.duck-trap.com/wherrychart.html

[Gary Davis]

I looked at a number of Atkin's design - if I remember correctly, most seemed a little narrow for me. I was intrigued with Teach but it required lead ballast - something I'm not quite ready for.

I communicated with Hylan about SIRI, and he indicated it was not a good candidate for a neophyte and traditional lapstrake construction because of the steaming required for the tortured garboards. Its beautiful but a little heavy.

I lofted Gardner's wider Swampscott, but then started focusing on designs than were more sail/oar rather than the reverse. I'm awfully anal and sometimes decisionmaking can be an ordeal.

I've gravitated toward Penny Fee (I did consider Culler's sloop) and wrote Iain earlier this week asking for modifications including a half-deck, longer and wider benches, and set-up for the gaff yawl. We'll see what he says about my request.

Thanks again for the advice. Hopefully, Iain will respond positively, and I can get about building a boat this winter.

Off to California (Sacramento, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, and Monterey) for two weeks.

Gary

[SJKaplan]

Please share Iain's comments when he replies.

[Steve Paskey]

If you haven't seen it, have a look at Roger Long's "Yawldory," a design he's currently developing:

www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103630

Longer than you wanted -- 22 feet -- but a really sweet design. She's a mix of construction methods ... strip-planked flat bottom and garboards with traditional lapstrake sides. Some adhesives are required for the strip planking, and I don't know if that would work for you. But maybe with careful planning you could get enough heat in the garage long enough to get the bottom and garboards done?

[Roger Long]

If you haven't seen it, have a look at Roger Long's "Yawldory," a design he's currently developing

Also this boat:

http://www.rogerlongboats.com/images/Dory.jpg

Old "Messing About in Boats Article" here:

http://www.rogerlongboats.com/Dory.htm

This was one of the last traditional small boats I designed before turning to working boat designs. She's very much the ancestor of the Yawldory and arranged so one person can stretch out and sleep in the bottom.

The hull is developed in a way similar to whole molding for simplified lofting. There is a full size template curve on the drawings and you just line up marked points after laying out the sheer and bottom curves and the hull stations are lofted and faired.

I always thought this was one of my best small boat designs and mystified that I never sold a single set of plans or that one was ever built.

[Steve Paskey]

This was one of the last traditional small boats I designed before turning to working boat designs. She's very much the ancestor of the Yawldory and arranged so one person can stretch out and sleep in the bottom.

The hull is developed in a way similar to whole molding for simplified lofting. There is a full size template curve on the drawings and you just line up marked points after laying out the sheer and bottom curves and the hull stations are lofted and faired.

I always thought this was one of my best small boat designs and mystified that I never sold a single set of plans or that one was ever built.

I was looking at that design the other night, Roger. I like it very much and was planning to ask for more information ... length, beam, weight, construction details, etc.

And I'm deeply touched by the story of the woman who started building the boat, then went rowing in another dory and was never seen again. I can't imagine the heartbreak that must have been.

[peter radclyffe]

there is no perfect boat
you could put all these designs on a 3ft ply disc, nail the centre to a wall
get a friend to spin it
throw a dart at it
choose
all jouneys start with the first step

[Roger Long]

I like it very much and was planning to ask for more information ... length, beam, weight, construction details, etc.


Length is about 14 feet. Construction is fully traditional with lapstrake all the way down to the bottom. Very similar to the Yawldory but no skeg or reverse curves in the stern. The bottom runs back with only a little taper in width.

She has a daggerboard to provide sleeping space and sidedecks to stiffen her up without bow and stern thwarts.

I'll pull the plans out next week and try to figure out how to process them in to a form I can post. I did all my ink work at fairly large scale and it's difficult and expensive to get them into a form that shows much on a computer monitor.

[Steve Paskey]

Thank you, Roger. Please check your private messages. i might be interested in buying a set of plans, if that's possible. It may be a few years before I have the time and space to build something, but I'm increasingly drawn to the idea of building a traditional boat rather than something with plywood and epoxy, and this might be perfect.

[Roger Long]

I've put up a page of some quick digital camera shots here:

http://www.rogerlongboats.com/BeachDory.htm