Strip planking a Gil Smith catboat

[Bill Stanard]

I've lofted the lines of Mystic's Gil Smith's 21'6" Great South Bay catboat and am about to build the molds out of 1/2" MDO (avidly following the suggestions in the latest WoodenBoat issue's treatment of the Joel White runabout), but I have a question. Does anyone know of a step-by-step of a strip planked boat with a keel that will give me some guidance as to the transition from the stip-planked hull to the keel? I'm trying to avoid using the traditional rabbet as the transition between keel and hull, but I'm not sure I trust a simple keel laminated to the outside of the hull. There will be too many stresses on this keel/skeg, especially at and aft of the centerboard trunk. For the stem, I can use the two part laminate, one inside as an extension of the mold, and one outside. Any ideas of where I might find a published or online description of this process?

[Jim Ledger]

That looks more like a skeg than a full keel, and as such, you shouldn't have a problem bolting and bonding it onto the finished hull. Most Gil Smith boats had a cypress plank keel (laid flat) with the skeg bolted on.

Fastening on an outer stem should present no problems.


BTW, why this design? Smith evolved his boats away from the plumb stem to a spoon shaped bow, over a number of years and many boats. Personally, I like the plumb stems looks, but he must have been after something, possibly a boat with more nimble handling qualities.

Is this your design?

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m193/searover1916/P1010151-2.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m193/searover1916/P1010145-1.jpg

[Paul Pless]

BTW, why this design? Smith evolved his boats away from the plumb stem to a spoon shaped bow, over a number of years and many boats. Personally, I like the plumb stems looks, but he must have been after something, possibly a boat with more nimble handling qualitiesr.Is it possible he was designing to a waterline length rule that favored overhangs?

[paladin]

If I understand what you are asking....

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj152/paladinsfo/stripplankingorientation.jpg

[Jim Ledger]

Chuck, the Gil Smith boats didn't have a built down keel like your drawing suggests. The keel was a flat laid cypress plank, somewhat thicker than the planking. The planking met the keel with a caulking seam, but no back rabbet.

[Bill Stanard]

Thanks for the help, guys. It put me back on track. I picked the plumb bow design because of its looks, its reputed speed, and the availability of the lines. Jim's pictures are of one of Smith's 21'6" models, but the Mystic boat, off of which Edson Schock took the lines, is slightly different. I'll have a look at the real thing when I get north to New England later in the year. A copy of the Mystic boat was built, I think, by the Long Island Maritime Museum, but I haven't been able to find a picture of her in her finished state. I plan to use an over sized centerboard as does the boat in Jim's picture.

[Jim Ledger]

That boat is the LIMM boat, Bill. Here's a thread...

http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71201

If you're coming this way, the Long Island Maritime Museum is worth a look. It's a small museum, but has a lot of GS info, along with many of his original boats.

His half hull models are on display at the Suffolk County Museum in Riverhead, Long Island.