Catspaw dinghy and similar small carvel boats

[Alan Peck]

I previously posted a question under someone elses's Catspaw question, but it was a change of subject so I don't think it was particularly noticed. In any event it didn't draw any responses.

So I reposting my question under a separate heading in the hopes of some responses.

I am guessing that most people who building the Catspaw dinghy, build it according to the plans, i.e., carvel planked. It is my understanding that carvel planked boats will dry out and leak if not left in the water most of the time. However, the Catspaw is such a small boat, I would guess that most people do not leave them in the water and instead "trailer sail" them.

If that is so how do you avoid having the boat dry out and leak the next time the boat is used?
On the other hand, perhaps this is not much of an issue since the boat is so small.

Or perhaps these boats are not being caulked the traditional way. Perhaps some moder goop is beeing used?

I would really like to build a small carvel planked boat, but this issue is of concern, since I have no choice except to store it on a trailer.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[On Vacation]

This was a dinghy at the Georgetown show this year. He did it in small strips as a small stripped canoe and glassed it and varnished it.
The same principle can be done for the catspaw dinghy. It will require a longer construction time but can be built with or without glass depending on the dimension of the strips.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid36/p27984dc3bfa63ae196541f10e5807a96/fd23a66c.jpg

[Gary Bergman]

I think that generally,in small craft, if well made, dry out but take up soon after relaunch

[John Gearing]

I don't know to what extent a catspaw would take on water while taking up after a period of dry storage. It might not be much at all. Whether it's acceptable to you may depend on your own attitude towards having an absolutely dry boat. If it's a fairly small amount of water that comes in, you might just regard this as "normal" and just bail it out or soak it up with a towel or something. As an alternative you might build the boat in lapstrake. Thad Danielson, a professional builder who posts once in a while, has reported no leakage problems with some of his lapstrake boats after trailering them considerable distances. Probably get a good feeling for the problem by talking to him.

[Steve Paskey]

Alan: I can't speak from any experience, but here's a detailed description of the approach that was taken by one fellow who built a carvel 12-1/2:

"I launched my haven in June and have trailered it back and forth to the Bay about 60 miles each way about 9 times so far. I also made a 700 mile trip recently with it. The hull has been out of water finished for about 6 years during construction phase... just got wet this summer. My sailing usually is a 4 to 8 hours in the water each time. Seams are payed with sikaflex 231. Bare wood of carvel cedar hull was primed with Petite epoxy undercoat (the stuff used for priming fiberglass to prevent osmosis problems .. works good on bare wood and doesn't let water in or out at any significant rate). So far I don't have any seams opening, no apparent affects of trailering other than the usual docking and launching dings that can occur. The paint is brightside and has a toxic bottom paint (that I don't need unless I decide to stay in the warm gulf waters for a week or so straight. Anyway, time will tell if I continue to do so well with a trailered Carvel hull. I built it. It's beautiful. And I'm going to sail it at every opportunity."

[Keith Wilson]

After some unpleasant experiences (well, damp experiences, anyway :rolleyes: ) with the carvel-planked bottom of my sailing semi-dory, I'd be nervous about trailering any carvel-planked boat. OTOH, my boat's pretty old, and new construction would be better, but still . . . I wouldn't do it, I guess.

Lapstake, either traditional or glued plywood, would work well. The Catspaw design is a 10% enlargement of the Herreshoff yacht tender, which was originally built lapstrake precisely so it wouldn't leak when it had been of the water. As I recall, they went to carvel because the first Catspaw was going to be beached a lot in Maine, and they were worried about damage from the rocks. I've also seen a very nice cold-molded example.

[ 12-18-2002, 04:23 PM: Message edited by: Keith Wilson ]

[Steve Paskey]

If you want a traditionally-built boat that you can keep on a trailer, two possibilities come to mind.

First, there's Harry Bryan's "Daisy." I don't know much about it, but I believe it was specifically designed to meet that requirement.

Second, there's the Yankee skiff, a modified version of the Asa Thomson skiff. (Plans for both available from WB.) Both skiffs have a double-planked flat bottom -- two layers of wood with the joints staggered, and a layer of muslin cloth and white lead between the wood layers.