Sneakbox cruisers ?

[Steve Paskey]

In Canoe and Boatbuilding for Amateurs, W.P. Stephens shows lines and offsets for several interesting little boats derived from a Barnegat Bay sneakbox and intended for cruising rather hunting, ala Bishop's "Four Months in a Sneakbox."

You can see the boats here:
http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/stephens/

(Scroll down the index on the left, and click on "Sneakboxes and Cruising Boats.")

The designs are a century old. Anyone know of a boat built recently to one of these designs? Also, one of the boats has a really cool Chinese balanced lug sail with battens and a curved yard. Anyone tried a similar sail?

Thanks.
Steve Paskey

[ 09-20-2002, 02:43 PM: Message edited by: Steve Paskey ]

[WWheeler]

Well, Pilgrim, I could hazard a guess that "Canoe Lassie" would be kin to the "Wee Lassie" lapstrake canoe design, and the Barnegat Sneakbox is closed to the plans currently sold (I think) by WB. Some of these designs have probably been borrowed and reworked for lapstrake plywood by modern designers.

Will

[ 09-20-2002, 03:59 PM: Message edited by: WWheeler ]

[Meerkat]

Bunch of sneakboxes and duckboats here:

Sam Devlin Duckboats and Sneakboxes (http://www.devlinboat.com/dcduckboats.htm)

[Rancocas]

Steve; I've had that site bookmarked for sometime. I'm particularly intrigued with the Delaware River Tuck-up. It looks to me like it carried a tremendous amount of sail for its size.
Sorry that I don't know of any current boats made to those designs.

[AndyFarquhar]

The Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia has a Delaware Ducker and a Tuckup on display. They may have the lines. (seaport@indsm.org)

The Tuckup has a huge sail with many reefs. What was it with people back then and huge sails?

Regards

Andy

[Steve Paskey]

That big sail on the tuckup was meant for racing, with four or five guys on the rail to hold her down.

In the same spirit, Charles Mower once designed a 14-foot sailing skiff with 238 sq. ft. of sail! John Gardner modified the boat for plywood construction in Building Classic Small Craft and gave her a smaller rig (only 98 sf).

Incidentally, a couple of guys from the Delaware River Traditional Small Craft Assoc. recently found an old silver cup at an antique store, engaved "Tuckup Challenge 1874". They have a tuckup themselves, and have challenged another tuckup to a race at the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival in St. Michael's, Maryland the first weekend in October. I don't know if the challenge has been accepted.

[Steve Paskey]

Sonofagun. The 2nd boat in Stephens' section on the sneakbox is the "barneget cruiser," a 14-foot cruising variation on the sneakbox developed by Mr. Bishop of "Four Months in a Sneakbox" fame.

I was looking at Gardner's "Building Classic Small Craft" last night. I knew he had a chapter on the sneakbox, but hadn't paid much attention before. Turns out that Gardner details how to build the above boat using modern construction methods, such as laminated plywood frames and glued plywood strips for planking. (Incidentally, Gardner's boat is beamier, but the lines are otherwise essentially the same.)

[Bill Perkins]

Sneakboxes are cool , but the freeboard seems arbitrarily low for a cruiser , if one won't be piling brush on top to make a duck blind .

[garland reese]

The Forest and Stream Barnegat Cruiser in the W.P. Stephens book is very interesting. The freeboard had been increased on this one and the stern was rounded. I'd like to see this one done in a modern construction like strip or cold molding. I wonder how hard the rounded stern would be to deal with?

[dadadata]

===
The freeboard had been increased on this one and the stern was rounded. I'd like to see this one done in a modern construction like strip or cold molding. I wonder how hard the rounded stern would be to deal with?
===

That Cruiser was developed to make some sort of small cruising boat that was more comfortable than a canoe (which many guys had cruised in round that time -- see my Cheap Pages, etc., etc., bla bla bla) and less minimal than a Barnegat hunting sneakbox.

Bishop certainly knew what he was about, having cruised long distances in both a canoe and a classic sneakbox.

Unfortunately a lot of the context for WPS' book is gone (or simply not yet dug back out of old magazines in scattered archives), but that's the intent. Usually the writeups on these boats that appeared in FOREST & STREAM had a lot more info on the design(s).

I know a guy named Jay Hockenberry who has input that hull into a CAD system and created molds for planking one up. IOf anyone's interested in contacting Jay, email me.

[Bill Perkins]

DaDa I'll bet Jay or his software have produced a 3d of the boat . Think he'd be willing to share it here ?

[Bruce Taylor]

I've just been reading that chapter in Stephens. I came online to search sneakbox cruisers in D/P...and whaddaya know, there's a fresh thread on them.

http://dragonflycanoe.com/stephens/plate46a.gif

I'm intrigued by these old skimming-dish hulls.

What do you suppose it would be like to sail one?

[Dpearce]

Wow, it's great to find this thread... I've been reading the W.P.Stephens book online via http://dragonflycanoe.com/stephens/index.html and Have just drawn the "forest and stream cruiser" in 1/3 scale to get a better look at it.
I'm thinking seriously about stripping this boat and would love to hear about anybody elses experience.

Darren

[Thaddeus J. Van Gilder]

I hear that there have been several sneakboxes and mellonseeds built in the last decade or so in south Jersey. I my self have considered building one in one of the boatbuilding classes that I teach.

Thad

[DaBoss]

Mac Mcarthy has built both the traditional Barnegat sneakbox and the Melonseed skiff over the years (in strip construction). He has the mold patterns for the Melonseed tucked away somewhere, and maybe even for the Barnegat Bay Sneakbox (small version). I have been after him for a while to hunt the mylars down and send me some patterns for the 'seed (I could use this as an opportunity to learn lofting, but I haven't gotten to it yet :rolleyes: ).
I'd love to see the 16 foot round sterned Barnegat cruiser built, or someone develope the plans more so it could be strip built by a joe like me. These are cool small boats!

[Dpearce]

"These are cool small boats!"

Dee
I couldn't agree more! I think I'll redraw this thing in 1/8 scale and try to build a model... Maybe even use my existing 1/3 scale drawing which would yield a 5'4" model.Hmmmmmmm, maybe somewhere in between.
I am a rank amatuer, but I have lofted 1 boat
( Chapelle, Boat-Building, plate 56, plans for a 15' peapod rowboat) to full size and it was a BLAST, as well as being a great learning experience! Go for it.

Darren

[Bruce Taylor]

There's a nice chapter on sneakboxes in Edwin J. Schoettle's _Sailing Craft_ (Macmillan, 1928, rept. 1937).

It's out of print, I believe, but inexpensive copies turn up frequently at second-hand dealers.