Headwater 16, by Tracy o'brien

[wingnut]

hello,
i'm new to this board, but am thankfull i've found it. what a wealth of information! i just recently purchased a set of plans from Tracy O'brien, and will start building his headwater 16 dory/skiff as of this weekend! i'm curious as to weather anyone has built one of these boats? And if there are any pointers they can give me before i get started. i've gone over the plans so many times i think i have them memorized, and done as much research as i can (for now) on boat building. so far the only boat i've built/ restored was an 8' pram. with that under my belt, i wanted to try something that i could use in the saltwater hear in washington and that is why i decided on o'briens design. i'm looking forward to any advice anyone feels the need to give me. thanks in advance.
Wingnut

[capt jake]

Hey wingnut!! I just pulled up his site again and took a peek. Looks straight forward enough. Typical NW dory. I you have gone over those plans like you have said, it shouldn't be a problem.

Tracey is still in Chehalis, isn't he? Maybe take a drive to see him or the boat, if he has one available.

Good luck and happy holidays! smile.gif

[wingnut]

capt. jake,
i actually purchased the plans directly from Tracy, what a wealth of information. a very nice guy, and i've already emailed him with a couple of questions. yes, he is still in chehalis, i found his site by accident, and as it turned out he lives on the same road some of my relatives live on. small world to say the least. but, he didn't have a dory to look at while i was there. he did have a modifed predator that he had built, which was a neat boat also, but too big for my garage space.
as for his plans, they are pretty straight forward, and really don't have any real concerns or trouble spots that i can see (but i'm sure i'll have questions along the way) anyway, thanks for the note and happy holidays, too.
wingnut

[capt jake]

I might have to search him out one of these days. I am in Chehalis periodicaly.

Cheers!

[WOODZOWL]

Wingnut
This is a 16' Headwater that I built in 1990, it,s no longer belongs to me but I recently had a chance to use it again. Still looks pretty good after 13 years. It is powered by a 25 4 stroke Yamaha. Email me if you need any moral support. Jerry Mathieu http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid43/p2231c80064775acd41ef3475715ad36e/fce9c941.jpg

[wingnut]

Thank you for the picture! what a beautiful boat!!! i can only hope that mine turns out that nice. i have one question for you though. how did the 25 yami. turn out on the boat. i'm debating on what to use for power. is the 25 enough to plane say three people? i am contemplating going a little bigger but, would like some first hand accounts as to how well it performs with a twenty-five...would save me a little on the pocket book. thanks again for teh picture. i was hopeing that someone would post a picture of the boat!
thanks again.
wingnut

[TomMcKinney]

Nice picture!! Now you have me wanting to start my H-16. Good Luck

[WOODZOWL]

Wingnut ( It feels good when you say that )
Re :Headwater 16: This is a good plywood boat; but it has some shortcomings. It has way too much rocker in the bottom to be a good planing hull. When you put power to it, the response is positive, until you put weight aboard. The Headwater 16 , W/ a 35 hp Johnson, would manage 21 - 22 mph w/ 3 aboard. With a 25 Yam. 4 stroke it went 20 - 21 mph. My own design---- the "CHOG 18" cruises at 22--23 and tops at 25 - 28 W / 3 aboard. I must also include that the Headwater 16 was not my favorite skiff, but the Tracy Obrien Deadrise "V19" that I built in 2000, is by far the finest small ship that I have ever owned. Jerry Mathieu

[Tom Lathrop]

Woodzowl,

If you want a boat to handle best in waves, then some rocker is what you want. If you want the best planing boat, then there should be no rocker at all, zero, none, nada. Any fore/aft convexity at all will create negative lift (suction) and require more power for the same speed than a boat with straight buttock lines. In addition, rocker in the planing lines leads to a greater tendency to porpoise.

[dcobbett]

Wingnut,
Didn't see this thread until this morning,
Just to reinforce WOODZOWL's comments about the Deadrize 19 he built, last fall he finally accepted my invitation :D and I spent an afternoon fishing and boating on the Westport River in the D 19. Jerry has a 50 HP 4 stroke on the back of the boat , and @ about 75 to 80% max revs, we did an honest 26 knts (as per the GPS). When he went to WOT, we topped out at just over 30 knt's.

The most impressive aspect of the D 19 was the way it came up on a plane; almost dead level (I really don't think it raised up more than 10 degrees at any time). Once it was up on the surface, he trimmed the engine out a bit and you could feel it get a boost and scoot away a couple of knots faster.

[Mr. Know It All]

http://www.tracyobrien.com/uploads/h16.jpg

What kind of wood are ya using?
Peace---> Kevin in Ohio

[ 01-01-2003, 08:49 PM: Message edited by: Mr. Know It All ]

[wingnut]

wow!
you guys are full of information, i've been away for christmas so this has been teh first time i've been able to review the thread.
thank you all for the information, it has been helpfull, more than likely i will only have two people in the boat most of the time. the speed is as what i originally expected with that power source.
as for what kind of wood i'm using, i'm using marine plywood (mahogany (?sp)) 1/2" for the bottom and 3/8" for the sides. the bottom will have another layer added to it, i haven't decided yet on what thickness, but was thinking 3/8", i am also going to do away with the middle seat and have only a center console, so i therefore have to build up the flooring also. (hope that makes sense)
i just got started a couple days ago with scarfing the plywood. i did several practice scarfs on a sheet of scrap plywood i had and was finally satisfied with it after a couple attempts, and have now started scarfing the marine plywood.
i made the attachement for the circular saw that tracy o'brien came up with, and it works pretty well. but, i still have to use a block plane to get a little ridge off that is left, when cutting through 1/2" ply.

now, as for the D-19, i love the looks of that boat, and would have loved to build it but, i'm limited on space, so that is why i decided on the H-16. maybe in a few years i may have to build the D-19!

i would like to thank everyone for there responses, and feel free to keep them comming.

thanks again,
Wingnut smile.gif