Catspaw Dinghy

[Big Red]

Anyone out there built one of these? Lapstrake style perhaps? Or cold-moulded even?

I was reading through some old WB mags and came across an article on lofting (WB 111) in which the author uses the Catpaw as his example. Included was the table of offsets smile.gif

[Bruce Hooke]

I've not built one but I've done extensive repairs on a boat of a very similar design. It's a great traditional rowing boat -- not the lightest thing in the world but it rows well, especially rowing double...

[Keith Wilson]

Brad Buxton in Minneapolis built a cold-molded one a few years back. It was a very nice boat. I think a plywood lapstrake one would be good.

[Dave Gray]

Greg Rossel's book on building small boats details lofting and building a Catspaw. I believe a large part of this book originally appeared in WoodenBoat magazine articles first.

[Greg Stoll]

Haven't built one, but I did sail one at WBS. It was fun, albeit scary when the wind switched and increased from 5-10 to a steady 15 knots. Good boat though, and easy to stay out of trouble if you're paying attention.

Greg

[Big Red]

Thats the chap, the Rossel fellow. Good article I thought. I lofted it on 4 sheets of masonite over the last week, and she looks good. Looks like a rowing boat really. I think I was misled by the name Catspaw thinking she might have been a cat-boat.

I did some figurin' yesterday regarding how much wood and what sizes I might need so its off to get some prices.

Maybe I'm just dreaming again... ;)

[Mrleft8]

Originally posted by Big Red:
Thats the chap, the Rossel fellow. Good article I thought. I lofted it on 4 sheets of masonite over the last week, and she looks good. Looks like a rowing boat really. I think I was misled by the name Catspaw thinking she might have been a cat-boat.

I did some figurin' yesterday regarding how much wood and what sizes I might need so its off to get some prices.

Maybe I'm just dreaming again... ;) Just finished building one in May. Nice little boat.Not at all hard to build. The "How to build a cats paw dinghy" book is next to useless. If you have questions, ask me, I can tell you just about everyway to do stuff differently than I did, to make your life easier!

[LisaS]

and if you send enough airplane tickets, I know where there is a crack team of riveters too!

[Big Red]

Heheh, I got a good laugh outa those replies. Thanks guys smile.gif

I kinda figured that with the table of offsets, how much more do you need to build a boat? Well a small one anyway. Might be a little over confidence speaking there, you know, fools rush in...

But if you loft it out you can figure things out for yourself. Plans are for the less adventurous smile.gif

My first comment/question would be: damn is that keel line right? It sure does kick up from station 6 back to the transom. How am I gona bend the keel like that?!

My next question is can you post some pictures Lefty? :rolleyes: :D

Lisa what's the beer-to-rivet ratio? ;)

[Mrleft8]

Yes the keel does crank up fairly quickly after station 6. I steamed my keel for about an hour to get that bend, and I held it in place with a deadman for as long as possible (About a week I guess). I have some pictures somewhere. Either Jack Dillon, or LisaS posted them here somewhere back in early June. I don't seem to have the knack of posting pictures, but if I can dig them up, I'll e-mail them to you.
As for the rivet to beer ratio.... It's not too bad. It's the rivet to ribs ratio that'll kill ya! :D

[J. Dillon]

Doug's boat. He can give expert advice on how to build her. Especially on where to put the waterline. ;)

JD

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid119/pa85f6521b0d0d84c76ec23c01bde2610/f879ec40.jpg

[Big Red]

Care to try that pic again JD? smile.gif

[Mrleft8]

NOTE: The picture Jack so thoughtfully posted, is "pre-floor board installation". (And pre-beer christening too! :D )