lapstrake on 15' marsh cat

[clicka]

I have plans to build joel white's 15' marsh cat.
the plans are for cold moulding but after reading building small boats by greg rossel I am thinking of lapstraking . I was wondering how big the frames would have to be and their spacings.
any information would be appreciated,
clicka

[Venchka]

Michael,

Here is a prospective client for you.

Wayne
In the Swamp. :D

[Keith Wilson]

The folks at Great Lakes Boatbuilding (http://www.greatwoodboats.com/index2.htm) built a glued-ply lapstrake Marsh Cat a few years back, and a lovely boat it is indeed.

http://www.greatwoodboats.com/csb02.jpg

http://www.greatwoodboats.com/csb04.jpg

[Buddy]

Great Lakes has another Marsh Cat in the gallery, Top Cat, a white hull with the top strake painted navy blue. I don't think it's a optical illusion, I believe the sheer has been raised. I know that this boat has seats inside. I have bulit some for mine as well. The original design was done for a client who had owned a 12 foot Beetle Cat and wanted a "bigger" Beetle to better accommodate his family of four for daysailing and camping. You sit on the cackpit floor in a Beetle, likewise the Marsh Cat as designed. A few other people besides me have added some kind of built in "higher" seats as well. It can get old for older folks sitting on a cushion on the floor for extended periods. I'm a agile 55 and am planning on keeping the boat a long time. Maybe not so lucky about my joints as the years roll. Its a game of inches with the low freeboard, low boom ( at least until you reef- the clew is about six inches higher then) your height ( 5' 10" here) and the height of the seats. Mine are removable and collapsible to clear the flat cockpiyt sole for sleeping aboard. I stow one or two throwable PFD under the Sport a Seat cushions and seatbacks so I have either a nominal 5" which does help, or 7.5" height which I prefer. IF you're familiar with it, the boom doesn't bother me at that height. I am considering putting a 6" grommet at the clew, like a flattening reef on by sloop, to raise the boom that 6" going to weather. Without the comfort of a Sport a Seat seatback, the coaming would not be at the right height for my comfort, particularly with the 7.5" height. One fellow has put a ten" seat locker across the stern and leans against the transom- seems to far aft to me, but..

Judging by Top Cats crew height sitting on what's said to be 10" high seats ( the height of the centerboard trunk I believe) to the coaming and boom - I'd estimate the sheer has been raised three inches or so, and the boom about the six. Could be the cut of the sail alone, but the gooseneck seems about 3" higher to my eye.

It's a game of inches, but this boat is more enjoyable with your fanny some higher off the floorboards than your feet.

The other BIG improvement in enjoying this boat-actually getting it rigged and off the trailer - is hinging the mast. Launched or stowed is 15 to 20 minutes insteab of a hour. And manhandling that solid mast single handed through the deck is about all my 155 pounds and 55 years can tackle safely now. Fine for settig up once a season but, I use my boat a whole lot more now. Rigging the shrouds, turnbuckles, putting the boom and gaff on the mast, bending on the sail to mast hoops, threading all the running rigging is all gone now. Just on cclevis pin in a Johnson tensioning lever ($50) like on a trailered racing dinghy. More than ANYTHING else, the hinged mast has vastly changed how we use thia boat. We will launch and retrieve for just a two hours' sail. Before, if we couldn't at least leave it at a dock one night and get two trips out of the effort, we rarely took the trouble- we used the Cape Dory 10 instead.

Now we have the feeling of a big boat's motion, a cockpit size of a big boat for cargo or guest carrying overnighter that's really no more real trouble to trailer than our previous 14' 6" 400 pound "Whitehall" sailing dinghy. But a lot more versatile in "missions" it can perform, much more comfortable for long spells aboard, and a JOY to sail.

Do you get the feelingd that I , my wife and I ( that's REAL important) really trust and love this boat.

[Keith Wilson]

Here's the other one from Great Lakes, and I'll make no apologies for the big photos; that's one pretty boat! It looks like it has an extra strake. I'd want seats if it were mine. The outboards are awfully obtrusive, but certainly practical.

http://www.greatwoodboats.com/csb13.jpg

http://www.greatwoodboats.com/csb12.jpg

[ 01-24-2005, 01:09 PM: Message edited by: Keith Wilson ]

[Buddy]

That IS one pretty boat. Cat Nap, not Top Cat, sorry! Notice that this one, unlike the yellow one which was rigged per plans without a bobstay, have a bobstay. Doug Gray also put a bobstay on his Marsh Cat So did I, although my bowsprit is 36 long instead of 18 inches to allow a bigger roller furled jib ( 46 sq ft to add to the stock main of 152 sq ft.It so "levered" the forestay tension on the bowsprit that I wanted to counter it with something other than just the stiffness of the laminated ash bowsprit. Mine bobstay is 5/16 bronze rod that has been threaded and inserted into a standard bronze turnbuckle at one end, cutting, drilling, and tapping the now "spare" turnbuckle fork to receive the bronze rod to put the fork at the other end. Very simple to do. It attaches to a 6"long 3/8" bronze towing eyebolt ( runs clear thru the stem and an additinal backing block using the clevis pin of the bronze shackle to which I attach the trailer's winch strap. Works great.

[clicka]

thanks Keith and Buddy looking at those pitcures makes me even more keen to build in this fashon.Will have a look at what great lakes has to offer.
clicka