Gypsy versus Skerry?

[Nicholas Scheuer]

I was going to post this in the Gypsy Video Thread below, but it's noted "Thread Closed" at the end. (Didn't know threads ever "closed" on the WBF. Some seem to go on and on for years)

I've been seriously thinking about building a Skerry kit from CLC. I've got a nice wooden Melon Seed which is a great-sailing small boat, but I find two faults with her, she leaks like a sieve unless it's moored (I have to dry sail), and I've discovered that I like "open" boats instead of small sailboats having the extensive deck of a Melon Seed.

However, that Gypsy looks fabulous under sail! Years ago, when my youngest doughter was an adolescent (now 28) I had seriously considered building a Gypsy. I even have a hand-written note from Phi Bolger regarding the boat's suitability for my intended needs.

Now, considering that I've long been very happy with my Bolger-designed Dovekie and subsequent Shearwater Yawl, I'm wondering whether to reconsider the Skerry thing.

Gypsy is every bit as good under oars as Skerry, and her transom stern will support a small motor better than Skerry would, though a motor would be at the remote edge of my intended use.

I would appreciate opinion of those here in regard to these two designs.

We have a CLC Eastport Pram for a tender towed by our Yawl, so I know how CLC boats are constructed.

Moby Nick

[DGentry]

For what it's worth, Gypsy can plane, and that right there would be the deciding factor for me. Easier to crawl over a transom stern, too, should you end up in the drink.
Adding to the Bolger legacy would also factor in, for me, too - plus you'd have a Bolger classic, rather than yet another generic CLC. I suspect you could easily build a Gypsy for far less than the kit price of a Skerry, as well.
Perhaps you couldn't tell, but my vote is for the Gypsy . . . .

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Well done DGentry! You're tipping me back toward Gypsy.

[Chip-skiff]

I've got a Gypsy, that Dave looked over and rowed at the Colorado messabout. She's particularly nimble in light air and quite fast under both sail and oars. (If you aspire to planing, you'd best build her with rails and straps to let you hike out.)

Here's a link to a recent thread comparing Gypsy to the Goat Island Skiff and other designs:

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...or-light-winds

There's a photo of my boat, which unlike the original design, has decked watertight compartments fore and aft and narrow side decks with a cockpit coaming. If you search my posts, you'll find a thread on the rebuild, with lots of photos, and various other posts scattered on the WBF.

If you have any specific questions, I'll try to respond.

[davebrown]

I've built two gypsies and a skerry. Unfortunately, I didn't really know what I was doing and set the gypsies up for rowing. I wish I had done the sail conversion. So I can't compare the two boats for sailing. The skerry is a wonderful single person rowboat. The gypsy is pretty good. The skerry was very good for me to learn to sail in, but I have begun to get better at it (this is my fourth season) and I have realized that I am taking it out beyond my limits with the present rig, since I go out in the SF Bay and the sail cannot reef. There are probably numerous people on this forum who could take it out in conditions, meaning wind and current, that I would be uncomfortable in, to put it politely... If you are an experienced sailor, I would think you will outgrow the skerry pretty quickly. But those Norwegian roots in the skerry are not for nuthin', as they say: for what it is, it is one hell of a rowboat. If you want to step it up a notch, consider the CLC Nor'easter. Much more boat, weighs about the same, maybe not quite as pleasing to the eye, but that could be me...As far as cost for the gypsy vs. the skerry, if you make the gypsy out of exactly the same wood (okume, I believe), the price differential might not be that great, and the skerry could be even cheaper. CLC has the advantage of economy of scale, and when I built a sassafras (actually two) I couldn't get under the kit price, for a similar scratch-built boat, which is why I built a kit boat. So those are some pros and cons. If I were to choose between the gypsy and the skerry, right now, I would say the gypsy is better if you row with more than one person, hands down. I would think the gypsy would be a better sailer, and with that pointy sail, probably much better to windward. I like the looks of the skerry much better. Maybe you should consider the Shearwater 16? Uh-oh.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Your sugestion is ironic, davebrown. We presently cruise in a 28-ft Shearwater Yawl, a Bolger design built by Edey & Duff.

I like the Faering heritage evident in the Skerry a lot.

OTOH, I keep remembering an account published many years ago in the old Small Boat Journal telling of a fellow who cruised the length of the Maine Coast in a Gypsy, rowing a considerable distance, if I remember right, with all of his shore camping gear aboard.

Thanks,

Moby Nick

[Michael Wick]

I bought a beat up Gypsy and did lots of work on her, including adding a deck and washboards, because she could swamp rather easily when sailing. I have experimented to make her a fast sailboat including a kick up rudder, foil shaped daggerboard, 70 sq ft leg-O-mutton sail with carbon fiber mast. We finished second in the PHRF fleet on a local lake this year. It is a great boat and good at self-rescue one day when I jumped to rescue my hat. She isn't as fast as my melonseed.

[Scott de M]

Hmmm, I built and owned a Gypsy for 15 years and I think it is a beautiful design - very pretty and easily built. I'm sure that most of y'all are better sailors than me but my Gypsy would not plane even with a 2 hp outboard.

[Chip-skiff]

RE: Planing. In the Harold "Dynamite" Payson book Build the New Instant Boats is a photo of the first Gypsy in a blow, with the sailor hiked out, almost-but-not-quite planing. It's heeling over on a chine. With the wind a bit more aft and a wave to ride, it likely would be planing. But it would also be close to the breaking limit of the unstayed, tapered mast. Hit a bad wave, and SNAP!

I reckon the Gypsy hull might plane with more sail area and stronger mast and spar(s), but with the stock 59 sq. ft. rig it would be difficult. ( If you've been planing your Gypsy for years, and I'm dead wrong, then speak up.)

The CLC Skerry is a nice-looking craft, except for the spritsail:



Traditional, perhaps, and the right thing for the stubby faering-type hull, but this sort of nearly-square sail offends my eye.

[Chip-skiff]

Guess you can't link to CLC photos.

In any event, here's a much better-looking sail for the CLC Skerry, a balanced lug sewn by Todd Bradshaw.



The taller peak must allow sailing closer to the wind. I like the hull, although with my long legs I don't fit inside it.