Best Jersey skiff design for sailing

[Bill Mercer]

So, I'm thinking of building a Jersey skiff, Sea Bright skiff, lifeguard dory, whatever you call it. I've got Gardner's and Guthorn's books--any recommendation on the best hull for a 16' sail boat that rows fairly well? Gardner's lines for Lizzy are my first thought, just 'cause they're so readily available. Since I live on the Pacific coast, the boat probably won't see surf (that would be quasi-suicidal, unless I got a really flat day), but it will hopefully be all over Puget Sound, the Columbia and coastal bays, so a design that can stand up to wind, waves and weird eddies is important. Because of financial and building space limitation (especially the former!) I don't want to go much over 16'. I'd like to adapt a lug yawl rig to the hull, ideally with a sail kit, as paying for professional sailmaking on top of the boat and trailer is just a pipe dream with my current job.

One question==what's the point of that weird curved sternpost plus knee Gardner shows? Why not use a straight sternpost kneed to the bottom boards like a normal person?

So, what's out there, planwise, for those skiffs?

Thanks!

[David Cockey]

28 minute video from 1991 about Sea Bright skiffs and Charles Hankins who built them. The building process is shown in a number of segments. http://www.folkstreams.net/film,41

Chapelle's "American Small Sailing Craft" has plans for a 22' Sea Bright skiff. Copies of the original drawings are available from the Smithsonian.

[Bill Mercer]

28 minute video from 1991 about Sea Bright skiffs and Charles Hankins who built them. The building process is shown in a number of segments. http://www.folkstreams.net/film,41

Chapelle's "American Small Sailing Craft" has plans for a 22' Sea Bright skiff. Copies of the original drawings are available from the Smithsonian.

I've seen the video. Twenty-two feet is a bit larger than what I'm looking for.

[G. Schollmeier]

Reuel Parker has a Sea Bright 15; the lines are in BDQ #28. Or
http://www.parker-marine.com/parker2_1.htm
Howard Chapelle had lines for a 23'9" Sea Bright.

Building Classic Small Craft, By John Gardner has lines and offsets for a 16' and 18' 4" Sea Brights.

[Thorne]

You could try contacting Dusty Dillion of the TSCA Lost Coast Chapter - http://www.tsca.net/LostCoast/index.html

He's got a fiberglass Jersey Skiff that I've sailed with him, and rowed with friends. I think it is the Orca 18' South Jersey Beach model - http://www.dinghyco.com/ His has a spritsail and jib, seems to move along nicely in both light and heavy airs.

Plans for this style boat for wood lapstrake - http://www.sailing-new-england.com/beach_skiff.html

He sometimes rows it standing using raised oarlocks -




The boat is long and heavy enough not to pitch when briskly rowed double and carrying a coxwain - me, in this photo by John Kohnen -

[Bill Mercer]

Thorne, that is one nice looking boat! Do you know which design it was based on? Maybe the Gardner boat, but stretched a foot? I think that this guy :http://www.jordanwoodboats.com/home.cfm?dir_cat=77398 based his, similar looking, boat on Gardner's Lizzy.

[Thorne]

You'd have to ask the folks at Orca (or whatever the firm is called). I suspect it is just one of many variations of this theme - http://www.sailing-new-england.com/beach_skiff.html

[David Cockey]

The drawing on this site http://www.sailing-new-england.com/beach_skiff.html is the one mentioned above in Chapelle's "American Small Sailing Craft".

[nedL]

Having grown up 2 blocks from Seabright I am pretty familiar with the boats. (I have a 17 foot Jeralomon skiff - sistership of, or may be the actual one pictured in Guthorn's book, haven't decided yet). I love the boats of the N.J. shore & they are a passion of mine, but I will have to admit that if I were looking for a good sailer I wouldn't choose a Jersey shore design. They weren't intended for sailing other than as an 'assist'. The design was developed to get off & back on the beach safely & carry a good load of fish. I would call them a 'fair' sailer at best. I love the boats & the construction techniques required to create the rolled garboard and boxed garboard keels, (though it is complex & fidgity). But great sailers they are not.

[Bill Mercer]

Having grown up 2 blocks from Seabright I am pretty familiar with the boats. (I have a 17 foot Jeralomon skiff - sistership of, or may be the actual one pictured in Guthorn's book, haven't decided yet). I love the boats of the N.J. shore & they are a passion of mine, but I will have to admit that if I were looking for a good sailer I wouldn't choose a Jersey shore design. They weren't intended for sailing other than as an 'assist'. The design was developed to get off & back on the beach safely & carry a good load of fish. I would call them a 'fair' sailer at best. I love the boats & the construction techniques required to create the rolled garboard and boxed garboard keels, (though it is complex & fidgity). But great sailers they are not.

Ned, what problems do you see with them as sailors? Not stiff enough with their slack bilges?

This guy http://www.sailing-new-england.com/s...each_skiff.pdf
and this http://www.smallboatforum.com/PDFfil...rightSkiff.pdf seem to think they are good sailors--could it be down to different hull shapes? After all, there is probably some variation in the general form, with different runs, bilges and bottom widths. Or is this just owner's pride talking with these guys?

This kind of thing is why I started this thread.

[Bill Mercer]

For instance, the Chapelle skiff seems to have a shorter run with a more abrupt, uh, beginning of the run, than the Merrimack skiff from the Sailing New England pdf above, which as I understand it effects the stern wave and other sailing qualities. But it also has lower, harder bilges than the Merrimack boat.

[Bill Mercer]

Having grown up 2 blocks from Seabright I am pretty familiar with the boats. (I have a 17 foot Jeralomon skiff - sistership of, or may be the actual one pictured in Guthorn's book, haven't decided yet). I love the boats of the N.J. shore & they are a passion of mine, but I will have to admit that if I were looking for a good sailer I wouldn't choose a Jersey shore design. They weren't intended for sailing other than as an 'assist'. The design was developed to get off & back on the beach safely & carry a good load of fish. I would call them a 'fair' sailer at best. I love the boats & the construction techniques required to create the rolled garboard and boxed garboard keels, (though it is complex & fidgity). But great sailers they are not.

And one more question--I don't know if you have seen John Gardner's plans for a Sea Bright, but he shows a sort of unusual sternpost arrangement, where the bottom of the sternpost is curved like a very short knee, but then rests on the actual stern knee. Is this usual? If so, what's the purpose? Guthorn's book shows a more dory-like arrangement of the stern post being joined to the bottom boards by a knee.

[wdbeyer]

I might be wrong on this, but as I understand it, the Seabrights (built in Monmouth and Ocean Counties) are different than the Sailing-new-england.com boat. That model is a South Jersey skiff, commonly from the Atlantic City area. Growing up in Pt. Pleasant, the Hankins boats (Seabrights) were generally used as lifeguard boats and were much better at rowing, and usually longer than 16'. I think Gardner's version is a modified Seabright.

[Eddiebou]

This boat strikes me as being remarkably similar to the "yankee skiff" or "staten island skiff" that was used here on Chesapeake bay for oystering around the turn of the 20th century. I've seen these in books and museums. I'd kinda like to build one, but not right now. What are the differences between the two? I'd like to see lines drawings/ offsets for both.

[Bill Mercer]

This boat strikes me as being remarkably similar to the "yankee skiff" or "staten island skiff" that was used here on Chesapeake bay for oystering around the turn of the 20th century. I've seen these in books and museums. I'd kinda like to build one, but not right now. What are the differences between the two? I'd like to see lines drawings/ offsets for both.

According to Peter Guthorn's The Sea Bright Skiff and other Shore Boats, there was a Jersey version of the Yankee skiff that was pretty similar to a Sea Bright skiff, even to having rolled garboards.

[nedL]

Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday, & don't have time right now to comment fully. I will get back later. I haven't seen Gardner's plans close enough to be able to comment on the sternpost arrangement, sorry. As fro their sailing qualities, I was giving that some thought last night, and I guess I mmay have been a bit harsh. Their sailing characteristics should be pretty similar to typical dory types of designs that have been modified for sailing (Swampscott, Banks, etc.). They will certainly get you where you want to go but won't point as high or move as quickly as something designed as a sailer.

[Bill Mercer]

You could try contacting Dusty Dillion of the TSCA Lost Coast Chapter - http://www.tsca.net/LostCoast/index.html

He's got a fiberglass Jersey Skiff that I've sailed with him, and rowed with friends. I think it is the Orca 18' South Jersey Beach model - http://www.dinghyco.com/ His has a spritsail and jib, seems to move along nicely in both light and heavy airs.

Plans for this style boat for wood lapstrake - http://www.sailing-new-england.com/beach_skiff.html



He sometimes rows it standing using raised oarlocks -




The boat is long and heavy enough not to pitch when briskly rowed double and carrying a coxwain - me, in this photo by John Kohnen -

Thorne, do you have contact info for Dusty Dillon? Didn't see any at the TSCA page.

Thanks!

[Thorne]

From their webpage - Call Linda

Contact Lost Coast

32100 N. Harbor Dr.
Ft. Bragg, CA 95437

Stan Halvorsen: (707)357-0888
Kris Halvorsen: (707)964-8342
Linda Dillion: (707)964-2612
LostCoast Webmaster: Jim Swallow