new design, 15' cat ketch

[176inches]

A year ago I started building a 15-foot open sailboat that I designed myself, using Carlson Design software and lots of calculations. It is constructed of marine plywood, cedar and oak, using broad lapstrakes (4 strakes per side) glued and nailed. It has seven permanent frames (some are bulkheads), not counting the transom. It also has side decks, full-length side and transom benches with large buoyancy compartments and storage lockers built into them, a rowing thwart also serving as mizzen partner, a slightly off-center centerboard trunk, 50 lbs of lead shot ballast in a special box on the keel batten and a removeable cedar plank floor.

The rig is very traditional: cat ketch with short unstayed wooden masts, standing lug sails and sprit booms. I constructed the spars and sewed the sails, and made a pair of poplar 9-foot oars also.

Aerie is now ready except for the running rigging. The name is a 2,500-year-old nickname of my ancestral island and means "breezy" in ancient Greek. For those so inclined there are plenty of photos and commentary on my blog (http://176inches.blogspot.com). The handle is from the length of the boat per the plans (the finished length is closer to 179 inches).

Any questions or comments welcome.

[James McMullen]

Where do you sit? Your mizzen looks very right in your lap.

[JimD]

Nice looking effort. Let us know how it sails.

[Thorne]

Get lots of pics, and a friend with a camera or two in another boat for the launch photos. Looking good!

[176inches]

Where do you sit? Your mizzen looks very right in your lap.

Hard to see the inside in wide-angle photos. The cockpit space is 30 by 110 inches, not counting the full-length side benches up to 20 inches wide, and there's a seat by the transom. The mizzen sits right at the rowing thwart which bisects the space. It's very roomy, what with a 6 foot beam. I designed it for comfort in fact!

[Hwyl]

Nice job, ready for that Caique now?

[176inches]

Nice job, ready for that Caique now?

Now that's another kettle of fish. Steam bending pine planks, carvel construction with oakum and pitch caulking, red lead undercoating--that would take an apprenticeship. I'm just a humble marine plywood guy!

Used caiques may be getting cheap now anyway, what with the crisis in Greece and elsewhere. I also heard that there used to be European Union subsidies (from cultural budget funds) to restore them. Now that might be an idea, but I shudder to think what a nightmare the paperwork would be.

[Dan St Gean]

somewhere about here...

[176inches]

I have finished the boat's rigging. Check out my blog at http://176inches.blogspot.com/. This rig is so old-timey I wonder how many boats there are in the world like it.

Hoping to have it inspected, titled and registered in the coming week. I will then report on how it sails, fingers crossed. The masts are slender and bend a lot. The mast design software says they should be safe for inshore cruising but we'll find out!

[JimD]

Nice looking sails.

[176inches]

Had to sew them myself.

[johngsandusky]

Looks great! Mast bend can be a good thing, particularly in a light boat.

[176inches]

Had the boat inspected by the state Dept. of Watercraft. No problems there and I got a two-week temporary tag pending registration. Will be launching as early as this weekend--wish me luck!

[johngsandusky]

Good luck! Sailng your own boat the first time is a unique thrill.

[potomac]

Bang up job. Salty as he**. Good luck. Make sure to post pictures.

[timo4352]

Good luck. Don't forget a post sail report. I know I'm one that's interested in a small cat ketch and how she performs.

[176inches]

First launch was today. Lots of work, mistakes, problems and some good, fast cruising wih wind speeds between 15 and 20 miles. Worst were a (relatively slow) leak and an inability to tack (flat out stalled). That last one would have been a real killer, but it was fixed simply by pulling down tight on the mizzen downhaul. Main points:

• After retrieval I found the leak, and it's through the joint between CB trunk and garboard. Nothing that some nails, epoxy compound and caulk won't fix. Unfortunately the supposedly watertight buoyancy compartments also took on some water, so I have to dry them out and seal them with caulk this time. Clearly epoxy compound leaves invisible holes for water to come through.
• Rigging her is a pain, and a lot of things can go wrong. It takes two people to do it. On a calm day she could be rigged at the dock, but since the mizzen partner is also the rowing thwart, I would need a motor, which I don't intend to get (yet, anyway).
• She rows very well, but the high sides and nine-foot oars mean she is not a real row boat.
• She is very dry (well, except the leak anyway), weatherly, stable and stiff. She has very little leeway. Also a slight weather helm, which is exactly how I designed her.
• She can really fly on a moderate breeze.
• The tacks, and especially the mizzen one, need to be tightly hauled down. I had been warned many times in books and web articles, but I didn't realize that the consequence would be inability to tack.
• The masts, although slender, performed perfectly well, with no perceptible bend. I can't vouch for them in a much stronger wind, but I am very pleased with them.
• I need to clearly label yards and sprits so I don't repeat stupid mistakes like I made today.

For more details and a couple of measly photos (too busy and worried, and no friend to take them from another boat) check out http://176inches.blogspot.com

[johngsandusky]

Practice will improve all of that. The first time I launched my Dory Yawl, I could hardly get her to do anything. By the end of the year I was much improved.

[176inches]

Today I dried out the boat and inspected the underside more carefully. I can actually see the tiny gaps between the garboard and the centerboard trunk along the slot, on one side only it seems. I can't believe I could be so careless. Anyway, the leak will be fixed (hopefully) this week.

I painted the forward tips of the mizzen yard and sprit blue so I could tell them apart from the main ones, which I left alone. It will be easy to remember: Blue at the Mizzen is the last of Patrick O'Brian's series of nautical novels of Master and Commander fame. The naval lore that they are packed with has proven handy more than once.

[176inches]

My last building post (there will be others occasionally about the sailing experience) on http://176inches.blogspot.com has Aerie's vital statistics and a cost estimate. I still haven't weighed her.