14'Simmons Mod

[pipefitter]

This is an interesting 14' Simmons conversion by Michael B. in Oregon if IIRC. If Mike is a member of the forum and sees this,he can chime in or Dave Carnell would know more than I but it looks like Mike did a great job replacing the rubber dingy on his big boat.

"Dear Dave,

I called you a couple of months ago about shorting up the 18' Simmons Sea Skiff plan 3 feet to make a 14 footer for a tender to put on my 47' fish boat conversion. Here are a couple photos of the project so far. The changes I made was subbing the floor length of 11,12 and 13 for floors 8,9 and 10 and keep the die rise of 8.9 and 10. Plus I built in trim between the transom and floor 10 to help put the bow down. The last change I did was to add a little to the keel shoe to hopefully help take squirreliness out. The
Skiff will sit in the cradle were the Avon is in the photo. Let me know what you think. I will keep you posted with photo and how she
handle at the sea trial.

Thank you for all the work you have done on these plans. It's been a joy to build!"

The larger boat this Simmons is to be a tender for is damn sharp as well. Great work Mike on both accounts.

















Looks like it flies to me. The boat is powered by a 9.8 Nissan

[reeljob]

Very cool. Seems like it would be very narrow on the bottom though.

[pipefitter]

Very cool. Seems like it would be very narrow on the bottom though.

It's as wide as the 18. The beam/length ratio would be more closely matched. He only removed the narrower rear of the boat and left the beam that is about amids. It should be average stability for a 14'.Looks like it is decently stable. Plus the motor is alot smaller than usual for an 18'.

As far as the 18 being narrow,it is just tender enough so that if you reach for the baitbucket ,the boat tips just enough to comfortably reach it and is just right for reaching over to grab the leader or net a big fish. In a fishing boat sense it works out perfectly.It occured to me that when we catch the large cobia that are 50lbs and over,it will be much easier to get them in the boat. They're great.

[pipefitter]

Here is some more notes to the boats performance. Alot of Simmons owner/builders have the same smile on their faces when they see what they can do. I still smile like that and so does everyone else I let drive my 18.

"Dave,

Launched the boat yesterday afternoon, it was a sunny spring day here in the great state of Oregon. Normally it rains and rains hard!

The little 9.8 Nissan worked well with just one person in the boat. It put the boat on a plane in about three seconds. Top speed my guess would be around 20 knots. It handled great, it banked through the turns and was not squirrelly at all, it was a joy to control. The guy that helped me launch it has made many boats and he had the same response. He believes the proper horse power for this 14 footer would be no less than 20 and no more than 25. He said that a 25 would plane this boat well with 3 person in it.

Here are some photos. Thank you again for the plans. It has been truly a blast to build. I blieve this will be a great addition to the "Island Maid II" as it's tender skiff."

[Dave Carnell]

I found with my 18 that I made the plans from that when I put the helm hard over at top speed (35mph), the boat would heel till the prop came out of the water, just before any came over the gunwale.

[coffeetrader]

Dave,

First I just wanted to thank you and Pipefitter for the acknowledgement on the 14 foot Simmons Sea Skiff I coverted and built from your 18' drawings. I just registered with the WB Forum, so if I can answer any questions about the Skiff or the coverted 1945 commercial fish boat I would be happy to.

coffeetrader(Michael)

[Hal Forsen]

That is the coolest tender I've seen. Nice work Michael!
HF

[pipefitter]

I think it is great. Both boats. Glad you signed up. I didn't have room on my website to store the other pictures so I tried to post the most relevant.Maybe someone on here that has photobucket or imagestation would let you email the rest of the photos that I didn't get to post such as the one with the large salmon. Have you been using the boat anymore since these were taken?

I haven't experienced any tenderness issues with my boat and it is out of the hole and topped out as fast as you can throw the hammer.There has been no surprises whatsoever of it's handling and is a secure,confident feeling machine.By far the best boat I have ridden in of it's class and beyond.

[coffeetrader]

Pipefitter,

My wife and I were moored on the lower Columbia river near the mouth for the month of August and part of September. I used the skiff just about everyday. The thing I had to get use to was how quick this little 14' skiff responds. It dose not take much to make a turn, but she is stable, very quick out of the hole and planes like a dream.

coffeetrader

[pipefitter]

Same here CT. I have a friend with a 17 key west with a 90hp rude on it and my Simmons walks away from his. I am 50 yrds out front before he gets on plane.The day he went with me in his boat,he used 13 gals of fuel and I used 3-4. At one point we traded and when it came time to trade back he kept saying "no,I'm not giving it back". That glass boat felt like a brick after getting out of the Simmons. Now he wants one.

[Skiff Junkie]

Just thought I'd chime in here and ditto the cudos on Michael's boat. Coincidentally, yesterday I received some photos from a buddy of mine. They are of a skiff measuring about 14-ft that is sitting in front of a seafood restaurant. From the photos, it looks to be an authentic 14-foot Simmons, though a little more investigation is needed to determine for sure. I knew that Simmons built a lot of boats to the buyers' specs, plus he built some that were not typical of his design, but this is a new one to me. I think my buddy was planning to talk to the restaurant owner and see if there's any way to rescue this boat. If it's an authentic Simmons, it could be the only one of its kind left, and I'd hate to see it live out it's days as a restaurant prop.

[coffeetrader]

Skiff Junkie,

I have taken a close look at this restaurant prop Simmons Skiff and I think if you take a close look and the distants between the front of the motor well and the back of the bow deck and compare it with the one I just built. It seem that the one infront of the restaurant could be a 12 footer. I sure would like to know the size when your friend takes a tape to it.

Please keep me posted,

coffeetrader