Pics of Corvus 15' plywood catboat

[T.KAMILA]

Finally after two and a half years we launched on Labor Day weekend. Been sailing every weekend since. She is more boat than I expected and sails like the dream come true that she is.








Other images at: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4291337379

I want to thank all of you for the much needed help along the way.

Tom

[ 09-22-2002, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: T.KAMILA ]

[capt jake]

bummer,. all the pics say 'sorry, you are posting from outside Imagestation.
But I went to the album and WOW, that is a great looking boat!! you should be a proud skipper! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 09-21-2002, 07:20 PM: Message edited by: capt jake ]

[Roger Stouff]

Sweet!

Great work!

[win_wood]

Great looking boat!!
You should be proud. It looks like you did a top notch job. Where did you get the plans for this boat.? What type of construction is it? I saw plywood and expected some hard chined looking boxy thing with a squared off cabin but was pleasantly surprised.

[Billy Bones]

Marvelous work. Congratulations!

[NormMessinger]

Oh, man! She's a beauty.

Stop me somebody before I build again.

--Norm

[Lowell Bernhardt]

T--Beautiful boat. I think I could live with something like that, and I'm not even really a big sailboat fan. I sure do like the smooth "fat" lines of those cats.

Well Done!!

Lowell

[Chris Coose]

Tom,
I've been wondering where you've been. Congrats. That is some beautiful work. I hope your trailering range extends to Casco Bay.

[Rich VanValkenburg]

This is what I really want. Lots of room for friends and the beer cooler. Nice boat! Beautiful work.

Rich

[Bill Perkins]

Congratulations Tom . I knew the workmanship was going to be great .It amazes me that ply can take that shape .

[ 09-22-2002, 10:14 AM: Message edited by: Bill Perkins ]

[manel]

Bravo!

[MikeP]

Congratulations Tom! Great looking boat.

A must see at ImageStation. A wonderful example of craftsmanship with plywood.

[img]smile.gif[/img] Fair winds to ya now on the water...

MikeP

[Mr. Know It All]

WOW Beautiful [img]smile.gif[/img]
Peace---> Kevin in Ohio

[Sailing-Randy]

Plywood? Cold molded seems more accurate unless there's something here I don't know! Great looking boat!

[T.KAMILA]

Thanks for the compliments! Sometimes things do go well in our lives. Randy is correct about the boat not being plywood. The plans I started with and built to is a fifteen-foot plywood hard chine catboat by Charles Wittholz. As you can see I did mess with her a little. Re-lofted her to round bilge and strip-planked her.
Weekend trips are a two-hour radius from north central Mass. That could be the coast of Connecticut, Cape Cod and as far north as Portland Chris. During the summer at least a couple of weeks further Down East and Lake Champlain.
The mast hinge makes for a twenty-minute setup at the ramp. We have been sailing the last few weekends off of Marblehead, launching from Winter Island in Salem harbor.
So many places to sail so little time!

Tom

[Ariel]

Congratulations! What a sweet catboat! Enjoy!

[reddog]

Tom;
A great catboat!I love the hinged mast.Did you do the design and fabrication?
One question about the outboard mount.Do you find the motor will bury in the stern wave under certain conditions?This happens with a friends' boat of similar length and beam although with a canoe stern.He has an adjustable mount so we can raise the outboard in these conditions.
All the best;
Earl

[Wild Dingo]

Stripping her has made her really seriously impressive!!

Im in love... sigh... again

Great job Tom brilliant I would say! Enjoy!

Is this one of the ones on Hankinsons site?

Funny thing about these Cat boats isnt it?... fat and squat lookin critters but mighty fine while theyre at it! Wish there were a few around here I could go drool... errr look over

Take it easy
Shane

[Ian McColgin]

Very nice.

I do believe that a trailorable cat is the way to pack in lots of cruising and the most glorious of gunkholing.

If you're ever down my way, raft up for a frosty.

Enjoy.

[Paul]

Fantantic Job! She is absolutely beautiful.

[htom]

Excellent. 'Tis strange how I can like individual catboats but not like the idea of catboat.

[Bill Perkins]

Ah the possibilities for a trailable shoal draft boat ! I grew up in Connecticut and used to have a State publication " Ahoy Connecticut " which showed all the State ramps . Some such no dought still exists . Members of Mystic Seaport can dock right at the Museum , or at least this used to be the case . Little Narraganset Bay , up behind Watch Hill and Nappatree points would be a good place for a little cat boat . Tho it's in Rhode Island I'll mention Point Judith Pond , a very pretty shoal water area . There's a nice private campground on the shore and some great fish and lobster is landed nearby .

Could take the ferry out of New London accross to Orient Point Long Island and launch in Shelter Island Bay . There's some great shoal water sailing grounds in that area . I particularly like a pretty little harbor on Shelter Island across from Greenport . I've been away too long and can't think of the name . Quisset ? Three Mile Harbor is also good .Also Hamburg Cove on the Connecticut River .

[T.KAMILA]

Earl, Yes I did design and fabricate the mast hinge. I was gong to knock off Breck Marshals design but had second thoughts. So I designed on a deferent concept. Works fine and is not that hard to fabricate. It should probably be run by a N. A. for peace of mind. The outboard is a long shaft four horsepower. When tilted up it just clears the stern wave. To make this work took very careful planing, well just dumb luck actually.

Shane, This is Corvus by the same designer as Sapphire you mention. Different boats though very similar.

Lan, When I head out that way I’ll take you up on that cool one. I’m sure you could teach me a thing or two about the waters around New England.

Bill, That publication is called Connecticut coastal Access Guide. It is a production of the Connecticut DEP. What a great resource! Does any one know of a similar map for Massachusetts and Maine? Thanks for the suggested cruising grounds, as I might be heading down that way this weekend.

Keep the sailing locations coming in ladies and gentlemen.

Tom

[Buddy Sharpton]

WOW WOW WOW. When can you put sailing In Essex Connecticut or Mystic in your schedule? I'm thrilled for you- now I have GOT to finish my MarshCat- I am one motivated dude. I've been piddling away time on too many details. Congratulations, Buddy

[garland reese]

Tom,
That little boat is beautiful! You have done a marvelous job of it. How many crew sail with you, normally? You surely did a fine job of converting the chines to a beatifully shaped hull.

[Lion]

Tom

Very, very nice! It's amazing how good that a catboat can look, particularly when done as well as this. Thanks for sharing it with us. Congatulations!

OK, am a little biased here as our project is the rebuild of a FW 18' cat, but this is great inspiration. Enjoy it!

Lion

[Wild Wassa]

Congratulations Skipper. I hope She brings more rewards. Beautiful boat.

Warren.

[Jeff Kelety]

Lovely!. How about some pics inside the cabin?

jgk

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

WOW Im am stunned - you guys are humbling in your craft

[shadow99]

Tom, her lines are sweeter than some of the babes in a Victoria Secret catolog. I sail out of the Mystic area as well, we must get together for a fall cruise. Maybe my next boat should be a catboat? Hope to see ya on the water.

Rick

[Roger Stouff]

Tom, (and others)

How hard is it to reloft chines to round bilge? Very curious about that!

Yes, cabin pics, please!

[Norske3]

Hi Tom....just what I would like in my driveway for a quick dip on a Sunday afternoon...I'm not far away you know...Cambridge, Ma.....so how much do you want for "Her"? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 09-26-2002, 08:04 AM: Message edited by: Norske3 ]

[T.KAMILA]

Buddy The Catboat Association has a get together at Essexs every year. I just missed it this year because of the late launch. Next year for sure. Let’s try meeting at that one for sure if not sooner.

Lion that Fenwick Williams is a classic. What a beautiful boat! I used a pic of a sixteen foot Fenwick Williams Catboat to develop the cockpit coaming, cabin sides and top. Also Fenwick Williams wrote a paper about The Design Elements of a Catboat. That paper gave me the confidence to carry out the redesign of this boat.

Jeff the interior of the boat is unfinished. Being such a small space it will require careful consideration. I plan on using the boat for a while before finishing it off. At the moment it has a sole and a porta-poti. Gear is just thrown in there. When we bring the dogs I throw a large wag-bag in there for them to sleep on. I located the bulkhead so a person could lie down in the cabin or in the cockpit.

Roger lofting to round bilge was not that difficult. If you look at the picture below you will see the hard chine lines drawn in amongst the round bilge lines. If you can make out the water line you will notice that the hull changed very little below the water line.(The water line is just above the chine on the outer two frames.) Most of the change was above the water line creating some reserve buoyancy evenly distributed along the hull. This fact discovered when I was just playing around with the lines seduced me into giving it serious consideration.

Norske3 the boats not for sale yet but Arey’s Pond down the Cape makes a catboat that is a foot and a half longer and about five hundred pounds heavier called Lynx that looks very similar to this boat for about twenty eight thousand. They offer it in fiberglass or they can strip build it.

Tom



[ 09-26-2002, 05:36 PM: Message edited by: T.KAMILA ]

[Scott Rosen]

Beautiful! The hull looks perfectly fair from the photos. Enjoy.

[pglonek]

I am about halfway thru the same Corvus catboat, but hard chined in plywood. Gosh, yours looks nice. How do I get plans for a hinged mast. That would make my life a lot easier.

Thanks for the inspiration.

[JimD]

Absolutely wonderful, Tom. What kind of wood is the brightwork?
jimd

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

God Dam that is one beautiful catboat. I'm in total boat lust. I went to your site to drool over all the photo. The detail on the tabernacle is extraordinary. I hope you don't mind another sailor lusting after your girl so much [img]smile.gif[/img]

[T.KAMILA]

Jim, the trim and seats are all white oak. The frames are laminated white oak, the deck is okume with dynel and epoxy and the hull is western red cedar with one coat of glass on the outside.

Pjlonek, the mast hinge was designed and fabricated by myself. E-mail me for detail information. If you have pics of your boat please post them. I know I would be very interested in your progress and am sure others would also.

Tom

[Buddy Sharpton]

Even my wife wants to do Essex next year so we're on.
Looking again at your lovely boat it is so harmonious that it seems that not one feature could be done any other way without diminishing this heirloom jewel. It's amazing how different it is from my also lovely Joel White Marshcat-both being very traditional, proper catboats of 15 foot length. Your's has evolved by reducing the size of a 25,21,18 foot Cape Cod cruising cat, mine from enlarging a 12 foot daysailor catboat, the Beetle Cat. How different indeed.
I'm glad you went with a hinged mast two-I'm sure it was a challenge to do one for a design that didn't have stays like mine does. Is it galvanised stell I'm seeing? Does the mast stay metal to the mast step? My stick is all wood, with a bronze hinge and locating pins, and a sliding fiberglass sleeve to cover the joint nine inches in either direction. But then I've got three stays to support the mast. Your's is truly a mechanical marvel.
You've done a masterful job in handling the extra height required by your cabin by getting that height in steps from the higher risers of the hatch slides, the high deck camber, the house sides married into the higher coaming providing back support, the height of the topsides being eased by the inward curve of the hull sections. And the curves all "justify" each other-the great curve of the waterline is paired with the strong sheer. I love the way you went with a round cabin front and the the full wraparound curve of the coaming through the art corners. Nothing here was shortcut for an easier build, but it's been accomplished to enjoy. I'm sure other folks would be pleased to have you make your design available. Its truly one of your own, not a Corvus 15, and I'm sure Mr. Wilholtz would be pleased at what you've done, standing on his shoulders. Really a whole 'nother deal-a long build yacht, not a short build plywood craft. I am somewhat relieved that your 2 1/2 years hasn't gotten the interior finished yet. After three years. I'm still working on building the removable interior parts for my MarshCat. I want to set it up primarily for daysailing, but with more comfort than sitting on a boat cushion on the flat cockpit sole. I'v built removable , collapsible wooden frames holding padded SportSeat cushions and the radio and storage consoles. I've enclosed the underdeck for storage with removable half bulkheads and hinged doors for more orderly daysailing. I've got four removable hatches in the floorboards for storage as well. A removable cabin top covers three feet of the ten foot cockpit for lots more dry storage on cruising weekends. A mosquito proof "florida room" rigs over the boom and gaff on three poles and drops down to the gunnels for comfort and view, and a sun/rain cover can top that. In real rain the edges can be drawn down bending the poles right down to the deck, and the 3" coaming will hopefully keep any water that gets by out of the cockpit for a dry night. We'll see. Anyway, that's how I hope to get a 7 foot by 13 foot cabin. with four foot something headroom out of this long, low daysailor.

It's been surprising how long this stuff takes to dream up, build, and then find and make all the latches, pins, sockets, and catches so everything can be setup and down quickly, without tools.
Fun to do though isn't it. I'd love to get these two boats together on the water somewhere.
You've been an inspiration and motivation
Enjoy her up there before it gets cold, and then bring her down her where we sail year round
Back to work on mine. .

[JimD]

Tom, I'm digging up your old post, first of course to reaffirm my admiration for your work (naturally ). I was looking at Wittholz's plans for sale from the WB store and remembered your boat. I'm considering doing something similar although less ambitious with the Bolger/Payson hard chined instant catboat, batten seamed. Fair winds and blue sky.

[John Blazy]

Sweet curves. This will be an heirloom piece. Amazing how big 15' is. Much respect for fairing that hull so nice - hope it lasts and lasts . . .

[Art Read]

How the hell did I miss this!!! OUTSTANDING!

(But ONLY two and half years? Couldn't you have just lied and doubled that? Kept the rest of us from despairing? Sigh... )

[Chadd Hamilton]

Yes, I missed this too. That's a very beautiful catboat!

[ishmael]

Gee that's sweet. I missed it too. But I'm disappointed. I've never seen photos of the hard chine plywood one.

[bob goeckel]

[Jim Goodine]

I love it. An absoltely beautiful job. Congrats and thanks for sharing the pictures with us. Now I'm going straight out to the shop and get to work.

[Buddy Sharpton]

Yeah, this one is going to be drop dead beautiful for all time. Not only the first boat he ever built, but the first set of lines he ever drew( and they are his truly IMHO), the first boat he lofted, and I think the first boat he ever owned. What an accomplishment. No mere luck out here, but research and application of talent and patience, as they say, earned the hard way. Another round of appaulse.

Tom, we are trying to work out trailering the finally finished MarshCat to the Essex Gaffers race this year-how about you?.

[Walcheren]

This is just wonderful. I can not imagine your boat is 2 inches smaller than my recently launched Poulsbo. And two and a half years does not sound too long to do such excellent work. Do you also suffer from "post partum depression" since the launch. Was it not fun while you were building her and now it is all over. Darn. Well done! Dirk.

[T.KAMILA]

Thanks again for the compliments. I was surprised to see this thread come to the surface again. Buddy I plan to show up at Essex if I can determine where to launch the boat near the museum. I will call them to get advice on the matter. Hope to see you there.

Derk, no “post partum” just excitement and anticipation of the next sail. Building was very rewarding, something to be savored at every moment. The building is over but the more relaxed pace of tweaking and regular maintenance has taken its place. In that sense I don’t think you ever finish building a wooden boat.

Last fall Diana and I sailed about six times mostly from Winter Island in Salem Harbor. The boat launches very easily with the mast hinge and is a joy to sail. We spent a week last August at WoodenBoat taking their basic seamanship course. Thanks to their expert guidance we have been able to keep “Chubette” off the rocks and right side up.

Chubette sailed last Saturday for the first time this year from Winter Island. The wind was less than ten knots and almost died out a few times. Usually about the same time Diana is finally ready to relinquish the tiller to me. I am beginning to detect a pattern here. We packed sandwiches, snacks and drinks for the day and set sail about noon. Our exploration took us off the shores of Marblehead Neck inside of Marblehead Rock, out around Childrens Island and inside of Backers Island. About that time Diana handed the tiller over to me and the wind died as usual! We could have sailed in but it was about four thirty so we ended up motoring in. It was a very relaxing day on the water.

This summer we have a week reserved at a campground with a mooring in Boothbay and a weekend reserved for the Arey’s Pond Catboat Gathering on Pleasant Bay on the Cape. I was in Bristol RI a couple of weeks ago and discovered some good ramps there so when the waves are too big out of Salem we will head south for Narragansett Bay. If anyone knows of fine sailing with good ramp access please let me know about it.

So far in this lifetime nothing beats “Messing about in boats!”

Tom

[ 06-04-2003, 11:32 PM: Message edited by: T.KAMILA ]

[Buddy Sharpton]

Tom, the city ramp is right next to the Essex Maritime Museum on the waterfront of the Connecticut River. It will work fine. Been sailing the wheels off my MarshCat and I am still tweaking the rigging for reefing and such minor bits.