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Chappelle’s picturesque schooner Southwind

Howard Irving Chappelle was a giant among chroniclers of American vernacular boats and boatbuilding - his books Small American Sailing Craft and Boatbuilding are classics, but look out also for his books on schooners, speed in sailing ships and the development of the sharpie. His books are of wide interest far beyond America’s borders because so many small American sailing craft derived from the old world, as Chappelle makes clear.

Although they’ve been reprinted several times over the years, many of them are difficult to find and not available through Amazon - so if I hadn’t already got most of them I’d begin my search at Abe Books.

Amid all the research, line-taking and writing he did over the years, it’s often forgotten that Chappelle was a practising naval architect who also found time for designing dinghies, cruising yachts and fishing craft. I’ve written posts in the past about his friendship with the British boatbuilding innovator Herbert Ashcroft, but today I thought I’d draw attention to his shippy-looking shallow-draft dory-sharpie schooner Southwind.

Take a look at the article and drawings at the Svenson website - there’s enough in this material to actually build the boat, and certainly enough to make a nice model.

I must say I’m intrigued. The boat makes a handsome picture, would no doubt turn heads anywhere and has a lot to offer shallow water sailors. But has it ever been built? If so, can anyone tell us how it performs?

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Photos of the Medway - the last taken by my daughter Ella

I took the kids, now young teens, out for a February half-term stroll along the river yesterday afternoon. No doubt they would say they hated it, but dads have to do this sort of thing, don’t they?

We came back with these shots of a calm, elegant and rather beautiful river. I’m determined now to take a another trip up here by boat, just as soon as we can make it - and the good news is that Ella’s keen to paddle up here. Now that would make a nice couple of days out, wouldn’t it?

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Kellan Hatch’s Cartopper has turned out to be a versatile little boat

It was good to read at The Chine Blog the other day that Phil Bolger has been presented with Woodenboat magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award, along with Bill Garden. Both awards are clearly well-earned, but Bolger’s is perhaps particularly pleasing because so many people think of his designs as being the boxy antithesis of what Woodenboat is all about. To my mind, those who believe this heresy have spent too long reading the Internet, and not long enough reading his intriguing and often informative books.

Most people talk of Bolger’s widely celebrated and used Light Dory, but the news reminded me that I’ve been meaning to say something about the Cartopper, which I feel is a very much neglected Bolger design. Take a look at the study plans at the Payson website, which also sells the full-sized plans for boatbuilding. What you get is a proper boat-shaped boat with its centreboard placed well forward, which provides a lot of room in an 11ft 6in boat. Bolger designed an over-sized rudder to balance the rig, but that’s actually a well-tried approach that has worked for many years in traditional centreboard craft.

Thanks to Kellan Hatch for the photos. Like me, Kellan feels that the Cartopper is a fascinating design that reflects how many people use small boats, but reports that it can be a little tender and says that it isn’t self-rescuing without added built-bouyancy because of its strongly curved sheerline.

I think the answer is obvious, at least for solo cruisers: some water or other removable ballast in the spacious centre of the boat, and boxed-in bouyancy and storage tanks fore and aft.

If you’re interested in reading Bolger’s books describing his designs, a good starting point is Boats with an Open Mind. It’s available from Amazon in the UK and from Amazon in the USA. If you’re in the USA you can also get his excellent pocket book about the merits and demerits of alternative sailing rigs 103 Rigs ‘Straight Talk’ .

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