Nov02
Complete free plans package for the intheboatshed.net flat-bottomed 15ft 6in skiff
STOP PRESS – THE FIRST JULIE SKIFF HAS BEEN BUILT AND LAUNCHED BY BILL GAY- CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES
ALSO – IF YOU BUILD THIS BOAT OR A MODEL OF IT, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT GMATKIN@GMAIL.COM . I’M HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE, AND VERY MUCH WANT TO KNOW HOW THE PROJECT GOES!
After gardening for much of the day, this evening I’ve spent a couple of happy hours tidying up and sorting out the plans for the intheboatshed.net Julie skiff. (NB – See the bottom of this post if you need plans for a similar but smaller boat.)
So tan-tara! With an imaginary fanfare, tonight for the first time I offer you – a download of the finalised plans for the rowing-only version of the Julie 15ft 7in flat bottomed skiff for plywood stitch and glue construction, including my explanatory essay on her design and purpose, and notes on her construction.
She swallows up five sheets of ply, and for those those who like to think about these things, at her design displacement and trimmed so that the water just kisses the transom, her wetted area is about 38sqft, with a prismatic coefficient of 0.55. Neither figure would be outstanding for a round-bottomed boat, but the wetted area in particular is not at all bad for a simple rowing boat like this. With a flat-bottomed skiff there’s no easy way to improve on either without making the boat much narrower on the bottom, with all that would entail.
Like this boat? Send your comments to gmatkin@gmail.com.
I think she’s a sweet little boat and I’m very much looking forward to seeing some examples afloat. I still plan to develop a sailing rig, plans for a more traditional chine-log style construction, and I’m thinking also of both longer and shorter versions – the shorter will be aimed at creating a small easy to build skiff capable of being built in a British-style garage.
If you do build the Julie skiff, please send me photos and reports at gmatkin@gmail.com, and also please let me know how the project goes. At least while the numbers being built are small, if you hit problems I will be very happy to provide advice to make sure your boat is a success.
Download: intheboatshed.net Julie skiff plans
See all posts so far on this boat:
Complete free plans package for the intheboatshed.net flat-bottomed 15ft 6in skiff
intheboatshed.net skiff – drawings and coordinates for stitch and glue
intheboatshed.net skiff – photos of our model, and maybe yours too?
Intheboatshed.net skiff – now we can make a model
Intheboatshed.net skiff progress
Early drawings for a 15ft 5in lightweight flat-bottomed American-style skiff
More free boat plans at intheboatshed.net
PS – If you’d prefer a smaller project of this kind, check the 12ft Ella skiff and the 14ft Sunny skiff.
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7 Comments »Boat plans and books of plans, Boatbuilders and restorers, Events, Free boat, canoe and yacht plans, Modern boatbuilding, River boats, Small boats, Techniques, Uncategorized, Working boats
Jaap Mar 28th 2009 at 01:54 pm 1
Dear Gavin,
Do you expect to add dxf files of the nested parts to the zipped package? I consider those very very helpful.
Kind regards,
Jaap
Gavin Atkin Mar 28th 2009 at 04:11 pm 2
Happy to send you some Jaap – so long as you don’t intend to use them for commercial purposes.
Gavin
Gavin Atkin Mar 28th 2009 at 09:06 pm 3
PS – Jaap didn’t, and I sent him the files.
Brandon May 14th 2009 at 07:48 pm 4
Hey Gavin, wonderful plans! I’ve downloaded them, made a model (two actually, really fun for me and my 4 and 5 yr old sons) and had a question. I have worked with fiberglass and epoxy before but Im curious, about how much resin do you think Ill need on this project? I of course, dont want to skimp
Thanks so much for your help, its awesome to put FREE plans out like that. Brandon
Gavin Atkin Jul 1st 2009 at 04:51 pm 5
Brandon -
It’s good to hear from you.
How much epoxy you use depends very much on how much you like to use.
Here in the UK epoxy is terribly expensive, and we make our fillets about as wide as a table-spoon will form, use fairly light-glass on the bottoms of light boats and apply it fairly thinly everywhere else. On that basis, I guess I might use four-five litres. In other places epoxy is much cheaper, and in my observation some people tend to use it more generously, which of course produces a heavier if stronger boat. Others, however, may be looking for a lighter-weight boat, and so use less.
I’m glad you enjoyed making the models. You couldn’t let me have some photos of them I could put on the site could you please?
I like to encourage model making, partly because it’s fun, partly because it encourages confidence and partly because it helps people to see how the boats go together.
Gav
Paul Jul 2nd 2009 at 03:53 am 6
Hey, Gavin,
I, too, made a cerealbox model. Turned out OK. I was very interested to see how it became more rigid as I finally managed to get the parts fitted. Too, I need to add the knees and the breast hook. (I was assembling without looking at your drawings!)
I live on a river in the southern US, and have been looking for an inexpensive – relatively – way to get on the river. I hope to build a Julie skiff in the next few months. One question: you mentioned a sailing verion of the skiff. Do you have such a plan completed? I have considered building a small sailing craft, something simple to sail – for a novice.
Gavin Atkin Jul 3rd 2009 at 11:26 am 7
Haven’t worked up the sailing version yet.
Hopefully I don’t have to say how useful the notes and the drawings are – otherwise the various components could confuse a person. The knees and breast hook will add to the rigidity, of course.
Gav