Category: Designs and designers, boat plans,books of plans

Plans for boats, sailing yachts, motor yachts, rowing boats, sailing boats, dinghies, dories, canoes, skiffs, oars, sails – may be free or paid-for

Alan Stancombe builds his second Cinderella – and does a super job

Alan Stancombe's Cinderella canoe

Alan Stancombe's Cinderella canoe Alan Stancombe's Cinderella canoe Alan Stancombe's Cinderella canoe

Alan Stancombe's Cinderella canoe

As usual, click on the thumbnails for much bigger images that in this case reveal just how smooth and sweet Alan’s seams really are!

Most first-time boatbuilders find themselves saying how much better the boat would be if they could do it all again, both because of the different choices they would make but also because of the techniques they have learned and improved. Many then go on to build different boats, but Alan Stancombe has built a second Cinderella to the free plans I drew up – and a great job he has done.

The difference lies in his use of tongue depressers as spacers between the strakes, which he says enabled him to produce smooth taped seams on the inside of the boat.

However he did it, I’m thinking he could give lessons in building Cinderellas!

For free plans for this easy to build 12ft stitch and glue open canoe made from plywood and epoxy, click here: Cinderella download

For more examples of the Cinderella, see the free plans page link at the top of this page.

PS I was also chuffed today to hear from Dave Stone, who sent me a Sketchup model of the sailing version of the Ella skiff that he’s been working on. Well done Dave! Plans for the Ella skiff are available from the Free plans page – see the link at the top of this page.

Ella skiff sketchup model

 

12ft rowing dinghy built by Stirling & Son of Tavistock

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Rowing Will Stirling 12ft Dinghy

Rowing Will Stirling 12ft Dinghy boat Bow and Fairlead Rowing Will Stirling 12ft Dinghy boat Stirling and Son - transom Rowing Will Stirling 12ft Dinghy boat Thwarts Aft sternsheets and transom

Stern of 12ft Dinghy Rowing Will Stirling 12ft Dinghy boat

A recent 12ft rowing dinghy by Stirling & Son

These delicious photos come from regular contributor, boat builder, historian and designer Will Stirling of Stirling & Son. The plans for this boat are available to buy, as his letter below explains:

‘Dear Gavin,

‘Attached photos of the most recent dinghy, a 12ft pulling boat. She is built of mahogany and oak with copper and bronze fastenings.

‘The clocks have gone back now so it is time to string up some lights otherwise the working day is too short.

‘I now have plans available in the following format:

  • two sheets of A2 tracing paper
  • two sheets of A1 tracing paper, a scantlings list
  • a list of materials
  • a CD with photographs of various stages and details of dinghy building

‘The A2 sheets contain the lines draught and consrtuctional detail, the A1 sheets have templates of the moulds and transom with the planking marked out and templates of the backbone members (stem, sternpost, stern knee etc).

‘Plans in this format are now available for a 9ft general purposes dinghy and an 11ft pilot’s punt of circa 1900 and a 17ft salmon boat. These plans cost £50 plus postage and packaging of £2.50 in the UK.

‘Plans without templates are available for a 21ft frigate’s longboat of 1757, a 37ft smuggling lugger of 1835 and a 43ft gentleman’s cutter of 1880.

‘I hope you are well. The Intheboatshed website is going from strength to strength; it is very popular with Google.

‘Best wishes,

‘Will’

Many thanks Will! I do hope your plans go as well as they deserve – it’s only a shame that there aren’t more professional and home builders of these kinds of boats in the world.

Stirling & Son is based near Tavistock, Devon. See the company’s website  www.stirlingandson.co.uk
tel 01822 614259.

Digitised traditional canoe plans for cedar strip construction

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1883 Southwest Greenland canoe digitised plans

Computer model of 1883 Southwestern Greenland kayak

Paddlinglight.com website guru Bryan Hansel is publishing plans for traditional canoes digitised from material included in a classic book by Howard Chappelle and based on the work of Edwin Tappan Adney.

Here’s what Bryan has to say:

‘Each week this winter, I’m digitising a plan from the book Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America and releasing a set of station and stem plans for cedar strip builders on my website.

‘The plans that are currently finished are found here: http://www.paddlinglight.com/category/articles/free-kayak-and-canoe-plans I’m doing this hoping that these old designs, some not built in 100 years, get built, so we can compare the old designs to modern and see how kayaks and canoeing have changed.’

Plans examples already on the website from include a 1921 Southwest Greenland kayak dating from 1921 and 1883, and a Passamaquoddy ocean canoe of 1898.

Thanks Bryan! These are such elegant boat forms.

Two editions of the original Chappelle and Tappan Adney book are available from Amazon, here and here.