Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
Sailing yachts used for cruising, or as cruiser-racers.
[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]
Thumbnail from Loch Broom Lives
Chris Perkins got in touch from the far North a few days ago to alert me to the existence of a website presenting old photos of life around Loch Broom in Scotland. The photos include many images of boats and ships, some of them quite old. Well worth a look, I’d say – Loch Broom Lives Image Library.
Thanks Chris!
Don’t miss something good – subscribe to intheboatshed.net
[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]
Ben Crawshaw’s model of the Julie skiff
Down in Spain, Light Trow builder Ben Crawshaw turns out to be the first intheboatshed.net reader to come up with a model of the Julie skiff. Well done Ben! I’m pleased that other people are beginning to see this little boat’s potential.
There has been some wild weather where he lives in the last few days, so perhaps he’s taken the opportunity to make the model. He writes:
‘Well done Gav, a pretty design in the best tradition of the lightweight rowing skiff. I like the design, a pleasing form, simple to build, light weight, plenty of buoyancy and possibilities for storage and the opportunity to titivate using pretty wood for the breasthook and quarter knees.
‘I particularly like the way the breasthook sits over the foredeck and the idea of storing an anchor in the slot between the two. The ample sternsheets give it a Ratty and Mole feel and I can imagine a wicker picnic hamper in there somewhere.
‘I’d be interested in seeing a sailing version with the mast stepped aft of the forward frame so as not to compromise the watertight compartment. One thing I’d also like to see on this rowing version is the possibility for two pairs oars and two rowers, maybe with temporary thwarts.’
I’ve been thinking about the same things Ben, and will have a go at working them in.
How about extending the sternsheets slightly forward, adding a seat back, and leaving a space behind the seat and the transom for that hamper?
One issue that I’d like to address a little further is how to balance the boat with a weight in the stern, and a possibility would be to make the central transom removable and include optional second transom further forward.
Something similar might make a second rowing position aft a possibility if the sternsheets were removed, but I’m not so sure that’s the way to go, as a 17ft version for two rowers might well be a much better way to use the rowing power of two people. I need to think about this a little more.
If you build this boat – even if it’s a model – PLEASE let me know by getting in touch via gmatkin@gmail.com
See Ben’s comments at his weblog theinvisibleworkshop.
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
Don’t miss something good – subscribe to intheboatshed.net
[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]
Motor launch drawings from an old book
These lines and construction drawings for a stylish motor launch come from a pre-WW II copy of the MotorBoat Manual. After all these years I trust no-one will be offended that I photographed them and made them available, and hope that others will find them as interesting as I do – the alternative, I guess, is that they become forgotten.
The forward section is fairly traditional and the central section seems conventional enough – but the aft half of the boat goes somewhere a little different, with styling that seems to me to have been borrowed from much faster boats meant to hydroplane. Yet this is a displacement hull with a small 3-4hp engine, and so I’d guess that the tumblehome in the stern is simply a matter of fashion, and that makes her a period piece.
I love the claim that this boat can be built by amateurs – I know some who could, but I fear most of us, myself included, would be well advised to steer clear of it for fear of wasting a lot of expensive timber!
Don’t miss something good – subscribe to intheboatshed.net