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
Plans for boats, sailing yacht plans, motor yacht plans, motor boat plans, rowing boat plans, sailing boat plans, dinghy plans, dory plans, canoe plans, skiff plans, boat plans online
[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]
While we’re still scraping bottoms and slapping on the antifouling, down on the coast of Spain our friend Ben Crawshaw is already enjoying some fine sailing conditions in his Light Trow, Onawind Blue. It’s enough to make a chap sigh… in fact, words fail me. Roll on the English summer!
To see his video, click here.
[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]
Drawings of T Harrison Butler’s single-handed cruiser
Like many of us, F B Cooke was clearly a bit of a boat dreamer, and in the early 1920s seems to have fallen very much under the spell of T Harrison Butler’s pretty Single-Handed Cruiser.
‘I, like many other sailing men, have long searched in vain for the ideal small single-hander, but I think I have found her, or rather her lines… She is a perfect love of a boat, and when my ship comes home I shall be tempted to have her built.’
The boat is just 18ft 6in in length. ‘The underwater lines suggest weatherliness, and with a good length of keel she should be very steady on her helm.’
Again: ‘She strikes me as just the thing for knocking about in the estuaries and creeks of the East Coast at week-ends, whilst a trip up to Lowestoft would be quite within her capabilities in any ordinary summer weather. Dr Butler has given the boat a very snug sail plan, but in that I think he is right, for it is a mistake to over-canvas a boat intended for single-handed work.’
I should explain that the boat in these drawings looks significantly bigger than 18ft 6in because H-B has drawn her with a Laws lifting cabin roof.
Did the Single-Handed Cruiser ever catch on? I’d very much like to know. And I can’t help thinking that an inexpensive small boat along these classic lines and as pretty as this one might be an interesting proposition for a boatbuilder to offer in wood or plastic in times like these.
[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]
Dave Coulter’s table-top boatyard photo of his Ella skiff model. As usual, click on
the photos and thumbnails for larger images
I’m delighted to report that kind Dave Coulter has been the first to report that he has made a model of the Ella skiff, and has agreed to let me share his photo with intheboatshed.net readers.
Thank you Dave! If anyone else builds one, please let me know and send photos at gmatkin@gmail.com!
Dave’s photo rather got me going and in a stolen moment between getting the house ready for a dinner party and our guests arriving, I managed to make one up also: I’ve posted thumbnails of mine below. Hopefully readers will be encouraged to make their own, and perhaps to comment. I’d guess that making up a model like this would be a nice activity to do with kids too, by the way.
For plans drawings for use in making models of the Ella skiff, click here and for more on my Ella skiff design project click here. However, if you’re looking for something longer and with a bit more performance, try this.
Here’s another one – this time a very neat and complete job sent by a chap who signs himself Cecil. Thanks fella!
