Category: Small boats

Progress on the sailing version of the 12ft Ella skiff – free plans to come

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Ella skiff sailing progress 1

Ella skiff drawings – click on the image to see much more detail

I’ve been frantically working on the sailing version of the 12ft Ella skiff today – having broken my left ankle a couple of weeks ago, drawing this little boat has been a huge relief from the tedium of spending each day on the sofa. Of course it’s no consolation for losing much of the summer sailing season, but I hope I’m making the best of it!

Anyway, I thought I’d share today’s progress. As I think I’ve said before, this will be a lively little boat but I hope folks out there will find it appealing. The next  jobs, are to nest the panels and draw up the sail.

If you’re interested in this little boat, please email me at gmatkin@gmail.com or use the comment link below.

PS – The free plans for this boat are now here.

For free plans for the rowing version of this little boat, click here.

Ella skiff sailing progress 2 the sails

The sail

Plans for making a model of the 10ft double-ended McLachlan skiff

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skiff model plans pic

A sample of Paul’s impressive detailed plans of the 10ft double ended skiff from Practical Boatbuilding

Paul O’Connor has been kind enough to send me a set of the plans he created before building his model of the 10ft double ended skiff from the book Practical Boatbuilding for Amateurs. The model has been a step along the route to building the real thing in epoxy ply, and because this is an attractive craft and and interesting challenge, I’m sure other intheboatshed.net readers will be interested in making their own models from the drawings.

I’ve divided the drawings, which are in pdf form, between two zips:

10ft skiff drawings folder 1

10ft skiff drawings folder 2

As I’ve pointed out before, there’s quite a lot of online background to this project. The original drawings and information from Practical Boatbuilding  are here, an earlier intheboatshed.net post on the model project is here and two threads discussing the Practical Boatbuilding skiff and Paul’s project are here and here.

Here’s a view of Paul’s three-dimensional model of the skiff:

10_skiff_iso_view

A chance to own a 1932 Mevagissey tosher built by Cornish boat builder Percy Mitchell

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tosher1

Fowey wooden boatbuilding specialist Marcus Lewis has written to say that he has acquired a genuine 18ft Percy Mitchell-built Mevagissey tosher built around 1932 that he is offering as a restoration project with himself doing the work.

Despite a few soft areas, he says she’s basically sound and would make a lovely day boat for any South West harbour or further afield. He’s planning to start stripping out the grotty bits shortly followed by a programme of work put together to ensure the survival of a classic craft. Contact him directly on 07973 420568 if you would like more information or would like to view her.

For those from outside the area, I should explain that Percy Mitchell of Portmellon was a very highly regarded boatbuilder in Cornwall. Claude Worth, for example, described him as ‘an artist in wood’.

Mitchell took over his employer’s yard in Mevagissey in his twenties and later moved the yard to Portmellon for easier launching. During World War II he built motor cutters and boats for the Admiralty. After the war his boats were in great demand; one of his most famous builds being the 28 ton Windstar, which the late King George V often sailed on, as did the young Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II.

Marcus tells me that Mitchell went on to write a well-known book, A Boatbuilder’s Story that covers his entire working life and the struggles and successes of a wooden boatbuilder. Copies are rarely available, says Marcus, but feels strongly that it should be reprinted.

See Marcus’s website: http://www.woodenboatbuilder.co.uk