Tag: boat plans

Chappelle tabloid cruiser from the book Boatbuilding, photographed in Australia

Chappelle's 23ft 8in tabloid cruiser in the book Boatbuilding in Australia Chappelle's 23ft 8in tabloid cruiser in the book Boatbuilding in Australia

This is the 23ft 8in tabloid cruiser described in Howard Irving Chappelle’s classic book Boat Building: A Complete Handbook of Wooden Boat Construction.

If you’ve read Chappelle’s book, you’ll likely know this design and will have been intrigued by it – I’d guess that it has something in common with New England lobster boats and Hampton boats of the past.

The photos here were kindly sent to me by Randal Cooper of Goolwa Masts. Randal reports that the boat, which is made of strip-planked cedar, is about 20 years old and is owned by a young employee of his. Randal also says that the boat is quick under sail compared to trailer yachts the same age and that there’s a plan afoot to enlarge the rig.

I’m in two minds about the idea – on one hand the rig as laid out in the plans is snug, but on the other this centreboard boat is really a big dinghy and if it gets knocked down will be too big to right. You takes your choice…

There are several other interesting sets of plans in Chappelle’s book. Are any others afloat, does anyone know? Do you have photos, please, and how do they perform?

Bert van Baar’s Hanze Yawl rowing and sailing boat – some computer modelling images

Bert van Baar Hanze Yawl

Bert van Baar Hanze Yawl Bert van Baar Hanze Yawl

Bert van Baar tells me that the prototype of his Hanze Yawl design drew a lot of praise at the Beale Park  Boat Show. The images above were produced using the Rhino modelling software.

Plans for the ply and epoxy boat are for sale for €199, and I gather a plan is being hatched to a kit to build the boat available by the end of the year.

Another piece of news is that in February 2012 Bert plans to run another boat building course in which the project will be to build another Hanze Yawl – he’s offering a discount of 10 per cent off the €825 cost to any British student.

See an earlier post on this boat including photos of the prototype Hanze Yawl here.

Contact Bert via the De Bootbouwschool website.

Photos from the Beale Park Boat Show 2011

Pierette at the Beale Park Boat Show 2011

1894 Desvignes-built steam launch Pierette, photographed by Pete Williamson

Cordless Challenge entrant Beale Park Boat Show 2011 Water Craft amateur boatbuilding competition Beale Park 2011

Unknown dinghy


Reader Pete Williamson has sent in some snaps of this year’s Beale Park Boat Show, including this shot of the wonderful steam launch Pierrette, and some entries for the kit section of the Water Craft amateur boatbuilding competition (Pete’s boat is the dark blue Selway-Fisher coble made from an Alec Jordan kit).

Also there’s something very unusual here: an entrant for the cordless challenge, in which entrants were asked to race each other around a course on the water using motor power derived from by battery driven cordless power tools. There are a couple of jolly pieces of video showing some of the entrants craft’ at Graham Neil’s weblog and at the Water Craft website. It makes you think, doesn’t it? At least some folks found a use for some old tools…

Finally, I’m not quite sure what the boat in this collection may be or who made it, but I remember being told that it contains a lot of old timber from somewhere, and thinking that the builder had done a nice job when I dropped in at the Barton Home Built Boat Rally meet at Barton Turf at Whitsun. I’ve posted some of my own photos of this craft taken at Barton below.

Thanks Pete!

Youjay dinghy at Barton Youjay dinghy at Barton Youjay dinghy at Barton