Tag: boatbuilding

Dylan Winter gets to work on his Duck Punt

Dylan Winter builds John Milgate's Duck Punt

Click on the image to see Dylan’s video

I do like to see a man working. This is Keep Turning Left small boat sailor and film maker Dylan Winter building one of John Milgate’s Duck Punts

These little boats are derived from small traditional boats originally used for wildfowling, but are now raced and cruised by a bunch of enthusiasts on the East Coast.

The film shows how progress Dylan managed in a single weekend – and didn’t he do well? Very well indeed, I think, given that he had to make a frame first.

I hadn’t realised quite how far and fast enthusiasm for the Duck Punt design had spread when I posted about them more than a week ago. But this week I was tickled to learn that Wooden Boat forumite and regular boat plan tinkerer and computer modeller Flo-Mo has worked out a way of constructing one of these craft from two sheets of ply, and having made a paper model is about to make a birch-ply model prototype.

It’s fascinating to see people on the serious ‘proper’ wood-built boat forum getting interested in little plywood boxes like these; they’ve doubtless been helped along by the great photos and videos of these boats that can be found around the Internet.

Regular intheboatshed.net reader and contributor Brian Pearson is particularly interested in this development, and says the Duck Punt sailors are happy for folks to publish simplicated versions of the standard Duck Punt plans.

However, I’m still considering the question. In my mind there’s no doubt Flo-Mo’s clever cross-wise bottom panel layout will work, but my thinking is that given that ply is stiffer one way than the other and ply joints require materials and take time, I’m inclined to think I’d prefer to construct a bottom with length-ways running outer plies, and only one butt joint.

I also wonder how much the weight of the materials involved in John Milgate’s construction method as shown in Dylan’s video contributes to making these little boats practical sailors – only those experienced with these little craft would know, but I wonder whether a very lightly made all-1/4in ply stitch and glue Duck Punt might not be a little light and tiddly? Weight-wise it could be that the best approach to a frameless stitch and glue build for one of these boats might be to laminate a doubled bottom, or it might be that the whole thing is fine made from 3/8ths inch ply.

And then there’s the little matter of built-in buoyancy. I doubt the Duck Punt community will see eye-to-eye with me on this, but I really think some built-in flotation is essential – it could so easily save a lone sailor’s life one day, and then we’ll all be grateful.

This darn thing has got me going now. I must try to restrain myself.

PS – See the comments below for a link to more on Flo-Mo’s progress with this project.

Duck punt paper model

Paper model Duck Punt made from Flo-Mo’s ply layout

François Vivier’s brilliant Pen-Hir small sailing cruiser

Vivier Pen-Hir coastal sailing cruiser

Vivier Pen-Hir coastal sailing cruiser Vivier Pen-Hir coastal sailing cruiser Vivier Pen-Hir coastal sailing cruiser

Vivier Pen-Hir coastal sailing cruiser Vivier Pen-Hir coastal sailing cruiser Vivier Pen-Hir coastal sailing cruiser

François Vivier’s sailing cruiser Pen-Hir

Many of François Vivier’s revered ply and epoxy boat designs draw somewhat on the traditional boats of the Breton coast. We had a priceless opportunity to appreciate how attractive and well worked out they really are this summer when we were invited over for lunch with him and his charming wife Veronique.

That meeting over a lovely lunch was a great pleasure for both Julie and I. François’ English is excellent and his conversation is marked by strong views and clear, well argued and original insights – they’re just as well made as his boat plans themselves.

Looking at his own coastal sailing cruiser Pen-Hir as built by his son’s boatyard, we were struck not only by attractive and well made the boat was, but also by how well everything is worked out.

For example I often joke about the ‘long things’ that make life difficult in most small boats – the boat hooks, the unused spars, the odd oar or sweep, and so on – but I was impressed to find that François hadn’t just found places for them on his boat, but had designed-in spaces for each one that meant they could be kept accessible but out of the way and secure.

The smart equipment was good too. I particularly liked the diesel cooker that doubled as a heater, and the electric outboard. It was only a shame that it was too windy to go sailing – and boy was it windy. We’d heard stories about how the French will sail in any sort of weather, but from our experience they aren’t true – at least not at Pornichet, for no-one else was out on the water that day either.

I was interested to learn that François has been involved in establishing a new French boat building school, and very much look forward to learning how it goes in the coming years.

More information about the Vivier Pen-Hir design and many more photos can be found here.

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?