Tag: boating

A hydroplane at the Beale Park Boat Show

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Outboard hydroplane Twirler at the Beale Park Boat Show

The exhibition at the Beale Park Boat Show features quite a few veteran motor boats of various kinds, and last year it included this little plywood hydroplane.

I was struck by just suited to home-building a boat like this must be. While it isn’t very big, complicated or expensive to build, it must deliver a heck of a lot of fun in a small package – and other water users won’t automatically assume you’ll behave like a selfish oaf, as they do when they see a group of jetskis coming their way.

I notice that there are various plans for hydroplanes available, but I’d guess that these plans at the Svenson site look pretty useful: Yellow Jacket

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A Paradox, up close and personal

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The Dinghy Cruising Association’s boats assembled at Beale, with
Al Law’s Paradox Little Jim in the foreground

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A highlight of the Beale Park Boat Show last year was meeting Al Law and seeing his home-built Matt Layden-designed Paradox named Little Jim close up.

Yes, this little 14-footer is the boat he sailed to the Scillies and back in company with another Paradox owner, Bill Serjeant. Some say the heavy displacement Paradox is a small sharpie, while others say it can’t be  a sharpie because it’s under 19ft. Both views are correct, of course, in the mad logic of boat nomenclature.

I say that it has an interesting n some ways it’s more like a model of a small modern ship.But whatever one calls them, they’re certainly interesting, and perhaps of particular interest to someone who has come to realise their family is unlikely to sail with them, and finds sailing a small, easily managed boat alone an agreeable alternative. See the study plans here and Al’s record of building and sailing his boat here. And if you’re wondering how a boat like this can sail, check this video and also this one of Bill’s boat Faith. Bill, I should add, had sailed his little boat right round the coast from Essex: see earlier posts.

Little Jim sailing at Beale Park

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Ella builds a model Ella skiff

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Ella’s model of the Ella skiff

My daughter Ella has made her own model Ella skiff and told me that she’d like to build the real thing some day. That sounds like a really nice project, even if we already own too many small boats and she lives hundreds of miles away…

For more photos of models of the easy to build 12ft Ella skiff click here. If you make one, please send photos for my collection to gmatkin@gmail.com!

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.

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