The carvel-built Mouseboat in Vietnam is launched and sailing well!

OSM 016

OSM premiers essais 006 OSM 005

Miles away in a place where the weather is much warmer than it is here, Jacques Molinaris’ carvel-built Mouseboat called OSM has been launched and sailed for the first time from a Vietnamese beach. He writes:

‘Good evening Gav.’

OSM is born, I launched her four days ago. She is a nice little fast boat, even if some things have to be improved like the shape of the sail and the kick-down rudder system.

‘I think she is heavier than the ply original design: about 90kg.

‘Sailing conditions are often difficult in NT bay and unhappily I have been rolled down by the shore surf when landing. Nothing broken on the boat (she is very strong) but I got a sprained knee! I’m forbidden from walking for three weeks but I am happy with my boat… See you again

‘Jacques’

It sounds like a success to me, even if the water Jacques sailing upon is a little wilder than I had in mind when I designed her! Get well soon Jacques – I want to know how she goes please when you get those little details right.

For more on this boat and the free plans for building it, click here.

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

Stitch and glue panels drawings and coordinates for the 14ft Sunny skiff

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lines-drawing-for-dxf

I’ve just drawn up pdfs of the panels and coordinates for the 14ft Sunny skiff plans for anyone interested in this little stitch and glue rowing boat meant to be constructed from 1/4 or 3/8in ply.

I must add my usual warnings – they’re dull necessary. I am not a qualified boat designer and the Sunny skiff should be regarded as an experimental design. I accept no responsibility for any loss or damage that may occur during building this boat or in its use. You build it and use it at your own risk.

The Sunny skiff is intended for use on flat sheltered water with no strong currents. It is not intended for use with outboard power.

As the plans package is not complete, please refer to the plans for the Ella skiff and Julie skiff for additional information on building and fitting out this boat, such as where to site oarlocks, and information about inwales, gunwales and so on.

If you do decide to build this boat please build a model first and send me photos of your model and the completed boat together with a report on how the project goes and how the boat performs on the water. Whenever I am available, I will be very happy to provide help and advice if needed along the way; if I’m not around, the online forums can be very useful, but it often helps to search their archives before posting a question.

For more on the Sunny skiff, click here and here.

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