I was waiting for news from the Wooden Boat Foundation about a new crew assignment for the Classic Mariner’s Race.  Ward Fay emailed me and said that Aura is not going to be hauled out right now so he is back in the race.  As it stands right now I once again expect to spend two days racing on board Aura.  I think I can live with that.

In Other news:  Plastiki, the boat made of recycled plastic soda bottles, has been traveling for 70 days.  The boat has covered 5,483 miles.  That puts her south east of Tuvalu.  At the time I’m writing this the Plastiki website indicates that the boat is making about a half a knot.  Must have lost their wind.  They seem to be in good spirits judging by the videos.

The Port Angeles Boat Haven is auctioning off several boats that were seized for nonpayment of moorage.  Seems to be a lot of that going on in this economy.  I wish I had the spare cash to go try and snag a cheap boat.  I will try to do a dockwalk and put together a little story about the boats or their owners situation.  Could be interesting.  And it’s a good reason to go hang out by the water.

I am glad to have finished the series on selecting a boat design. I’m sorry for the big interruption between the first and second posts.  The whole thing rambled a bit but we got through it.  Now that I have inflicted it on you, my loyal readers, the bits and pieces have been gathered up and thrown into one word-processing file.  I will be expanding the concept and editing the heck out of it.  In finished form I will be offering it as my first eBook as a pdf. file.  I will be filling you in on progress as I go.

I have been working on more ways to get on the water and to build interesting content for Seaward Adventures. To that end I applied for crew position in the Wooden Boat Foundation’s 27th Classic Mariners’ Regatta June 5 & 6, 2010 in Port Townsend, Washington.  I was assigned to Aura a 33 foot Blanchard classic sloop owned by Ward Fay.  Unfortunately, Aura is in need of some TLC and may not be back in the water in time for the event.  The good folks at Wooden Boat Foundation are looking for another crew position for me.  Life goes on and we shall follow the wind and tide with as much patience as we can muster.

Once you know what to build, you have to have a place to construct it.  I am blessed.  My two car garage will be adequate to build a boat such as I am considering here.  It has always been my policy to not inflict automobiles on any garage of mine.  I just call them workshops and let it go at that.  Unfortunately my family views the garage as a storage area.  It’s an age old battle and I must draw my lines where I can.

I have an advantage in having an extra room attached to the back of the garage.  At 12″ x 20″ it forms the established workspace I use most of the time and is where my tools are stored.   We purchased the house two years ago and the workbench was already in place.  It’s built hell for stout and the top is a piece of a bowling alley.  There are lots of shelves and windows along two walls give plenty of light.  I built a drawing table on one wall and that makes it home to me.  You need to have a thinking place and lots of drawing tools available.

My supply of tools could always be better.  Donations are always gratefully accepted.  I have most of what I need.  To start I will need two things above all else: time and space. Looks like those physics classes will come in handy after all.

Boats come in many different shapes.  To simplify we can consider flat and round bottoms.  My ideal is round bottom, wineglass sections.  The combination is classic and has been proven time a nd time again.  Besides it just looks so good. The project is  not well served by simply going after the ideal.  It’s like dating the head cheer leader only to find she looks good on your arm but drives you insane with her giggling. If I had no worries about time and money I would be inclined toward the boats of, John Welsford, Francois Vivier or Ian Oughtred.  I am to keep things dead simple here.

Let’s step back and consider something fundamental that has already been determined.  Plywood is the building material of choice for this project.  Sheet materials don’t like to bend in two directions.  You can torture it a bit  but there is not far to go before you reach the limit.  Simplicity and ease of building come to us served on a flat bottom.  I have owned both flat bottomed and round bottomed boats so I have a basis of comparison.

A flat bottom has good initial stability and does not feel tippy.  I don’t mind a bit of tippy.  I’m inclined to go with a boat that has a flat bottom with flaring sides.  The classic dory which has a rather narrow bottom and transom are very tippy feeling but once they lean over far enough they gain reserve buoyancy and become very stable.  There are some good compromises available in various designs.  My San Francisco Pelican had flaring sides but was very beamy. She would lay over quickly in a blow but only so far.  Once she had her rail near the water she became solid as a house.  I never had her capsized and always felt safe and comfortable.

What I’m thinking of is a skiff-like hull with flared sides generous though not outrageous beam and freeboard.  Several designs come to mind.  Various Chesapeake sfiff types come to mind but they tend to be low freeboard.  The Goat Island Skiff by Miichel Storer is a very interesting choice.  It looks easy enough to build and has the right sort of shape.  Videos on YouTube show her to be lively and capable of good speed.  The low aspect lug sail is a good choice which should drive her along well.

The Green Island skiff is another excellent choice with similar specifications and a more elaborate rig.  As much as I like it the added expense of more rigging and another sail makes it less practical.  Jim Michalak’s Mayfly 16 is another close but no cigar design. At least I’m at the point were I can start to consider actual designs by real designers.  Of course there is always the ultimate cheap out.  Why pay $125.00 for plans when there is a perfectly good drawing board out in the shop?  Do I dare take so much into my own hands? Let’s think it over as we consider the final consideration – the workshop.

I’ve looked at three important considerations in choosing a sailboat design and things are narrowing down. Number four of our six stops on the way to choose a boat design brings us to the sails. As with the hull there is little question what materials will go into the sails.  Synthetic sail cloth long ago surpassed cotton.  Synthetics do not hold moisture and mold so easily.  Ease of maintenance is a big plus.

The sails are our main engine which is why if we hand an outboard on the transom it will be called the “auxiliary.”  We expect a lot from this ancient device.  We want lots of canvas hanging out in the breeze but we need it to go away as the wind increases.  for my mission profile I believe a well placed set of oarlocks is more important than another reason to burn money at the gas station.  A reasonably efficient sail plan that can be reefed easily  and will tack without fuss most of the time will do just fine.

A low aspect ratio rig will help in terms of stability and safety.  With grandkids on board I don’t want to capsize except as a training maneuver. Gaff rigs are always appealing but they take a bit more set up time at the launch ramp.  There is more hardware, thus, more expense. A sloop rig gives lots of strings to pull and having a jib will make the boat be inclined to sail closer to the wind.  Lug sails and sprit sails fill the bill.  The sprit has no boom to knock heads in a jibe,  The lug sail can be rigged with or without a boom.  I personally prefer to have a boom as without it you have to deal with excessive twist.

I had a standing lug rig on my San Francisco pelican and so I’m used to it and have no qualms about it.  I like the idea but will change it slightly by going for a balanced lug. This put’s a little more sail area forward of the mast.  There are more small details but they will be resolved by the designer or may be tweaked during building.

I have digressed long enough having been seduced by the siren call of kayaks and tall ships.  Let me once again pursue the idea of choosing a small boat design.  To recap in a nutshell.

1.  Mission: convert grand-kids into water-loving windblown maniacs

2.  Boat size: accomplish mission using a boat 14-15 feet long, thus, not putting any large holes in garage wall.

In case you were wondering I am not putting these six points in any specific order. Keep in mind that I write all these blog posts between midnight and three a.m.  The question that arises in my foggy headed state is; What materials am I to build her out of?  This is not a tpough question.  Steel and aluminum do not lend themselves either to the size vessel or my skill level.  Not that I don’t like a good aluminum canoe, except on a sunny August day.  I simply chose to keep solar ovens for survival gear.  Fiberglass is likewise, well… it’s fiberglass!  what can I say?  Good for buying ready-made,  not much fun to build at home.

Wood is the obvious choice.  traditional planking carvel or lapstrake are not out of the question except I know it would take an ungodly amount of time spiling and fitting not to mention bending frames.This brings us to plywood.  Here is a little something out of sequence as I was going to touch on hull shape and stability later and more to the point, plywood has several advantages.  The material is easy to work with Covers larger areas than one single planks.  It keeps the water out and is readily available although I wish it was cheaper.  Money will be a problem for me in any case as I am starting with a budget of approximately zero and will have to buy as I build. If you would like to help out there is a donate button in the sidebar which will take you swiftly and painlessly to Pay Pal.

In my next post I will be talking about sailing rigs.  canvas makes the rubber meet the road.  It also gives me a great excuse to yell things like READY ABOUT! and JIBE HO!  You gotta love that kind of stuff.  See you soon.