More About Design 2625 Sleighride

Sleighride, design #2625, is undergoing a major refit in California with design and styling by Adam Voorhees Design and engineering by Sparkman & Stephens. The boat will be renamed Aandeel. Click here to learn more about the project.

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More About Design 955 24 LOA Catboat

We posted an article way back in 2010 about this boat. I thought I would circle back to it as I think she is a lovely design. The boat would be a breeze to sail and her extremely shallow draft would be great for gunkholing just about anywhere. Her general arrangement looks generous and even more so with the mast forward of the main cabin itself. That sure is one way to handle access to the head, by simply having a door from the cockpit directly into it.

I spoke to the owner last week and he promised to send us some images. Well get them posted when we receive them. The boat is awaiting restoration.

Here is an article from Yachting magazine from 1951. Please double click to enlarge.


I disagree with the author. I wouldnt even hesitate slipping her dock lines here in Greenwich and sailing her up to Penobscot Bay. All you would need is a little cockpit tent for the evenings. Like this.



And here is the deck and deck construction plan, which is beautifully drawn.

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Well thats more like it

Sundays daysail was much more relaxing. The winds started out very light, so I figured this would be a good time to try the classic Gaff Cam trick. The trickiest part is guessing what angle to aim the camera at. After a couple attempts, the afternoon sea breeze started to kick in so I mounted the camera on other parts of the boat.  The breeze built to the point where I eventually went to one reef in the main, then it died off a bit. No Jib and Mizzen this time!  I ended up taking a trip around the north end of Jetty Island to check out the ospreys that nest atop the pilings there.

Heres a video of the days sail, set to more of my favorite Blue Man Group music.  Hope you enjoy.

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A little more work on the transom

Tonight I cut two more holes in the transom. A 1" drain hole, and a square hole for the boomkin.
That makes a grand total of 17 perforations through my transom. Six for the Duckworks motor mount, eight holes for the gudgeons, and three more for the tiller, boomkin and drain!  I hope the boat will still float despite all these holes!

Another challenge was how to trim all the planks flush with the transom. I thought about using a saw but was afraid of scratching the surface of the transom and chipping the planks. Then I thought Id carefully whittle away at them with a sharp chisel. That would have taken forever.  I ended up using the Gain Machine


I set the Gain Machine so that the router bit was flush with the bottom of the base, like this:

Then, holding the base firmly against the transom, I used the Gain Machine to route the protruding planks flush with the transom.

The planks were perfectly flush a few minutes later.

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More flats boat photos from 1982 86

You can click on the photos to make them full size.

These boats were built in the Florida Keys in Islamorada , and Key largo.

Bert Sherbs 17 Mako Remake

Berts boat. Boy did they make ugly towers back then.

 Mako remake plug ,waiting for mold gelcoat to cure befor laminating.

Mako remake at Bayside Inn which is now the Bass Pro extravaganza in Islamorada. 

Carl Navarreas skiff in my new shop Back Bay Boats in Tavenier Key largo 1985.

Flipping over Hal Chittums Mako experimental after painting. You can see the stringers printing tru the bottom because they are made of wood.

See the boat really was called the Mako experimental.

Glassing in the boxes, look at how narrow the hatch channels were. They had 1/4 in copper tubbing for draining so a real nightmare.

Stern view of Hals skiff, you can see all the glassed over plywood.

Glassing in the sheer overhang with more plywood. This boat weighed a ton and I know that Hal even at that time in his life at 31 knew that if there was a better way he wanted to be part of it.

Inside shot of the cored Sea Craft I built for Dick Negley. This was another boat where I bought a finished boat on a trailer for 800.00 dollars and gutted the boat down to the bare skin. Dick had a lot of good ideas for this boat which was a great project and a great guy to work for. 

Dicks Sea Craft had a 100 gallon fuel tank under the console which could all be removed , the boat had three live wells, a 235 Johnson on the stern with a jack plate toe kick and a full transom across the stern. Because we saved so much weight with the build it could carry a lot of stuff , go fast and shallow for the places he fished in Texas and the Gulf. It is till owned by his friend Dev. This is 1983, the two Mako remakes and this skiff took Lawanda and I 12 months to finish at a set price and time frame.

Bow of Sea Craft

Dick Neglys scooter boat being planked up

 Hull skin on temporary framing ready for outer skin.

My little wedge tunnel for the 200 Merc that was fitted with a jet drive.

Pretty simple boat.

Inside showing stringers going in with Uni S- glass. Any boat that has Kevlar on the inside is wasting your money. E - glass done right will do just great, s- glass is only a little less stiffer than Carbon but a whole lot less in cost. Carbon is great in certain areas and if you have deep pockets then its the go to material for certain projects. All these boats were built using Dion resin which is a polyester and all these boats are still going strong.

Lawanda next to the first half of the skin coat using Kevlar on the out side. The day that Dick first launched the boat he ran over a steel pipe sticking out of the bottom and all you could see was a slight scratch.

Testing the bottom 

Flipped over working on the insides. I will post pictures of this boat fishing when I find the photos.

Our shop Back Bay Boats next to the Tavernier Health Dept. It is an auto body shop now.

Before getting into flats boats I built sailboats, this a boat for Lawanda and I being built next to the Sea Lark building which is now Bass world. 1982

Lawanda and I going out in our Bahamian catboat to set some Lobster habitats . We ate a lot of lobster back then as they were everywhere. This is 1982

We all raced in the afternoons off what is now the Lorrilie resturant. No one was there in 1982. I built these three cats.

Myself and Dave Calvert at Bayside Inn with my new  sailboat hull which I have just built and am moving here to fishing building. Dave was a sailmaker there and went on to help Steve Fosset break the North Atlantic crossing record on Playstation. Little did we know the fun we were going to have down the road from this day in 1980.

One of many little dorys I would build in an evening. 

A 2 part folding row boat I built in an attic in the Bahamas. The boat had to fit through the window.

 I do not know if World Wide Sportsmen tore these down at their place in Islamorada. This was one of many projects that Ray Dye had me do while I worked there .

 So a few more shots from the past. Sure wish I still had the energy I had then.
More to come.

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More About Alsumar Design 11

Alsumar Today

Today I am on the road trying to determine if anyone is actually building wooden yachts in Connecticut anymore. In ages past we had Luders of Stamford, Joel Johnson of Bridgeport, Seth Persson of Old Saybrook, Franklin Post & Son of Mystic, Aderson & Combes of New Haven and more. (More to follow on this subject.)

I stopped at Taylor & Snediker of Pawcatuck, Connecticut. Nice boat shop by the way and thanks for the tour. They are busy restoring a water taxi from Venice of all things (very cool boat) and an early Rhodes sloop built by A&R (read very busy) but to me the most interesting thing they have there is Alsumar, design #11, sitting out back awaiting restoration! And shes all there and all original. It was all I could do to not ask them to rip the shrink wrap off!

I will draw your attention to the comment that has been submitted regarding our original article about her as follows (posted by anonymous): "She is at Taylor & Snediker in Pawcatuck, RI (its actually CT but it is only separated from RI by a river so its as close as you can get) awaiting restoration by an irrational and foolish owner (me)." To the owner: Yes, she would be a sight to behold and please restore her before your NY30 sitting alongside! She is a rare S&S design with the classic "railcar" deckhouse.

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More About Design 25 Bosun Bird

Today we were working at the Maine Boatbuilders Show all day. Great venue. Here is design #25, the old Blue Heron, now called Bosun Bird. We have been discussing this boat within these pages: is she really design #25? Well we crawled all over this boat today, with the original plans and the general consensus is that yes she is. Portland Yacht Services was kind enough to bring her inside the show and we had a steady stream of people all day checking her out. Its an interesting old centerboarder design and one that has seen her share of modifications over the last 78 years...but this image gives a nice look at her shape.

She is going to be professionally surveyed in the coming weeks and will be undergoing a complete restoration by Portland Yacht Services. She will be a fantastic addition to the New England classic fleet. Kudos to her owner.

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More About Ananda Design 2390 C5

Back in April we posted an article about Ananda, the 50 sloop built by Carlini. A blog follower sent us these images. Here she is out of the water so you can get a good look at her shape. 

And a couple of interior shots.

Shes currently lying in Genoa, Italy.  She has apparently been for sale since 2007.  The current asking price is €120,000.  Looking at some more detailed images she looks like she needs a complete exterior varnish job.  Otherwise she looks pretty good.  Please contact us if you want more information or the complete listing.  Thanks for sending these images.  We are always happy to receive images of the boats.

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More About Gosling Design 2070

About a year ago we posted an article about the 6-meter yacht Gosling, design #2070. We received the following note from her owner along with the image shown above.

Dear Sparkman & Stephens,

With great delight I found your article about design 2070 "Gosling" on your blog. I currently own the boat and, indeed, she is still on Lake Constance. Maybe youre interested what she currently looks like, I enclose a picture. The little cabin has been added in the mid eighties together with a small engine to make her more "family suited" which worked well for the past twenty years. Still a real beauty!

Congratulations to your blog, its very very interesting!

Yours sincerely,
Owner of Gosling

Thanks for reading and thank you for sending us the image.

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More About Iorana Design 1891

A blog reader was kind enough to send us these images of the beautiful A&R built sloop Iorana, design #1891.  She is lying in a marina north of Rome.  Shes a nice looking boat.

 

Thanks very much for sending these.

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More Cabin Planning

If youve been following the blog, you know that one place that Im diverging from the Glen-L Waterlodge plans is in the cabin.  While I have been true to the plans while building the hull, I am increasingly going off into the wild blue as I design and build the cabin.  The original plans called for a cabin that looks like this:

My modifications look like this:

Here are the details I didnt mention in my last musings about the cabin. It always surprises me that finish details often end up having a bearing on the framing of a structure.

Wall Construction

Cabin wall exterior finish:  Board and baton (with beautiful ancient redwood)

Cabin wall interior finish:  None, boards exposed inside

The cabin is almost two foot lower than the deck. Doors open outward at the top of stairs at deck height -- or maybe they should open inward. I will bring the studs down into the hull to secure them.

I was fretting about the wall design, whether to use 2x2s, 2x3s or 2x4s.  I was worried about the wall being burly and strong enough to hold the cabin together, but thats just because of my history as a home builder and familiarity with standard stud construction.

In standard frame construction, I imagined the 2x4s forming little natural nooks inside the cabin, that with a cabinet door could hold the innumerable things that clutter up a boat. Broom, fishing poles, gaff, a million other things.

Chicken John, always ready with an opinion, opined thusly:

"Im not looking at your design. I didnt read the other comments. Whatever it is you are building its too heavy. After your 5th revision and youve got your weight down to less then 800 pounds, then we can start talking about the simple fact that whatever is on top of the water you need kinda the same thing under the water. Or you will be punished. Get an apple. Bite into it, deliberately  Understand the leverage that your teeth are using. Bite again, even slower. Identify all the physics involved. All the muscles. The sharpness of the tooth, the rigidity. Feel when the apple surrenders to the teeth. Then ask when you boat surrenders to which force? And remember that the kayak is the result of 10,000 years of nautical design."

Chicken poetically argues for lighter construction on the topside. So I guess steel armor is right out. I heard others, including the boats designer Glen L. Witt, similarly expressing concern about weight.

My friend Scott was worried about the weight of the board and baton, but not the sheer strength:

"Boat and batten convey a surprising amount of sheer strength. Im not so worried about diagonal bracing; and a pair of X-crossed cables could provide lightweight sheer if needed. Theres also two feet of stud locked to the hull thats providing sheer, and its locked in a hole in the deck. Its not going to parallelogram no matter what you make it out of."

Bob on the Shantyboat list offered some great suggestions regarding wall width, insulation, and construction technique.

If you are going to use 2-bys I would use 2x3s perpendicular.  You would still have some space for small jars, containers, etc.  I have done that in a Tiny House build, leaving the inside open and gluing in more horizontally for shelves. Works great. I would make any shelving easily removable and live with it that first year with your heat source.  That way should you decide insulation would be better you can remove them easily to make insulating easier.   

I will probably do board and batton secured every two feet to spacers without plywood. This is ancient redwood and having that redwood facing in will feel sweet. Only worried a little about water/weather proofing, but there is always construction adhesive and caulk.

Roof Construction

Roof style:  Gabled
Roof finish:  Corrugated metal

The cabin will have a gabled roof and yes, I know that its totally absurd on a boat for a number of reasons, including height, weight, and wind resistance.  However, I really appreciate the aesthetics  It is this absurd vision, in fact, that inspired me to build a shantyboat.

Impracticabilities aside, a gabled roof is really quite practice in a number of ways. Lots of storage space, an overhead bunk can fit in the gable, easy to hang stuff from the rafters. It feels big and beautiful and homey.

The roof will be gabled fore and aft.  This gives a view forward from the bunk through a small window in the gable.  It also keeps the height lower at the edges most likely to have a brush with overhanging trees.

Ill be skimping as much as possible on the roof to save weight.

• 1x6 roof center beam
• 2x4 rafters on 24 inch centers (to support corrugated metal)
• 2x4 cross ties on 24 or 48 inch centers, to support an overhead bunk

Perhaps that gives you a little better idea how things will likely be constructed, and what kind of self-imposed constraints I am working with.

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