Winter Bateau

Well, I was waiting for this boat to be finished before unveiling it. But it's just taking too long! For anyone who's built a boat, you know what it means when I say I'm tired of looking at this thing!

At the right the boat side panels (a single plank) are laid out.

Other builders may disagree with me, I'm not the most scientific or mathematical builder. Most of the shape of the finished product is a subjective "how does it look?" process. (There is no substitute for the mathematical description from a plan, don't get me wrong - it can and will be internalised so it's not a conscious process, however.) Work for a couple days and take some pictures, pour yourself a drink and look hard. This view, that perspective. How will it sit in the water? Early on, the final paint scheme comes as an epiphany.
So, though this boat has been a process (the plans were discarded long ago), the actual boat has been visible for quite some time.

This bateau began as the Peace Canoe as detailed by John C. Harris (owner of Chesapeake Light Craft) in Wooden Boat magazine, "Getting Started in Boats", issues #195 and 196, March through June 2007.


So, what I want to describe here is how a new boat design evolves. Often a designer will sit down with a set of parameters from a client (if the client is yourself, so much the better!) and brainstorm about what boats that are built that may be similar.
In this case, the Peace Canoe was chosen for it's simplicity and functionality. It turned out that it was also an appealing and attractive vessel. (This may be a prototype for a boat show demonstration later this spring on beginning boat building techniques).
The design is ages old and adapted from the old hunting and fishing pirogues. These simple boats have been used for duck hunting, fishing in the old slough, and even harvesting rice in the Old South. Similar to a dory (what a surprise!) the flat bottom allows for exploration in shallow back waters unnavigable by other deeper draft boats. The difference between a bateau or a pirogue and the dory types is the low freeboard and nearly flat bottom (the dory has a substantial rocker suited for cresting breaking seas). Thus, the bateau is a calm water boat, though don't imagine that she can't handle a little weather!


John Harris has this to say about his design:
"Call it a canoe, a pirogue, a bateau, or whatever you like---the Peace Canoe is good basic transportation that you can build at home"

On the right, the side panels are attached to the stem and bent around a single "mold", it's that simple!

The plans for the Peace Canoe are for a double ended eighteen footer. I realized right away that I could save quite a bit of cash if the boat was made from two sheets of eight foot plywood, so the finished boat is 15'-8". In all, reducing the size saved a sheet and a half of marine grade mahogany plywood. All said, that translates to three and a half sheets instead of five. That's a thirty percent savings and with the price of marine grade material -- well, you get the idea!

So, the first design change is that instead of an eighteen foot boat, we have just under sixteen. All other dimensions need to be extrapolated to correspond to this new parameter.


The Peace Canoe was designed to use fir plywood and fir scantlings. With it's dramatic shear, the fir is bent to about it's maximum stress in the shear guards and chine logs. I decided early on that I would use mahogany plywood and I have some very nice Oboto mahogany from Africa that just begged to be used for shear guards, thwarts and chine logs. You might guess by now that the bateau will be finished bright.

The chine logs and shearguards are attached to the side panels or planks before they are stressed into shape. (In every other boat I've built those components are added to the boat in its formed shape).
I found that since the mahogany is less supple than the specified fir, bending the panels was very difficult, in fact two of my carefully made splices broke during this process (a very frustrating event as you might imagine), so the second design change is that my bateau is six inches narrower than the Peace Canoe and, as you can see from the pictures, (a third design change) the double ender now has a tombstone transom (see picture above). These changes were dictated by the material used, a very, very old, time tested method of design/ build. At this point the boat we are building bears a significant departure from the original plans and can almost qualify as a new design of it's own.


After installing the thwarts, the boat is then turned over and the bottom traced, cut and fitted. Note that the center thwart is a sealed flotation chamber, another design change. The original plan called for solid foam glued to the underside of the thwart, but I can't bring myself to buy that stuff, it's showing up on every beach in the world!













From here on out, all bets are off. With abandon (this is the fun part!), finish details are adopted on the spot. Maybe that's why a boat that is advertised as a weekend build has taken a month! Right now I can't tell if it's the success I want it to be. (Disclaimer: It's never good enough! But I've learned to live with my fussy nature.) It's a good looking boat and will suit my needs as a tender for Mistral, but as for it's seaworthiness, or whether it will turn heads at the boat shows, only time will tell.






And you will be the first to know.











The (mostly) finished bateau.
Thanks for visiting!

The Pacific Pelican

Stay tuned for the Pacific Pelican from Lou Brochetti....

Lou has revived a classic design in the San Francisco Pelican tradition. Part Banks dory, with the bow of a sampan and an attractive balanced lug rig, the Pacific Pelican at 14 feet 7 inches over all length is a hybrid between the famous San Fransisco Pelican (12 ft LOA) and the camp cruising classic, the Great Pelican (16 ft. pocket cruiser).

Lou tells me he's had the Pelican up on a plane going down wind in the San Juan Islands in blustery conditions and the modified dory stayed dry and comfortable. The flat bottom, generous rocker and strong side flare are the features that provide stable, extremely seaworthy sailing.

The low aspect balanced lug rig is reefed from the cockpit, providing safety and comfort for your gunkholing experience.

I can attest from personal experience that the Pelican is an easy boat to row, so the cruising purists among you would be able to forget those gas guzzling engines entirely!

The Pelican is a versatile family boat that can explore sandy beaches, weather a weeks vacation sailing, or compete in class racing.

LOA: 14 ft. 7 in.
Extreme Beam: 6 ft. 7 in.
Draft (board up): 5 in.
Draft (board down): 5 ft.
Weight: 600 lbs.
Sail Area : 145 sq. ft.
Cockpit length: 8 ft.



Hal and his wife, Loretta take a sunny day sail in their Pacific Pelican, lovingly restored by Lou.

That's a Coot burgee on the after deck; the Oregon Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association.















The Great Pelican Toucan at 16 ft. LOA is another lengthened version of the San Francisco Pelican. They share the seaworthy characteristics of wide hull flare, sampan bow and flat bottom. The centerboard for this pocket cruiser is weighted and she draws only eight inches with the centerboard up! With the centerboard down the full draft is four feet.
The standing lug sail is fully battened and main plus jib equal a total sail area of 187 square feet.

The Pelican class boats are stable, seaworthy designs that are adaptable to many conditions, from coastal cruising to family sailing lessons. The pram bow and articulating rudder make disembarking on your favorite island beach easy, safe and dry!
Note the hinged tabernacle for the mast...

William Short has this to say about the Great Pelican:
"The Great Pelican is an enlarged version of the immensely popular one-design, The San Francisco Pelican. She is 16 ft. long with an 8-ft. beam and over 30 in. of freeboard amidships. Built with a cabin for cruising, you’ll often find this little boat out as far as the Golden Gate on a windy day and, as any West Coast sailor will tell you, this is as rough as inland sailing can get."
"We even heard from one Great Pelican owner who had sailed his modified home-built down the Pacific Coast to San Diego and then, with his wife as crew, crossed to Hawaii. I would never have recommended such a voyage, because I think of the Great Pelican as a weekender for inland or coastal waters, but I am constantly amazed at the voyages the little boat makes, and it is not limited to the West Coast. I had a call recently from an owner who had sailed his Great Pelican from New Brunswick, Canada down to Florida, and a builder in Nova Scotia claims that the boat is ideal for rough coastal waters."

LOA 16’
Beam 8’
Draft (board up) 8”
Draft (board down) 4’
Sail Area 187 sq. ft.

Toucan's spacious and inviting cuddy cabin interior is roomy and inviting and it's utilitarian dory characteristics are tried and true. The balanced lug rig is a work of art!
I may have to ask Lou to build one of these for me........

Lou Brochetti also sells plans for the Pacific Pelican. He obtained the rights for these plans from the original designers, Ed and Jim Barlow. The Barlows designed the first Pelican in the 1980's and Lou received the rights to the Pacific Pelican a couple years ago:
The plans include six detail sheets with sail and rigging plans and full sized plywood layouts - no lofting required! Full sized patterns are included for special shapes. An instruction book runs 100 pages and has plenty of pictures with the first time builder in mind. Even if you've never built a boat, you could build your own Pacific Pelican!

The information pack for the Pacific Pelican costs $5.00 (postage paid)
And plans cost $90.00 (plus $6.00 shipping)

Lou has also designed a hollow mast with tabernacle for the Great Pelican.
the plans are $35.00 (+ $2.00 shipping).

Lou can be reached at 541-504-0135
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The Ash Breeze

I was just perusing the latest issue of the Ash Breeze, the quarterly publication of the Traditional Small Craft Association. The TSCA is at the heart of the traditional wooden boat revival that has swept the world in the last thirty years and it is a vital organization to those of us who love to build, row, sail or motor in fine wooden boats. Anyone who has even a passing interest in small craft should be a member - the TSCA needs our support.

There are chapters all over the USA with ongoing boating events and shows to promote the sport.

The Ash Breeze is a member contribution journal with articles about building and using small wooden boats. It is worth the small cost of TSCA membership by itself! The journal is devoted to topics ranging from reports of the TSCA chapters to technical details or specific designs with lines and offsets. You may find anecdotal accounts of experiences in traditional boats or tips on how to spile a plank.

The following is from the mission statement of the
Traditional Small Craft Association:

"The TSCA as an organization was first created as a response to a plan by the Federal government to adopt a set of "safety" standards that would, in effect, have declared traditional types such as peapods and dories "unseaworthy". This seemed WRONG to people such as John Gardner and Pete Culler. They were told that protest would be much more effective if they were speaking for an organization, and so they went and built one."

"We'd like to think that the TSCA had a significant part in the result, which was that the regulations were revised so that traditional boats were permitted to continue to exist. FOR THE MOMENT. Who knows when we'll need to take up the cudgels again? Having got by this crisis, the organization turned to the long-term business of "passing the word" about traditional types to the world in general, or at least that part of it which might be interested. For further information, see The Ash Breeze Vol 17 No 3."


In the latest issue of the Ash Breeze, there is a fine article on a subject dear to my heart; respecting the power and capricity of the weather. The author tells a tale of being challenged by conditions that built beyond his margin of safety. "Caught Out and Trapped: A Cautionary Tale" is about an adventure in Miss Retta, a twelve foot John Brooks, Ellen design sailing dingy. Miss Retta carried Ed Neal of Cleveland through winds up to 24 mph while he struggled to find a place to land while waves broke on the beach he'd launched from only a half hour earlier. I won't spoil Ed's story, please check it out for yourself.

And join your local chapter of the TSCA! It's inexpensive and provides an invaluable service to the community of traditional craft and those who love them.
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Wintering Over

The bateau out in the studio is coming along slowly, and the reason is rabbits. Yes, you hear right, rabbits. For the last two weeks Doryman has been building a rabbit hutch to hold seven new pals. These are Angora rabbits, renowned for their fur, not the food kind. In fact, once you get to know these furry beasts, they can be too much fun. You can find out all you ever needed to know about these luxury lagomorphs at Mary's Fiber Aventures











But what about the boats? When will we hear about more boats?

Be patient, it's the weather. Torrential rains, humidity in the high nineties. Temperatures in the forties. No boat building weather at the moment... in fact, building rabbit hutches hasn't been too much fun either. The critters need protection from the elements though, right? Spoiled rabbits! Soggy Doryman.

Just arrived in the mail, some adventures in literature. This winter the theme is exploration. Of the sailing type, of course.








After all, it is the
Voyage Ethereal.

Designing a Boat

You can tell you are designing a boat when it's all you think about. Every time you pick up a book, it's about boats. Every spare moment, you imagine the shape of the hull, the sail rig.
First came the research. Maybe several years of research. Some will build models, in fact, the experts all agree on the value of a scale model. There are no models here, however. Doryman is impatient. The model will be full sized. The idea grows, like a mushroom. There's no stopping it!

Another thing the experts agree on is that boat design is an organic thing. It's part of the human genome. Who knows who built the first boat or when, but one thing is sure, it was designed on the spot, with the materials at hand. There was a need to get on the water, it was as simple as that. Eventually recognizable designs emerged because certain features worked.

It's still just that simple; certain features work and others don't. Some details of boat design are a mystery. We don't know exactly how they work, only that they do.
So, the best place to start is with research. Fortunately for us, there is a large body of information already compiled for us. We find the designs we like, the ones that fit our needs, our budget, our skills -- something that we understand, that speaks to us.

For Doryman the process is intuitive. Too much thinking, too much science gets in the way. Of course there has been hours, days and years spent studying what works, then comes the idea that will not be ignored and the next thing you know, he's rummaging through the wood pile. Occasionally there is the boat that grows from it's component parts. Organic. (Is it wrong to design a boat around a cool set of oar locks?)
No wonder we speak of a boat as having a spirit, a personality, since it literally comes alive, almost of it's own volition.

Pictured here are some of the designers who have inspired and mentored Doryman.
Maybe they are among your favorites, too.

Pocket Cruisers

It seems lately that I am shopping for a boat. Not just any boat. One that will travel light, but with confidence. Beautiful, but not conceited and above all nimble and fast. Not just shopping, either. Looking at study plans, scrutinizing the underwater profile, sail placement, ballast, scantlings, keels, rudders. All the things that go into designing a thoroughbred. Paul Gartside's Ida, featured a few posts back is such a craft.


The latest study plans to come across my desk are from Nigel Irens. The pocket cruiser Romilly was conceived for estuary and coastal sailing.

Romilly is an open boat with a small cuddy forward. The cockpit is roomy, which as any mariner can attest is essential to coastal cruising. Room to work with minimal visual obstructions makes this an appealing design
With her high ballast ratio she will carry her way through stays and is sure to be stable sailing in gusty conditions.
And best of all, the strip plank version of Nigel Irens Romilly was developed following many inquiries from those wishing to build the boat themselves.



The hull is constructed from Western Red Cedar over eight plywood bulkheads and frames. The transom and stem are also set up before planking. The planking uses a conventional beveled edge section with edge fastenings between frames. The planked hull is 'glassed to seal and protect the wood. The result is a beautiful and durable hull shape with the appeal of a winner.
The keel is a lead casting, and is bolted on externally in the traditional manner. It has a slot in the center for the centerboard. The centerboard is a plywood and glass sheathed steel fabrication. With the ballast centrally located, the Rommily would tack easily.
The rudder is made up from layers of plywood, and protected by 'glass sheathing.
Romilly’s lug yawl rig is one of the main features of the design, and its light weight helps the boat perform well with her shallow draught and minimal displacement.
The plans call for a carbon fiber mast, but it seems a hollow wood mast would work just fine (and I could build it myself. Even more fun!)




SPECIFICATIONS:

LOA 22’ 0”
LWL 19’6”
Beam 6’11”
BWL 5’ 0”
Draft (board up) 1’ 8”
Draft (board down) 5’ 1”
Displacement 2640 lbs.
Total Sail Area 242 sq. ft.

I love the graceful, efficient hull shape and the unobtrusive cuddy cabin. The sail rig is a departure from my usual emphasis on performance but my; doesn't it look fine?
More about this exquisite boat can be found at:
Burnett Yacht Design
While there, check out the other beautiful sailing designs from this innovative naval architect.

Footloose Skiff "Pickle"

Depoe Bay, Oregon has an annual Wooden Boat Show. The tiny rock bound harbor is a secure sanctuary from the raging storms of the Pacific Ocean. Or so it seems in late April when wooden boat owners, builders and fans gather, in occasionally inclement weather, to commune over displays, boats, food and fun. Some of the boats will be for sale. (Often so the owner can have an excuse to build a new boat!) One such boat caught John Kohnen's eye one April in 1999. Here is John's story of how he came to own his Footloose skiff, Pickle:

"Pickle is a Footloose Skiff designed by Warren Jordon of South Beach, Oregon.
She was built by Lou Brochetti for his own use and launched in 1998. Louie took her to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival that year, and then camp-cruised in her in the Gulf Islands on the east coast of Vancouver Island (Canada)."
"I first saw her at the 1999 Depoe Bay Wooden Boat Show. The show was in the lot by the launch ramp then. I walked around the harbor, and the first boat I came to was Pickle (though she was not named yet). I looked at her and thought to myself, "I can see myself in a boat like this!" Several months later I came into some money, so I called Louie to see if he'd like to build a Footloose skiff for me, but not so fancy. He said, "want to buy mine?". He was selling everything to take up the life of an itinerant boat builder, spending his winters fishing in Mexico and summers working in the Northwest. So, I bought Pickle from him and have been happy with her ever since."
"I named her Pickle after the Royal navy schooner that brought news of the Battle of Trafalgar and Nelson's death to England."



"I've taken Pickle to Sucia Island (San Juan Islands, Washington Sate) a couple of times for the Western Oregon Messabouts Rendezvous, and have sailed her in many of the rivers, lakes and bays of Oregon. She's been in the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival three times, twice while I've had her. She suits me very well. She's quite seaworthy for a skiff, and forgiving of occasional mistakes on my part. She's a bit under canvased (she was designed for the windy lakes and bays on the coast) and thus sluggish in light breezes, but she goes along good when the wind picks up. I enjoy sailing other boats, but when I get back out in Pickle I think, "I sure like this boat!"







Doryman has to second that! Pickle exemplifies the classic, carefree boating experience of the flat-bottomed skiff. Skiffs have been built in many sizes and configurations and have been used for every purpose, for work and for fun. Do you need a boat that will take you fishing and on family sailing outing, too? Flat-bottomed skiffs are easy and economical to build and they are able to do almost anything a mariner could want. They sail and row well and are especially suited for shallow waters. Building and owning a flat bottomed skiff requires basic construction and maintenance skills and as John says, suits the avid sailor just fine.

Here we see John enjoying the simple pleasures of light airs and blue skies!


All photos courtesy of John Kohnen.


Specifications:
Length overall 15'-2"
Beam 5'-6"
Draft (board up) 6"
Hull wt approx. 300 lbs.
Sail area 79 sq. ft.
Power outboard motor to 5 HP

The designer has this to say about the construction of the Footloose Skiff:

"Footloose is designed to be built on a solid, but simple and inexpensive ladder-frame jig. She is assembled with transverse frames and longitudinal structural members, a system that has proven over many years to result in boats of superior strength and durability. The five rigid frames are set up on the jig, and with the stem, transom, chines and keelson, provide the form to which the marine plywood is fastened. The frames remain an integral part of the boat, providing rigidity to the hull and attachment for the seat risers, inwales and gunwales. A centerboard trunk, thwarts and stern bench finish out the interior joinery. Plywood floorboards, fitted in removable sections between the frames, provide a dry walkway while protecting the bottom from wear."
"The sailing rig I chose for Footloose is my favorite: the traditional loose-footed sprit. Besides looking right for this type of boat, it embodies the ultimate in simplicity, both in rigging and handling. Among its many virtues, it is inexpensive to fabricate and maintain, requiring no high-tech hardware or fittings. The spars can be easily fashioned by hand. It is extremely reliable and displays remarkably good overall performance, Another of its endearing features is that it spreads the largest area of sail on the shortest spars of any rig, It can be set up or struck in seconds and the whole rig can be rolled up and stowed inside the boat along one side, leaving plenty of room for the crew to row or motor. The 79 square-foot rig is boomless, in traditional fashion, making it very safe for children and those not used to "ducking the boom". The sail plan also specifies a 30" deep reef, a reduction that should handle most conditions encountered."

Be sure to visit Warren Jordon for this design and more.


I know for a fact that Louie sold his boat so he could build another. In fact more than that, he's currently building Pacific Pelicans, yet another seaworthy daysailer. Look for more about Lou Brochetti and his boats in future posts.

Lou Brochetti, Redmond, Oregon - 14' Pacific Pelican plans now available. Contact Lou at email lbrochetti@isp.com

Hard times

It seems Dmitry Orlov has written a new book "Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects", in which he predicts "The bailouts you see can be viewed as ever bigger doses of morphine for a patient that's not long for this world".
A year and a half ago, Dmitry and his wife Natasha sold their apartment in Boston and bought a sailboat. The boat is appropriately a sharpie named Hogfish. The idea is to live debt free in Boston Harbor. With solar panels and six months of propane Dmitry and Natasha are living in their self-styled survival capsule. Dmitry, a native Russian has lived in the U.S. for 34 years. A former software engineer, he now works for an advertising agency, walks to work, rides a bike for errands and doesn't own a car or television. Natasha is slowly buying into the idea.
Dmitry expounds on how to survive on the margins, speaking of the bourgeois live-aboard: "She must look like a proper yacht, and not a shanty boat or barge, because she must give coastal property owners no reason to complain to the harbormaster about the ugly thing spoiling their precious view.
"She should give the impression that she is sailed by people of obvious quality and distinction, of the sort that snooty coastal property owners might want to invite over for gin and tonics and to catch up on the goings on in San Tropez."
Dmitry plans to establish a trading network along Lake Champlain for transporting farm goods from Vermont to New York City. He says "We don't have a long wait before sail based transport is the only option."

You go, Dmitry!

In a recent article, by a leading American economics theorist, the producing nations which have economies in the black, such as China and Japan need to increase their consumption to bail out the consumer nations who have squandered their savings. It is their obligation, in fact and we (America) should threaten to impose trade restrictions on those countries "when the economy improves". So, those who save their money and protect their currency owe it to the world economy to spend their savings and save us from our folly? Is this ludicrous, perverse or simply desperate? Or am I the one who's MAD?

Prepare to live aboard, for the flood cometh.


pictured: the dugout canoe Snookwis.
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The Old Sailing Peapod "Lizzie"

The Maine Peapod is a lobstering boat, built to work the fishery off the Northeast coast. Built stout and double ended to shoulder the hard scrabble workday of the lobster fisherman, the peapod resembles the native seagoing canoes of the day.
Many of the fishermen were also accomplished boat builders and made their own boats. The clinker or lapstrake planked double enders were a vessel that adapted well to the many various interpretations in design. It is a design flexible enough to accommodate what ever materials were at hand.
The peapod is easy to row and stable under sail; kind in a seaway.
Such were the considerations Bryan Beachy had in mind when he chose to build Howard Chapelle’s “Old Sailing Peapod”.
H. I. Chapelle was America’s preeminate small boat designer in the early 20th century. He had this to say about the peapod he used as a tender for his own Glad Tidings: “It was a typical lobsterman’s rowing pod and though very heavy she was wonderfully stiff and rowed very well into a wind and sea. For open water work where the boat does not have to be lifted out, I would prefer a pod to any other small skiff I have ever seen.”

Great kudos! And as Bryan can attest, the peapod Lizzie makes a great trailerable rowing and sailing boat, too.

The Old Sailing Peapod uses traditional construction and working boat scantlings: white oak frames, Douglas fir planks, thwarts, floors, and spars. Bryan diverged from tradition in plank fastenings, using stainless steel screws and bolts with bedding compound in the laps, improvements unavailable to the lobstermen of old. The knees are cut from the crooks of a neighbor's fallen oak in the old fashioned way. While the standing knees cured up fine, the tight angled breasthook knees checked, so the hooks are laminated. Nothing wrong with that, the breasthooks are beautiful and strong but Bryan isn’t pleased with the mismatch. He’s a purist and the quality of his construction tells the story.



The moderate bilge makes this an appropriate boat for lapstrake planking. The planks can be laid as they run and the narrow planks used in Bryan’s boat allow a gently rounded waterline. We see him carefully beveling the top of a plank to accept the next plank. This is a largely intuitive process requiring the builder to understand the music of his craft.



It should be noted that this pod has a full length planked keel and no centerboard, which Bryan says allows for a spacious cockpit, but under sail is prone to excessive leeway. This didn’t concern the lobstermen who required a boat that rowed well and tracked efficiently with a load. Little work was done under sail, the sails were used primarily for leaving and returning to harbor.
Here's the intrepid builder/ sailor running Lizzie before a fair breeze on the open Pacific, off Depoe Bay, Oregon.



Bryan carved his oars “Pete Culler style”, designed and sewed his own sail (two new skills for him, with advice from Lynne Fabricant of Sailmakers Art). So he can say with a purists heart that he built his boat much the same as the lobstermen of old Maine and created a work of art in the process. That classy finish is Deks Olje, about as old fashioned an oiled finish as can be had using modern materials.











Bryan says, “Lizzie has mostly exceeded my expectations.” We can see why! He likes to sail and row with his family and friends and participates in the local wooden boat shows. If you see him and his fine peapod, say you admired it here.



For a detailed description of building a peapod at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis:
So this is boat building




John Kohnen and Scott Malvitch graciously contributed the pictures of Lizzie under sail.

Iain Oughtred

With the fervor of a fresh convert Doryman finds his heart rate quicken when following the sea of boat building links, he finds Ian Oughtred designs and kit boats (and much more) at:
Jordan Boats
Think we may be onto something here.....







Iain's Ness Yawl Albannach