Doryman's Melonseed

Winter temperatures here on the Oregon coast have been uncharacteristically cold recently. Nothing slows boat building as much as cold temperatures. Although, those who are familiar with Doryman know, the design process never stops.

I've been fitting the decks on the melonseed (finally). For a few weeks, the process of putting finishes on the interior was a test of patience. You all know I'm not famous for having patience. But it had to be done. Some compartments are impossible to finish once the decks are on, in fact finishing the inside of a boat is much easier all-around before the decks are laid. There once was a day when I would impatiently power through the building process and leave the finishes to the end, which is self-defeating, to put it succinctly.

Waiting for paint and adhesives to dry is a good time to review and update designs. Then you can always say you are working, even though it looks like you are watching the paint dry.

Sometimes an idea that has been incubating for a long time suddenly seems to augment. Such is the case with this melonseed. You may remember, the modern recreational melonseed is an adaptation from the Jersey Skiff, an east coast of North America duck hunting boat of the nineteenth century. It has proven to be an adaptable and seaworthy design.

The Boat Bits web-log recently brought to my attention a coastal cruising design from Gilles Montaubin, L'Etroit Mousquetaire. Please note the similarities in the hull shape between my melonseed and this attractive minimalist cruiser.

Quite a coincidence? Perhaps, but more likely it's just one of those ideas that works. The coincidence is that for the last few months, I have imagined my little sailing dinghy as a larger boat with a cuddy cabin. And here it is, from the pen of Monsieur Montaubin!

I'm going to step right out on the limb now and say... why build one of the recently popular slab-sided cruisers when, for the same money and effort you can have a simple, elegant design like this?

A search on this 'ol blog for Doryman's Melonseed.
More melonseed construction photos on the Doryman Flickr site.