Tuesday, January 15, 2013

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.

17 comments:

Graham Neil said...

Doryman,
Patience is a Virtue acquired through maturity.
Hooray for the Melonseed I was wondering when it would re-appear. I must confess I have my own version on the drawing board. Maybe just maybe.

PS Enjoying the new layout.

doryman said...

I guess age doesn't necessarily equate to maturity. So when does this maturity thing kick in anyway? Have to admit, more and more, these creaky old bones force patience on me.

Speaking of force. The new layout was not intentional. Blogger ate my old set-up, killed it in one bite. It took four hours and a lot of cursing on Sunday to rebuild what we see. I was not happy, but I'm getting used to it.
So glad you like it.

Anonymous said...

Michael,
The new boat is looking good and I agree with Graham that so is the new layout. I'm sure the work to build one is more enjoyable than the work to (re)build the other, but on this end, they both look excellent.

- Michael H.

doryman said...

I needed that, thank you!

EyeInHand said...

Studying your photo examples carefully, I can say this without hesitation:

Don't we all need short attractive women to stand almost upright in our boats? I know I do. Improves all my design proposals immeasurably.

doryman said...

Well, you have three attractive women on your blog all the time. And I would say, yes, they improve your designs, so you might have something there.

Brandon Ford said...

Michael, The boat looks great! I need to come see it. I was so busy looking at the pictures that I didn't notice the new layout of the blog. Compelling writing and photos triumph again! Content over... ummm... that other thing.

Brandon

doryman said...

You know you come here for the glamor and prestige. Admit it.

Bursledon Blogger said...

The problem is melon seed v2.8 only works with halyards 10 and open sheaves bronze that probably triggered the blogger changes - don't sweat the small stuff as they say walking tino the workshop even to finish the difficult bits and seeing the mellonseed would bring a smile to my lips

EyeInHand said...

By the way, Michael, I much prefer the new layout, too. Apparently, you do your best work under stress. Seems more cursing in your life is the ticket.

Anonymous said...

Micheal ,

Like the new format, however it can about.

Julian

Anonymous said...

This is a very nice design, but I dont see it as a live aboard. For that you nee a slap sided AS29.
J

Anonymous said...

This is a very nice design. I dont think it is full time live aboard.
For that you need an AS29.

J

doryman said...

We're waiting for you to build yours, Julian.

Denis said...

Hello Michael, I have been catching up with your melonseed via the flicker pics, the change in character with the deck in place is amazing. Looks the goods. Hope you can get her in the water this season, thanks for all the great posts and blogs.

doryman said...

Coming from you Denis, I consider that a huge compliment. Seems Yahoo ate some of my photos on Flickr and now they tell me I don't have the account I've paid for, so it might be a while before I can upload more photos.
Still plugging away, though...

Denis said...

The plugging away bit I really understand. The fiddly bits take forever and are certainly frustrating. Looking forward to seeing your completed craft scooting along. Take care..........