‘Bumper’

During May and June of 2005 I completed a return trip in my junk-rigged Virgo Voyager to the Scilly Isles from the River Crouch. I sold her the same year, after having owned her for two seasons. She was a comfortable bilge keel yacht with standing headroom. Equipped with a Bukh 10 ME diesel engine and a Windpilot Pacific Light self-steering gear she was a very able vessel. ‘Bumper’ had been built by Newbridge Boats in 1982 when she was equipped with a tapered Needlespar mast, complete with a Hasler junk sail. Not the fastest or most efficient yacht to windward, she made up for it by having excellent accommodation – remarkable, since her overall length was only 23’. Her 6’ headroom and 8’ 4” beam accounted for her spacious interior. The quality of her build in terms of strength and finish was excellent. I couldn’t fault her fittings, equipment, woodwork, upholstery etc, including her stainless steel boarding ladder which I modified for fitting the wind vane self-steering gear. Because she only drew 2’ 10” I could happily sail her in the shoal waters of the Thames estuary. It was reassuring to know that she could take the ground and remain upright on her substantial iron bilge keels - providing she settled on level ground! I liked the ease with which she could be controlled from her cockpit without me having to go on deck to reef or hoist sail – a big safety factor, particularly when sailing single-handing.

‘Acadia’

My Perception Acadia decked paddling canoe was designed for solo touring on rivers, lakes and the sea. She had good stability and excellent tracking without loss of manoeuvrability. I fitted her with a very simple sail, leeboard and a kick-up rudder.


The great advantage of such a basic boat is her spontaneity, because she requires little time for setting up. If there’s a break in the weather and the opportunity arises, she can be slipped onto the roof of a car for a short journey to whatever venue may be convenient. Because she is easily driven, she requires only a small sail area to push her along, and providing the sail and leeboard work in harmony, she can make to windward in winds up to force three. Thereafter, she needs to be paddled, not just to remain upright, but for better progress against the wind. The rig is best suited to reaching and running. When not in use, it can be folded like a fan and stowed under the straps on the foredeck and starboard side deck.


I only used my ‘Acadia’ for day sailing, but it would have been possible to stow a tent under her aft deck and secure light provisions up forward in waterproof bags. An apron fitted to the cockpit made her completely watertight, and her moulded seat and backrest were comfortable for paddling and sailing, even for hours at a time. To anyone who wants a cheap solution to spontaneous day sailing I would recommend fitting a small sail, leeboard and rudder to an Acadia. I would also recommend it for those who would enjoy minimalist boat camping. Cheap is a relative adjective; therefore to qualify what I mean by cheapness, you may get hold of a second-hand Acadia for about £400.00. The rudder, mast, sail and leeboard you could make from scraps. My mast was a piece of plastic, kitchen drainpipe filled with canes to provide some stiffness, and yet allow it to bend when subjected to sudden loads, such as when there was a gust. I cut the sail from a bit of old sailcloth I happened to have. I bought a standard kick-up rudder at great expense, but it was hardly big enough for steering the canoe while sailing.


Statistics

Length 374 cm, Width 72 cm, Weight 24kg - Maximum load 180kg

Out of office

For several weeks I have posted daily to this Blog, but for the next few days I may not be able to log on. I hope you will not be too disappointed, but I'll be back as soon as I can.

‘Badger’

Generally I don’t feature large yachts on my Blog, but of late I’ve been looking at a few of the famous ones like Joshua Slocum’s ‘Spray’, John Voss’s ‘Tilikum’ and more recently Marcel Bardiaux’s ‘Les 4 Vents’. Another vessel that comes to mind is ‘Badger’, the 34’ junk-rigged dory that belonged to Pete and Annie Hill. Together they made at least three circuits of the North Atlantic in their attractive ketch. The first took place between 1983 and 1985 when they called into the Canary Islands, the Virgin Islands, Florida, Nova Scotia, Iceland, the Loften Islands, Norway and the Shetlands. The second voyage between 1986 and 1987 took them to Spain, Morocco, Venezuela, Bahamas, Bermuda and the Azores. The third during 1989 and 1990 saw them visiting Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the Canary Islands, Virgin Islands, Cuba, Bahamas, Bermuda, finally arriving back in Scotland.


Annie Hill wrote a book, ‘Voyaging on a Small Income’ telling of her experiences and imparting pearls of wisdom gained through her voyaging. It’s a fabulous book for anyone intending to take to the seas for protracted Blue Water cruising. She has included details of yachts she believes are ideal for a couple to live aboard. They can all be built from plans by amateurs who have the necessary skills and resources. ‘Badger’ was a Jay R Benford sailing dory with a raised, flush deck. That configuration made for excellent headroom and gave bags of space below, sufficient for a large work area comprised of a navigation station, and a galley, right by the companion way for easy access to the foot well where the tiller came to hand. Forward of the work area there was a spacious saloon with two settee berths, one either side of a folding table, just right for civilized meals when conditions allowed. A separate double berth in the forepeak, with commodious book shelves and a linen locker completed the open plan accommodation, except of course, I failed to mention the large heads compartment with a basin and shower, by the companion way.


There’s much to be said for choosing a dory-type yacht, especially the sort with a wide flat bottom that allows her accommodation to be pushed out to her sides, and such a shape also makes for a stable platform coupled with good load carrying capacity. Dories are easy to build with plywood because of their simple shape with flat panels forming their sides and bottom. For durability and ease of maintenance the exterior is sheathed in GRP. A long, flat raised deck, as with ‘Badger’, provides more buoyancy in the event of a knockdown, and it makes for unimpaired deck work because of there being few obstructions, unlike yachts with cabin trunks and narrow side decks. Her free-standing ketch, junk rig was economical to install, since both masts were shaped from readily available timber and no special expertise was required of the sail maker, because her Hasler sails were cut as flat panels - any camber being achieved, depended on how the battens were fashioned, thinner sections inducing more bend. Oh, by the way, there was ample room for stowing a punt on the foredeck in addition to having space for anchor work.



Notes


‘Voyaging on a Small Income’ by Annie Hill

Published by Waterline Books,

101 Longden Rd, Shewsbury, England, 1993.

ISBN 1 85310 425 6



Links



‘Badger’

http://www.benford.us/dories/34.html


Annie Hill’s Blog

http://anniehill.blogspot.com/


Annie Hill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Hill

‘Zeta’ – Folksong

Over the years my memory has become hazy and I cannot remember days and months; they have become blurred, but I can remember very clearly the day I launched ‘Zeta’, BIG ‘Zeta’. She was a highly modified Folksong to take me around the world in three years. The days of small ‘Zeta’, my Hunter Europa 19, were behind me. I was off on a new adventure. The launching took place at my local yacht club on the upper reaches of the River Crouch early in 1984. I had retired from teaching and I was looking forward to a very long sabbatical, exploring countries and numerous islands with exotic names like Dominica, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Fiji and Cocos, learning firsthand of cultures and ways of life I had read about when studying the voyages of heroic predecessors, such as Joshua Slocum, Harry Pigeon, Alain Gerbault and Marcel Bardiaux.


I had toiled three years in my spare time to complete ‘Zeta’ from a Folksong bonded hull and deck supplied by the designer and builder Eric Bergqvist. She was almost identical to a wooden, carvel Folkboat, except she had been laid up with re-enforced GRP and longitudinal stringers to provide strength to her hull. For ease of handling, simplicity and easy renewal of parts I chose to have a sloop junk rig. This was supplied by Robin Blain of Sunbird Yachts, who helped me set up the rig on a flexible, tapered Needlespar mast. The day arrived for my departure. The boat had been stocked with enough supplies to last three months, and an entire collection of charts, pilots etc for a circumnavigation of the Globe. She had everything: windvane self-steering gear, paraffin oven, stainless steel water tank. You name it – she had the lot. On the Club slipway my youngest daughter and my wife were there waving goodbye, and I noted tears rolling down the little girl’s cheeks. There was a big lump in my throat, and I nearly succumbed to involuntarily discharging saline drops through my tear ducts! The scene of sadness was a shock to the system that never left my mind. I had restless nights as I made my way to the Scilly Isles, and after a pleasant sojourn exploring the Islands I plucked up courage and set sail for the Azores - an unusual route I know, for the Canary Islands give a better opening to the trade winds for a passage to the West Indies, but I had always hankered for the Azores.


The first night at sea, was truly weird. The moon was veiled in haze, and the undulating swell with transverse rhythmic waves, caused the mast to make repetitive, eerie metallic groaning sounds. They were like the playing of an out-of-tune violin by a demented being; perhaps Neptune himself in a fit of madness wielded the bow upon the strings. Soon, other squeaks and whistling shrieks could be heard through the hull as we were accompanied by a shoal of dolphins. My nerves were on edge, and all I could see was the sad face of Farewell, my precious child, with tears running down her cheeks. With resolve I determined to continue, but the next morn brought little comfort. Another day and I plotted our position. Yes, it did work. The graph paper became my chart. Into the second night there was no respite. Again, my throat tightened and I knew I could not continue. I purposefully threw the tiller over until ‘Zeta’ was sailing a reciprocal course for Bishop Rock, homeward bound. In my heart, I knew I could not leave my wife and daughter for three years of selfish indulgence. I owed it to them. They had given me my freedom, but I had stolen their right to my support and my love.


Notes

Folksongs were built by Eric Berqvist, and they were intended for home completion, but some were finished by professional boat builders. ‘Zeta’s’ hull was solid GRP and the deck was filled with a foam core. She had 2,500 lbs of encapsulated lead ballast wihtin her glass fibre keel. Her beam was 7' 3, her draft 3' 9 and her length overall was 25' 2.


One seldom hears of those who fail to achieve their global circumnavigation ambitions. On returning from the Scillies I sold the boat and thought that perhaps I would never own another, but how wrong I was.


Links


Here’s a very nice ‘Folksong’ Blog

http://billwhateley.wordpress.com/

‘Amazon’

Is there a more famous dinghy than the fictional ‘Amazon’? I suspect not, save for ‘Swallow’ in the same children’s story book, “Swallows and Amazons’, written by Arthur Ransome, first published in 1930.


‘Amazon’ was described by the author as, “a fine little ship, with varnished pine planking,” newer than ‘Swallow’, but of the same length between 13’ and 14’. She had a single mast for carrying a white lugsail, which was stepped forward of her centreboard case, containing an iron plate that could be raised or lowered with the aid of a tackle. She was less roomy than ‘Swallow, which probably meant she was narrower. Lacking the beam of ‘Swallow’ and her lead ballast, ‘Amazon’ excelled in light airs, but as she was not as “stiff”, she could be overwhelmed in stronger gusts.


‘Amazon’ was owned by the Blackett children, Nancy and Peggy, otherwise known as the Amazon Pirates, and they kept her in a boathouse at Beckfoot, at the mouth of the River Amazon, with access to a lake containing several islands. The story unfolds when they meet the Walker children on Wildcat Island, complete with ‘Swallow’, a dinghy they borrowed from the Jacksons, who were farmers at Holly Howe. The tale is full of all sorts of exciting adventures involving camping, fishing, burglary, piracy, mock battles, surviving a storm and reconciliation between the Walkers and the Blackett children’s uncle, James Turner, who had accused them of stealing manuscripts of a book he was writing.


Well, it is thought that Ransome based his book on real life experiences when he taught the Altounyan children to sail while on holiday at Coniston in 1928. There were Taqui 11, Susan 9, Titty 8, Roger 6 and Bright 2, although I suspect the younger ones were just spectators. Ransome had two dinghies built, one for his own use and the other for the Altounyan family; the latter was named ‘Mavis’. She is still owned by Altounyan family, but she has been renamed ‘Amazon’ after her fictional counterpart. Most probably she’s the boat Ransome used as a model for his fictional ‘Amazon’, but she differs by having three thwarts instead of two. She is currently looked after by the Ruskin Museum at Coniston, later to be returned to the Windermere Steamboat Museum where she was on permanent loan before the commencement of the Museum’s restoration.


Links


The Arthur Ransome Society

http://www.arthur-ransome.org/ar/swallows-and-amazons


Arthur Ransome Boats

http://www.allthingsransome.net/arboats/sandaboats/sanda.html#6


Obituary Taqui Altounyan

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/taqui-altounyan-729241.html

Melonseed Skiff

Have you ever been infatuated with a pretty maiden? Well, I have. Her name is Melonseed. When my eye surveyed her pretty lines, it was love at first sight. She’s still around, and if the sky is grey, and there’s darkness in my soul, I think of her. I see her skipping and bobbing across the water, her flying ribbon at her peak. Then my face shines and the dullness disappears. There’s a glow and warmth in my heart.


Today I received a Christmas card from, Lafayette, from another gent who is more than a passing lover of Melonseed. He owns one of Roger Crawford’s beautiful, enticing creations, but he just doesn’t ‘own’ this stunning skiff, he delights in sailing her and telling the world of her marvellous, generous nature, all 350 lbs of her crafted curves with winning ways. She’s 13’ 8” by 4’ 3”, complete with elegant wineglass stern. She slides off her trailer with consummate grace, ready to glide on glistening waters for delighting and responding to her master. She is easily rigged and her rudder shipped. Within minutes, master and mistress feel the breeze as they tack to and fro from shallow green to purple deep; there above a rainbow weeps to see such joy. A waltz here and foxtrot there, a rumba and a samba, but oh, watch the tango too!



Notes

Pictures tell more than words, but watch out, you may be enticed by maiden Melonseed. To earn her favours you’ll have to pay the price, for she doesn’t come cheap. One day, she may become a collector’s item, when she could well pay a handsome dividend, that’s if you could ever bear to part with her.



Links


Roger Crawford’s Melonseed

http://www.melonseed.com/


Melonseed Movie

http://www.melonseed.com/ms_the_movie.html


Melonseed in heavy weather

http://www.melonseed.com/heavy_weather_performance.html


Melonseed Sailing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsM7BF4iGcQ&feature=player_embedded#


Wooden Melon Seed

http://www.windfallwoodworks.com/wooden-boats/melonseed_skiff.htm

‘Jack de Crow’

Last Christmas I was given an unexpected present in the form of a paperback by A. J. Mackinnon, “The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow”. Immediately I saw the word ‘voyage’, my heart was set throbbing, and on the cover of the book there was a photo of a yellow mirror dinghy being rowed by a chap wearing a pith helmet. He looked a bit like an English eccentric, but ‘Sandy’ Mackinnon, the author, was born in Australia. Much has been written about the excellent quality of Mackinnon’s account of his voyage in an open boat through the waterways of Europe from Shropshire, England to Sulina on the Black Sea. He tells of running the tidal stretch of the River Severn from Sharpness to Bristol Docks and a crossing of the English Channel, but not all of the waters he encountered were as challenging as those.



Every review of the book is full of praise for Alexander James Mackinnon’s witty, descriptive writing and wonderful imagination, but few describe the boat or mention the effort involved in overcoming many obstacles along the way. Such a voyage takes one off the beaten track and provides a view and an insight into things not seen by those who travel by conventional means. The 3,000 miles voyage was not without danger, including capsize and a near disastrous shipwreck near Whitstable. He set off in September, 1997, with the intention of exploring the Llangollen canal and further to the River Severn, but just kept going until he reached Romania via England, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, and Bulgaria, encountering 282 locks, finally arriving at Sulina, on the shores of the Black Sea, where he gave his dinghy to the Harbour Master on 26th October, 1998.



The very first Mirror dinghy was designed by Barry Bucknell, the BBC TV do-it-yourself expert. He copied the construction technique of stitch and tape for joining plywood panels from Ken Littledyke’s canoe designs. Altogether, three prototypes of the Mirror were built; the design of the second and third were modified by Jack Holt to satisfy the demands of the Mirror Newspaper group who wanted to promote sales under their banner. They needed, first and foremost, a dinghy that would be safe, and easy for amateurs to build from kits. It was to be a cheap dinghy for the masses. Mirrors abound in many parts of the world, and International racing is well organized. Extremely successful, there are probably more Mirrors than any other class of dinghy in the world. Inevitably, such a popular design would be mass-produced in GRP. Quite a few of the earlier wooden versions have been adapted for cruising, and more than a dozen members of the Dinghy Cruising Association own them.



Links


UK Mirror Sailing

http://www.ukmirrorsailing.com/


A Mirror Dinghy being sailed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp3yJejL_Dk


Finished Mirrors and Kits

http://shop.trident-uk.com/sailing/Mirror_Boats_hulls_and_kits.html


Dinghy Cruising Association

http://www.dca.uk.com/

‘Glory 2’

'Glory 2'
I have been trying to gather information about Sir Henry Pigott’s single-handed circumnavigation of the world in the 19’ 8” junk-rigged yacht, ‘Glory 2’. As far as I can remember, he had already crossed the Atlantic in a Mirror Offshore 19’yacht. I know that he completed his circumnavigation aboard ‘Glory 2’ in 1985, and at that time his yacht was the smallest to have done it. Two years later, in 1987, Serge Testa took the record from him, when he completed a 3 year circumnavigation aboard the 12’ ‘Acrohc Australis’.


There’s very little information out there in Cyberspace about Henry’s small Colvic Motorsailer. I think he bought the hull and built everything else. Apparently, she was flush-decked with no cockpit, and she could be managed from inside the doghouse. You can see from the poor photo above, she had a single Hasler junk sail.


I believe the Junk Rig Association Newsletters, numbers 27, 28, 36 and 47 contain articles featuring Henry and his famous yacht. Sadly as far as I am aware, the JRA does not publish their Newsletters online, and I do not have access to them. Apparently, the Practical Boat Owner magazine published an article with photos of ‘Glory 11’, but again, I do not have a copy. I came across a posting at one Yahoo Group that said in addition to sailing around the world in ‘Glory 11’, Henry had crossed the Atlantic 6 times! Also he sails to the Shetlands every year from Poole to visit his daughter who lives there.


I am not certain, but I believe Henry has roots in Hampshire, UK. I speak in the present tense, because I assume he is still alive, probably in his 90s. He has owned other junk-rigged vessels in addition to ‘Glory 2’. Somewhere I read that he had sailed six times around England and Scotland, but on the last occasion he broke his leg, and it is now so full of metal that it plays up his compass. You can’t believe all you read, but there may be some truth in it.


Any information you can give me about Henry and his boats will be gratefully received, especially photos of the ‘Glory 2’.

‘Les 4 Vents’ (The Four Winds)

Between 24th May, 1950 and 25th July, 1958, the French yachtsman Marcel Bardiaux made a single-handed circumnavigation west-about from Ouistreham, France, to Arcachon, France, via Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. This was truly a great adventure in a homemade yacht to the design of Henri Dervin which Bardiaux modified by simplifying the cabin structure. She was 30’ 8” from bow to stern and her beam was 8’ 10”. On completion of Bardiaux’s epic voyage, ‘Les 4 Vents’ was the smallest vessel to have circled the Globe. Irving Johnson awarded Bardiaux the 1958 Cruising Club of America’s Blue Water Medal for his circumnavigation which required great resourcefulness, determination and perseverance.


In 1930 Marcel paddled his homemade canoe 11,000 kilometres through the rivers of Europe, first exploring the Danube to the Black Sea and Istanbul, then across the Aegean to Marseilles, from where he made his way to Paris via the canals. He became the French Kayak Champion and the European Kayak Champion. He was a founding member of the Kayak Club of France. In 1939, as a reservist, he was taken prisoner and transported to Germany where he escaped by fooling his pursuers. He convinced them that he had drowned in a river, but all the time he was breathing through a metal tube. Back in France in 1943, while the country was still occupied by the Germans, he covertly built ‘Les 4 Vents’ from meagre resources. Finding lead for the keel required great ingenuity.


During his 68.000 nautical mile odyssey, Marcel experienced more than one capsize, a dismasting and several groundings. Along the way he put into at least 500 ports. In 1958 he published two books: "Aux 4 Vents de L’aventure”, Volumes 1 and 2". Not content with his circumnavigation, he set about building a stainless steel yacht, which he named ‘Inox’. Ten years later, when she was finished, he set off on a 30 year voyage of discovery, logging 400,000 nautical miles while sailing the oceans of the world, including several Atlantic crossings. At the age of 87 he died aboard his yacht in the harbour of Redon, Ile et Vilaine, in February, 2000, one of the truly great mariners.

‘Sand Flee’

Matt Layden is always coming up with astonishing small boat designs, including Terrapin, Gjac, Swamp Thing, Paradox, Little Cruiser, Rob-Royoid, Enigma and, most recently, the amazing Sand Flee, which he entered in the 2007/8 Watertribe Everglades Challenge. This 8’ by 3’ 9” double-chined pram dinghy with a deck has a single leeboard on her starboard side. She also has a sliding hatch that can completely cover her rectangular cockpit, effectively making the boat lockable and perhaps watertight. When empty, she weighs 85 lbs, and the area of her high-peaked, furling lugsail is 45 sq ft. Her mast, yard and boom are all approximately 8’ in length, which means they can be stowed on the port side deck without extending beyond the bow and stern. As with Paradox, she has a rudder that can be raised, and her tiller passes through a sealed port in the transom. Secondary propulsion is by a pair of oars that are stowed on the starboard side deck. Like Enigma she has a pair of wheels that can be attached to her sides for portaging. The latest photo shows Sand Flee with a dodger instead of her sliding hatch; perhaps the hatch has been stowed inside the boat?


Links


PD Racer – Article on Sand Flee with excellent photos

http://www.pdracer.com/articles/ecpdr/matt/index.htm


WaterTribe – Everglades Challenge

http://www.watertribe.com/

‘Caleb’ 50/50 Canoe

I asked Paul Fisher to design me a decked canoe that could be paddled and sailed efficiently, in equal order. He did a pretty good job, but there’s always a compromise in such a situation. If she were to be designed purely for sailing without taking into consideration paddling, no doubt she would be wider in the beam for stability. A canoe that is too beamy cannot be paddled with a double-bladed paddle.


Hugh Horton has perfected the 50/50 – that’s a decked canoe that can sail efficiently and be paddled equally efficiently, but at the time I wanted my plans, he did not have drawings that could be sold to the general public. Since then he has produced ‘Bufflehead’, a lightweight plywood canoe that can be paddled with a double-bladed paddle or a single-bladed one. Now, that’s another difficult thing to achieve – lightness, because this is needed when transporting a canoe overland, or when putting her on a roof rack. I never weighed my Paul Fisher 50/50 ‘Caleb’ that I built, but I feel sure she was heavier than 45lbs, the designed unloaded weight. I could get her on the roof rack of my car, but the task was not easy.


This is Paul’s description of ‘Caleb’:
A 50/50 canoe is a boat which has been designed and built with the intention that it should be as easily and efficiently powered by sail as it is by paddle (in this case a double paddle). This means that the rig needs to be both efficient and easy to erect and stow—she can use any of the rigs we have for our canoes but the one detailed on the plans is of a batwing type with spars which can be hinged to lie along the mast so that it can be stowed inboard when not in use. The cockpit is wider than normal for a single crew member so that the crew can sit on the canoe bottom out to one side when sailing. Construction is simple stitch and tape using 4mm plywood. There are stowage/WT compartments fore and aft.


Here are her statistics:

LOA 15' 4.58m

Beam 35" 0.9m

Hull Mid Depth 17" 0.43m

Approx. Dry Weight 45lbs 20kg

Approx. Capacity 650lbs 295kg

Hull Shape Multi-chine with 4 planks per side

Construction Method Stitch and tape


Because I had her Batwing sail made professionally, and because I used the very best marine ply and epoxy, she was expensive to build - £1,296.30. In the UK, the cost of the plans today are £55.00 and for the US, $75.00 (£47.00).
When I test-sailed ‘Caleb’ alongside similar canoes, her performance to windward was usually better, I think due in part to the combination of the Batwing sail and her leeboard. So that I could paddle her more easily, I made a removable seat to raise myself off the floor. When not being used, it was stowed under the aft deck within easy reach. I fitted ‘Caleb’ with a tent that was comprised of a shaped piece of waterproof material and the sail reefed. See photos to understand how it worked. I could sleep aboard while the canoe was afloat, or when she was on land. With hindsight, two inches less beam, and lower freeboard amidships would have made her easier to paddle.


LInks


Paul Fisher – My 50/50 ‘Caleb’

http://www.selway-fisher.com/Sailcanoe.htm#ILI


Canoe Sailing Magazine – ‘Bufflehead’

http://canoesailingmagazine.com/index.php/Issue-2/Hugh-Horton-and-Bufflehead.html


Duckworks Magazine – good photos of ‘Bufflehead’

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/08/designs/bufflehead/index.htm


Cedar Key Small Boat Meet - May 2008 – more good photos of ‘Bufflehead’

http://ftp.ij.net/wctss/wctss/photos31.htm

‘Micro’

Some years ago I bought a kit for the hull of a ‘Storm Petrel’ from Swallow Boats and fitted her out with a deck and cockpit of my own design. I used her for sailing the East Coast Estuaries and DCA rallies, including the Holy Island Rally and the Poole Harbour Rally. I exhibited her at the Beale Boat Show with other DCA small craft. She gave me enormous fun while building her, and as much fun sailing and cruising her.


Here are her statistics:


Hull: LOA 14'0", LWL 12'7", Beam 4'10", Draft 8".

Rig: Gaff sloop. Main 63 sq ft, Jib 22 sq ft.

Hull parts of high quality marine ply, including bulkheads, were purchased from http://www.swallowboats.com

All hardwood was recycled mahogany taken from the mantelshelf in the lounge of my home!


Work Log


I kept a record of the time spent building 'Micro'. Because she was a 'one-off', every part had to be designed, made, fitted and finished; therefore the time spent building her was high, ie., 476 hours.

To save time, I had the spars made by Bossoms Boatyard Ltd., Bisney Village, Oxford. OX2 0NL.

When undertaking a project such as this, consideration should be given to the time spent designing and the time taken collecting the components.


Cost

There were hidden costs in building 'Micro', such as postage for items and fuel when travelling for bits and pieces. Had she been supplied in kit form, the cost would have been far less, but all parts, down to the smallest item, were bought individually, and they had to be obtained from various suppliers. Originally, I planned to make a cheap boat, but as things developed, I wanted her to be constructed from the best materials. Hence the total cost was in the region of £3,500 - that included the purchase of tools, such as a reciprocal sander, jigsaw, clamps, road trailer and sails. I was astonished at the total cost, but had she been built by a professional, the cost would have been much more.


Suppliers

The sails were made by Bohndell Sails, Commercial St., Rockport, ME 04856 and they were supplied by 'Dynamite' Payson of Instant Boat fame. http://www.instantboats.com
The road trailer was purchased from R.M. Trailers Ltd., Prospect Road, New Farm Ind Est, New Alresford, Hants. SO24 9QF. http://www.rmtrailers.co.uk


Conclusion

Building the boat presented me with various challenges and difficulties, but the outcome was very satisfying. On the whole it gave me much pleasure. My advice to those considering something similar is, think hard and long, because the project will require patience, basic manual skills, tools, somewhere to build, money, and above all, determination to finish the boat.



Links


‘Storm’ – the Mark 2 version of ‘Storm Petrel’ -
‘Storm’ is longer and beamier than ‘Storm Petrel’ (No longer produced)

http://www.swallowboats.co.uk/content/view/69/30/


DCA Holy Island Rally

http://www.tmtr.com/rally/holy_island.htm


Bossom’s Boat Yard.

http://www.bossoms.com/