The Perfect Rowboat Sailboat or Both

Do you like the idea of a boat that can row and sail but they often dont like the idea of compromising on one or the other? It is a trade-off. A good sailboats lines are not good for rowing and a rowboats lines are not good for sailing. The latter is true mainly because the hull is quite narrow and fine on the waterline, especially at the ends. A fast rowboats lines just dont provide the stability, often, for sailing and the addition of a slot for the board introduces drag and makes the boat slow for rowing. Wooden Boats long time manager of their boathouse often cites the Joel White Shearwater as an example. Reluctantly, listening to customer demand, Joel White added the centerboard and it really made a difference in the sailing ability: it made it possible. But it also introduced noticeable drag when rowing: the boat was slower under oars. Drake is very similar to Shearwater, only narrower and longer on the waterline, no daggerboard, and therefore faster under oars. Drake sails downwind fabulously because of the moderate keel to provide some lateral resistance and enable excellent tracking for rowing. We dont have a centerboard, so there is no drag induced (though a tight fitting plug for a daggerboard trunk can fair the slot to the hull reasonably well). Ive been asked a number of times, and I just will not add a daggerboard to Drake. She is just a blast to sail downwind and can sail as high as a beam reach quite fast. The sail adds tremendous range when you consider the sail as auxiliary power.

But if you want to sail upwind, and row well, you need a boat with a lot of flare in the hull and a shape that provides excellent secondary stability. Joel Whites Shearwater and his 18 version of the boat are good examples. Another ideal example is the dory. What I love about the dory is that it is narrow at the waterline and flares out to a generous width, for a rowboat, at the rail, usually 48-5. The Deblois Street Dry is nearly 5 at the rail. The stability this shape produces lends itself to sailing (see photo of me sitting on D St Ds gunwale), but the narrow width at the waterline when the boat is not heeled means that it will row well. The double ended shape of the waterline on a dory keeps the ends fine for rowing ability. Drake shows a similar shape (see photo): narrow waterline, 41" at the gunwales provides secondary stability.

The Marblehead Gunning Dory is, to me, perhaps the perfect boat. If I could have only one boat (lets not think about that...what a shame that would be!), I would have a gunning dory or a Swampscott Dory. Come to my annual Shop Talk & Messabout to see both of these dory types in the flesh and meet two experts on dories: Sam Manning and Walter Wales.

Thank you to Chris Partridge, blogger in the UK: Rowing for Pleasure for bringing up the subject of rowing vs sailing characteristics in a boat

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Seen at the 2014 Sailboat Show Part 3 the Zim 15

One of the hidden casualties in the ongoing clash between Laser Performance Europes business strategy and the rest of the small boat sailing world has been the virtual stoppage of production of the Vanguard 15, a two-hander racing and recreational dinghy that, since the late 1990s, has sold well in the United States and still has a national presence. As with any vacuum in the market someone will step in and in this case Steve Clark, one of the original team that developed the Vanguard 15, has linked up with Zim boatbuilders to produce his higher-end version of a hiking doublehander, the Zim 15.

Zim Sailing freely admits they are targeting the post-collegiate market with the Zim 15 and it comes with a bunch of modern performance features, albeit at a higher selling price compared to the Vanguard 15. What modern features do you get?

• A hull designed for higher speeds.
• Carbon spars.
• High aspect ratio blades.
• Roachy Mylar sails.
• Gnav vang to clear up the forward end of the cockpit.
• A multi-purchase rig-tensioning system run through the forestay.
• A bow stem made of high-impact plastic.
• A dangly whisker pole.
• A flow-through double bottom cockpit with open transom.
• Enough cleats in the right positions to make adjustments easier.

Some photos.

Here is the bow bumper which is cleverly molded in during construction so as to be an integral part of the hull.

The Zim 15 has a centerboard for easier launching but the centerboard trunk has grooves in each side so the board can be pulled up and "reefed" in a breeze, just as you would with a daggerboard.

The dangly whisker pole is not seen in the U.S much but is very popular in the U.K. non-spinnaker classes. It resides on the front of the mast when going upwind. To deploy, pull the dangly pole down with its control line. To retract. uncleat the control line and a shock cord returns it to the front of the mast. There is also the multi-purchase forestay tensioner sitting on the foredeck in front of the mast.

The flow-thru double-bottom cockpit with the nifty tilt-up rudder. The hull sports soft-chines as it was also designed for team racing.

The business end of the cockpit. We can see the Gnav vang on top of the boom, the dangly pole, recessed cleats in the wide thwart and plenty of adjustments at the base of the mast.

A computer-rendered sideview of the Zim 15 (lifted from Zim Sailings website).

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Build Your Own Sailboat How to Build Your Own Sailboat

How to Build Your Own Sailboat

The modern sailboat is a symbol of class and freedom. They provide you with a way to skim over the surface of a body of water in an elegant way. Building a sailboat can be very rewarding. If this is your first time building a boat then you will find it to be incredibly fulfilling. It will take some time but in the end it will be worth it.

The first sailboats were single logs and simple rafts, but over time more sophisticated designs were employed. Hulls that cut through the water became important for military use as well as for merchant sailors who built broad trading networks.


Sailboats can be made from a number of different materials, but the most common are fiberglass and wood. In terms of romance a wooden sailboat takes the cake, but it does require quite a bit more maintenance. On the other hand, a fiberglass sailboat is perfect for weekend sailors who dont have the time to sail more than once every few weeks.

The most important part of the sailboat building process is choosing the right plan. The last thing you want to do is decide halfway through your project that you would prefer a different style of sailboat. You can design your own relatively easily using 3d boat design software or you can buy a pre-made design.

The sailboat plan will tell you the amount and type of material that you will need for your project. Some common materials needed to build a sailboat are plywood, epoxy, filler, paint, and fiberglass cloth. The greatest cost will be for plywood, paint, and epoxy. When shopping for plywood I would recommend marine grade plywood for its durability and ease of use.

Now that you have your materials ready the first step will be lofting which is just simply marking your plywood before cutting. Be sure to use exact measurments and a ruler for marking. Another method is to trace a pattern made of paper. Using precise measurements is the most accurate method, but tracing a pattern from paper will be faster and still produce a beautiful finished product.

Next, you will need to cut out the pieces. You can use a traditional jigsaw, but nowadays most people prefer a circular saw because it cuts wood without bending. Once you have cut the pieces you should put them together. The front and rear halves of the bottom and the sides should be assembled first.

When the basic structure is completed, the sequence of assembling the other parts of your boat will depend on your specific boat plan. Now you should brush the joint edges with epoxy and put the two pieces together. Next, brush fiberglass tape with epoxy and wrap it around the joints.

Once all the joints are dry, it is time to seal the seams of your hull and cover the outside seams with duct tape. Cover the inside seams with epoxy resin then fill them with epoxy putty. Next, you should wet fiberglass tape with epoxy and cover all seams.

When the seams on the inside are dry you can cover them with duct tape. Repeat the sealing process again on the outside seams. After the sealing process has been completed you can add the deck, the seat, and other sections such as the storage area. The mast, boom, and rubber should also be made in this phase.

Once these are complete, it is time to paint your new sailboat. Once the paint has dried, you will want to coat the entire boat with a strong sealer such as varnish. The varnish will help protect your sailboat from chipping and other effects of the water and weather. This is especially important if you plan on taking your sailboat into the ocean.

The next step is to attach the sail to the mast of your boat. Sails consist of several different pieces of fabric, and these are sewn together with sail twine which is a specialized fiber that is stronger than typical thread. When the sewing needle is threaded with sail twine, the twine is twisted to add strength, and wax is applied so the twine will hold that twist. The sail will allow you to keep moving even when there is no wind.

Congratulations on building your own sailboat. Now you can cruise the high seas on a boat that you built yourself! Not too many other people will ever get to have that feeling!

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Building Home Made Sail Boats All Secrets About Wooden Sailboat Plans Outdoors Boating

The notion of applying timber sailboat blueprints can make a lot of people imagining twice previous to enjoying a boat. There will be forecasts this boats creating can be only for people that are usually market authorities or practiced motorboat devotees. However, thats a misconception, mainly because home produced breeze vessel ideas are usually capability to deliver that has acquired the dedication regardless of constrained skills, to construct an effective DIY project. Any particular person at any a higher level proficiency whilst anyone dont possess the experience producing could perform this.

If you are aware of the way you can follow directions as compared to fire wood sailboat programs needs to be easy seeing that assembling almost every other DIY projects. You could spend less many sums of money, while you bypass investing in a motorboat inside that supplier. What is more, its a good endeavor for yourself privately along with your friends and family to figure with this assembly together? Youll often be thrilled with the career workmanship as well as please inside the finish supplement a lot more when you recognize of which youve made this yourselves.

Wooden sailboat plans are offered frequently online, and that means you dont ought to bother about options. However, you might want to become clever in choosing, which ideas to be able to use, because there are plans that have never already been attempted in addition to tested. You could already know, safe practices is a significant element as soon as youre thinking of acquiring yourself and your family with normal water using this craft. Which indicates you will need a safe plus reliable Boat Plan.

If you might have practical knowledge throughout boat building, then you definately may perhaps value more highly to build sometimes boats possessing a number of material, i.e. (fiberglass or perhaps aluminum). There are naturally pros and cons whenever selecting selected components, but whenever youre a new beginner, next decide this wooden material.

If you are invoice discounting while in the value as well as the alleviate detail by detail of building process than buying fire wood sailboat blueprints is a good choice. Whats more, you should use these fishing vessels possibly with available sea as well as around waterways? Theyre best in the event you need the particular capacity to utilize the vessel inside many waters. Then you will require to be able to understand when you seek advise from that boat recreationally, or commercially. That could matter up within the form and the rating as well as additional additional details you will require to raise the actual designs. Youll be able to decide on if you would like that will power your sail boat customarily along with picket oars or even perhaps in a modern method by using engines.

Heres among the list of almost all exciting wood made sailboat plans through which almost all watercraft are easily created and can often be economically homebuilt.

For additional info on Sailboat Plans visit http:/sailboatplansinc.com where you will find all the information you will ever need.

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Seen at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show The Small Cats

Foils, foils and more foils. Foils were the centerpiece of attention for two very interesting small catamarans on display at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show.

The Nacra 15 junior catamaran was the first cat that I stumbled upon as I wandered the show, sitting next to the Melges 14. It had all the bells and whistles of the modern cat, double trapeze, square-top rig, assymetric spinnaker with tube launcher though what stood out were some nifty foils usually not seen on a production catamaran. The problem with the high aspect, tall rigs of the modern cats is that, when married to a short hull, they pitchpole spectacularly. To work around this problem the designers of the Nacra 15 have fitted curved daggerboards and anti-diving winglets on the rudder. The curved daggerboard provides upward lift when fully down. This unweights the leeward hull and keeps the bow out. The anti-diving winglets on the rudder take over when the pitch angle starts to go negative, applying force to hold the stern down. Despite just a couple of production prototypes sailing in the fall of 2015 the Nacra 15 impressed ISAF enough to be named their official junior catamaran in December, 2015.

If I was marketing director over at Nacra I wouldnt keep this platform only for junior sailing. What about offering a second, smaller rig with only a single trapeze and making a detuned Nacra 15 class targeted for couples?

More about the Nacra 15 here.

In this photo is one of the curved daggerboards. Also the entire deck between the beams is covered in SUP anti-slip foam.

The small rudder winglets.

Promotional video of the Nacra 15 at speed.

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The second catamaran to catch the eye was the spectacular, all carbon, foiling 5.4 meter/17.7 feet Whisper from England. The platform weighs just 78 kg. The moldings and fine detail work was exquisite. The foils are typical to what is used on the International Moth, T-foils up forward, controlled by a wand, and a T-foil on the rudder. I didnt hang around long enough to get an explanation on how it is all adjusted but I did have a short conversation with Robb White, the builder. He said the foils were designed for early lift-off (more area), and not ultimate speed.

Only $30,000 USD if you have a burning desire to be the fastest one on the river (and if you have the time and crew to learn how to sail her).

More info on Whisper by clicking here.

Yachting Worlds Matthew Sheehan put out this video on his sail test of the Whisper foiling cat. At the end of the video, Matthew, like many in the media, feel that foiling will take over the sport. I, on the other hand, feel foiling will always remain an enthusiasts niche - not one for the general sailing population.

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Seen at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show The Melges 14

Melges Performance Sailboats introduced their Melges 14 singlehander at this years Annapolis Sailboat Show. The 14 is one of the new generation hiking singlehanders; a racier, speedier alternative to the Laser and, at the Annapolis show, the Melges 14 was on display only six meters apart from one of the first entrants in this market segment, the RS Aero.

Visually the Melges 14 looks bigger than the RS Aero and the tale of the tape shows that it is bigger than the RS Aero. The Melges 14 is longer at 4 meters and wider at 1.57 meters. Given the American penchant for going bigger in everything, this may not be a bad marketing move for U.S. sales. The long, flat cockpit floor looks quite spacious compared to the narrow RS Aero cockpit and the tiny cockpit of the Laser. (If, in buying a faster singlehander with carbon rig and mylar sails, one of your odd requirements is also a design where you can daysail with your kids stuffed here and there - the Melges 14 is the one for you.)

A wider beam allows more hiking power so it is not surprising that in comparing sail areas between the Melges 14 and the RS Aero, the Melges 14 again comes out bigger. The Melges 14 big rig is 9.1 meters vs the RS Aero 8.9 meters and, in the mid-range rig, the Melges 14 is 7.8 vs the RS Aero 7.4. Usually more horsepower may give better light wind performance but I havent yet seen any side by side performance comparisons published.

The ultra-lightweight RS Aero hull comes in at whopping 25 kg less than the Melges 14 which, at 54 kg. is lighter than the Laser by about 5 kg. One of the benefits of the smaller hull of the RS Aero is less surface area which translates into a lighter hull. The Melges salesman countered as he made the pitch for the heavier Melges 14 hull. "How light can you go before sacrificing durabiltiy?"

The RS Aero came out early in this market (not quite two years ago), is being marketed agressively and the factory in England is pumping a goodly number out every month. In contrast, the Melges 14 appears a little late. I asked the Melges salesman about this and being a good salesman, he remained nonplussed. Admitting there is "quite a bit of competition" in the new singlehanders, he pointed out that Melges has already built 40 of the 14s and they expected that the existing customer base of Melges products (from the 20, 24, 32, the myriad Melges scows) would initially provide a steady stream of buyers for the 14.

There you have it. The Melges 14 is a bigger, heavier (though lighter than the Laser), more powerful (with a very roomy cockpit!) entry in the hiking singlehander marketplace. I have no idea how it compares on the water with the RS Aero or the D Zero (which has yet to put in an appearance in North America  - Correction, there are three in North America - see bottom of post.). Price for a Melges 14? It seems to be moving target but somewhere around 9K U.S.

Also check out the Tillerman blog post on the Melges 14.

The Melges 14 has a mylar sail on a carbon mast and boom. (This is different from the RS Aero which has remained with the tried and true dacron sailcloth.). The Melges 14 also is round-bilged but one thing you cant do very easily at a boat show is turn the dinghy over and inspect the hull - so I cant comment on the hull shape.

This photo taken from a more bow-on angle definitely shows the very distinctive straight gunwhale line (seen also on the RS Aero - this provides flare at the gunhwale and more hiking power) starting just forward of the daggerboard case.

The wide flat cockpit and more beam means there are two hiking straps instead of the usual center one. The Melges 14 uses the typical Laser split mainsheet rig with a transom bridle. I forgot to ask the salesman how you controlled athwartship boom placement as there doesnt seem to be any control lines for the aft bridle, just a stopper ball on each side. Boom vang control is at the mast, the other cleats are for the cunningham and outhaul.

The mainsheet turning block uses a a nifty hose to hold it upright (versus those metal springs). The Melges 14 has a small raised shelf just forward of the daggerboard trunk, ending some 100-200 mm aft of the mast - probably a tricky engineering tweak to provide structural support to both the front of the daggerboard trunk and the mast. (I can see an aftermarket storage turtle being designed to fit this shelf - perfect for water bottles, spray jackets, sandwiches.) The cockpit also has the comfy non-skid foam that the SUP crowd invented.

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My other Melges 14 posts:

• Melges 14 - Vaporware?
• Melges Performance Sailing Replies.
• Other big guy singlehanders.

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Over at the Sailing Anarchy thread on the Melges 14, user Woodman is of the opinion the Melges 14 is similar to the English Supernova singlehander, which is considered a big-guy singlehander.

Also on the Sailing Anarchy thread, user Jeffers corrects me when I say there are no D-Zeros in North America. There are three D-Zeros now in North America.

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Seen at the 2015 Annapolis Sailboat Show the Scamp Mini cruising Dinghy

I was frankly surprised to see this small dinghy cruiser at the Sailboat Show. This 12 (3.6 m) mini-dinghy cruiser designed by John Welsford has become the darling of home-builders looking for a small outside, but big inside, simple rig, able-sailing project. This community of boat builders, an alternative universe in the sailing world, revolve around the DIY wood designs of Phil Bolger, Jim Michalak, Ian Oughtred, John Welsford, Francois Vivier and others, And this alternative universe seldom intrudes on the plastic commercial world which predominates at the large boat shows. But, in 2015, there she was, a plastic Scamp, built by Gig Harbor Boatworks north of Seattle Washington.

There is no doubt this is a clever design. It has a transom bow that tapers rapidly toward the waterline, the actual sections at the bow waterline are V-ish. There is an offset centerboard under the starboard seat. This makes for an unobstructed floor, perfect to lay out a sleeping bag. The Scamp is high sided though the designer has given her a pleasant sheer to make this a jaunty looking dinghy. There is 70 kg of water ballast to dampen down what could be a very lively motion in wind and waves.

The summer of 2014, I was sitting on the back lawn at my friend Bill Ms house, just off South River, when I spotted a small sailing dinghy making her way smartly against a building sea breeze. To settle our speculation about what kind of boat we were watching, Bill promptly went to get his binoculars. Through the binoculars I could tell it was a Scamp (a very distinctive profile with her balanced lug rig) and the skipper was doing a fine job getting her upwind. He poked his nose just into the Chesapeake Bay and then turned downwind to rock and roll back into South River. As a spectator, I was mightily impressed at the Scamps sailing performance (initially being somewhat of a skeptic when the Scamp first came out). One quibble was the Scamp looked somewhat tender going offwind, rolling back and forth - not atypical for a cat-rigged boat, or maybe the skipper had dumped the water ballast for a quicker ride back home.

Two photos of the Gig Harbor Boatworks Scamp from the Annapolis Sailboat Show. Plenty of room in this 12-footer! If I remember correctly the rep said they were building about 30 a year. Base price is $13,000 USD.

The cabin is just a cuddy cabin, enough to shelter from the weather. Plenty of storage under the seats and up forward.

Wooden Scamps being built from CNC kits. This photo gives a good idea of how the kit pieces fit together. You can see in the lower Scamp the centerboard trunk incorporated into the starboard seat tank.

A Gig Harbor Boats promotional video.




Also, over on my blog list is this duo building a 17 Devlin designed daysailor-cruiser.

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