Some history II

Anyway, I was talking about a sliding Gunter (BTW, it does get a little arcane, but Wikipedia and Google are great for explanations for those who need them).

That wasn't the end. In search of an ever better rig, I replaced the regular boom with a sprit boom. I finally decided I didn't want to mess with either the jib (too small to matter, too picky for single-handed sailing), or with stays  So I modified the sail to a bat-wing with full-length battens, and replaced the 14 foot mast with a 10'8" unstayed one.  This final rig served me well for a while.

Then we moved to Ohio, and the little boat was fine for the city reservoir, but too small to risk on lake Erie, where big waves can come out of nowhere. A one-mile-square reservoir gets a little repetitive, even though it has plenty of wind, being 20 feet above ground level.  I got bored and decided to build a bigger boat, still small enough to fit on the small trailer, but with side decks, more freeboard and more stability.

I shopped around for plans, but I couldn't decide on what I wanted.  None seemed to have the right combination of features, size, versatility, old-timey look, relative ease of building, etc.  I had already figured out from experience that plans may need a lot of tinkering, or may be poor designs (especially after building an unbelievably tippy plywood canoe, whose designer shall remain nameless, for fear of possible lawsuits :-)).  Being a fearless tinkerer, I decided to look for ways to design my own.

My inspiration came from many fine naval architects, and I owe a debt for ideas especially to Francois Vivier, John Welsford, and B&B Yacht Designs.  I used the free hull design program from Carlson Design to test my ideas and come up with dimensions and shapes of bulkheads, frames and strake panels.  For more of what went into the design choices, check the next installment of 176Inches.

boatbuilder