Boat Plans Bruce Roberts | The siren song of boatbuilding has lured another

Boat Plans Bruce Roberts

You cant stop what you cant stop.  (Im pretty sure thats Rumi.)  Count Gregoire de Frontenac has realized that boatless man is truly bound like the t-shirt says, and he must escape his shackles with a project that will dominate his garage, pick his pocket, and estrange him from family and friends.  Yay boats!

I ripped this picture of my Goat off his first and only post.

BILTrek2012 was spent mostly doing this.  Note bank of fog.

Good luck to Count Gregoire de Frontenac!

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Boat Building Plans And Kits | Portland almost to Seguin Island and back

Boat Building Plans And Kits

Not my picture, not my boat

Before we get started on some SeaPearl 21 adventuring in Casco Bay, I want to point out Dave-in-NJs blog about his Goatee Goat Island Skiff "Chivita" and some pretty damn epic sailing he did around New York Harbor.  Its somewhat of a departure from my Goat perched on a wild island in Down East Maine, but it is just as epic, if not more for the sheer stupendousness of that mother of all cities, New York City, and her crazy harbor.  Please see this post in particular.  If your heart doesnt get thumping, you must not like Goat Island Skiffs, and I question why you are here in the first place.

Dave, you go man.  You go.  Impressive.

***

Now for the main feature:

In which SeaPearl Scout and I sail around Casco Bay, meet a squall, and get boarded by fictitious pirates.

Red = Day 1, Yellow = Day 2.  Black = Iron Mizzen usage

I headed out of South Portland recently and met up with a Pearson 30 as she sailed north along the Maine coast, destination Brooklin and WoodenBoat.  I planned to be along for a day, maybe two.  The first nights destination was either going to be Damirscove Island or Seguin, depending on distance travelled.  I thought I could probably make Seguin via Half-Way Rock, but Damirscove was probably out for me due to the distance and my energy level.

The weather was fine, with a remote chance of thunderstorms, and calm winds gave way to a beautiful stiff breeze of the kind that you can only really find on salt water.

Scout moved along smoothly and with efficiency. I pushed her hard which means I pushed myself hard, and gave myself little time to eat, drink, pee, or enjoy the sailing, as I was intent on keeping up with the Pearson 30 (which I did, but jeez... enjoy the ride already, right?)

Blowing out to Half-Way Rock with nice water and a good breeze!

Pearson 30 

 After I had passed Half-Way Rock (no pictures, sorry, but lots of seals!) it started to become blatantly obvious that the slight chance of thunderstorms was going to probably become a very real chance.  In the deeps of my ears I imagined I could hear low-frequency rumbling, even though the sky still looked somewhat innocuous.  Soon however, it was apparent that we were in for a blow.

Trouble brewing

 I cracked down to make as much mileage as I could towards Small Point/Cape Small not in a vain attempt to outrun the storm, but to get closer to the shore so that if things went bad, I wouldnt be miles out to sea.

Behind me, the wall of bruised green and black advanced, with thunder filling the air.  It was on.  My buds in the Pearson 30 became insignificant by contrast.  I hoved-to and started preparations.

Trouble is creeping up on the Pearson 30! Run guys, run!

Battened down.  Small Point in the distance behind me.  Trouble is on its way!

We tied Scout up and towed her behind the Pearson 30, which was actually a mistake.  When the squall hit she sailed on her own, and the skipper had to stay ahead of her.  It would have been far more desirable to hunker down in Scout and ride out the storm with her as it would have been significantly less nerve wracking.  Lesson learned.  When the storm passed the crew of the Pearson decided to make for Damirscove, and I broke off and headed towards Harpswell to a small island on the Maine Island Trail.

The Squall over, I take my leave of the Pearson 30 and sail out of the dark and into the sun.  This was a good feeling.

Wet, but pleased with this particular outcome

 I reached the island after navigating around and over several treacherous reefs (again, yes! 6" draft!) and found that there were few good access points.  I was somewhat chuffed at the description of this particular island as I was lulled into thinking Id have a good beach, but with a stable west breeze, Scout was held perfectly in a small cove with a flat bottom so she could bottom out at low tide.  Exhausted after approx 22 miles of sailing, I ate some rice and crashed in my tent on shore.

Nestled in for the night... or is she?

My view in the morning.  Peaceful.  I am happy!

 I awoke the next morning to *BANG CRASH BANG* and the first thoughts in my tent was:

1. Raccoons are searching for tasty food morsels and ripping things apart

2. Crazy hobo person who probably lives on island is ransacking my boat

3. Pirates (this one bad)

With little fanfare (Im pretty sure I was naked) I went running out of the tent down to the shore and around the corner, where I found Scout slightly south of her original position and bottomed out on a now not-so-flat bottom, her bow pointing skyward, and my booms sliding down to the stern of the boat.  No pirates, but a sorry sight!

It looked steeper in real life.   

When you are waiting for a tide to fix your sorry boat, you might as well make coffee.

 When the tide came back up and floated Scout into position, we hauled back for Portland.  Southbound, I had some of the finest sailing I can recount this year, making significant mileage against the tide with a steady breeze.  There was much hollering and hooting and, as with IAZ,P, lobstermen waved cheerfully as we passed.

Booming home.  

 The wind really picked up and we reefed down continuously as the day progressed, finally putting in at Fort Gorges in Portland Harbor where we waited for the wind to calm a bit so pulling the boat out of the water wouldnt be as dramatic.  Scout happily sat in the small harbor while I read my WoodenBoat and napped on the beach.  This is summer.  This is happy.

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Boat Plans Pdf | Another new launching this one is the 6 Metre Whaler

Boat Plans Pdf

6 Metre  Whaler.

I orginally drew this design for use as a sort of “Outward Bound” education center boat, one that would carry 6 trainees and an instructor, all their gear for overnight camping and provide a “job” for each while sailing, and still be workable single handed.

The boat had to be less than 6 Metres long in order to avoid the expensive government surveys required of larger boats that are used to carry paying passengers.

That plus a nod to Naval tradition,  made for the yawl rigged, lapstrake planked 6m ( actually just a tiny fraction under ,  just to make sure) centerboarder that I dubbed the 6 Metre Whaler.  Its not a whaler, not really, but is much more closely related to the Swedish Spitzgatter shape being fine forward and full aft. This is a good sailing shape, fast, with strong resistance to both pitch and roll, stable and easy to manage.

Over the years the design has sold steadily, she’s proven to be a very good family boat, a cruiser, and although the gent who’s brief kicked the design off did not get his training program off the ground there are several Naval Cadet or Sea Scout groups using them as they were intended.

Mark Barrowsmith in New Zealands North sent me these three pics of his build, I’d just had a comment from a friend who lives close to the boat ramp in Opua in the Bay of Islands,  he mentioned that he’d seen a nice example of the design being launched, and voila! Pics arrive from the builder/owner.

I’m planning to drive up his way in a couple of weeks time, and hope to call to meet him and check the boat out.  There is no better way for a designer to spend an hour or so  than leaning on the gunwale of a new boat chatting to a happy owner.

Thanks Mark, see you soon.

By the way, Boatbuilder Peter Murton has one for sale. Its a very nice example, of course its professionally built so the standard of the structure is tops.  hes at the north end of the South Island, if anyone is interested I can pass the enquiry on.

The interior looking forward,  lots of space, lots of storage and lots of bouyancy.

 The interior looking aft, the engine lives in a well under the cover you can see under the tiller. Its accessible and easy to operate there, no hanging over the transom.  In fact, no transom!

On her trailer, looking from forward, I like the colour scheme.  Nice work.

 Side view.  Note that Mark has fitted the mainmast into a tabernacle to make it easier to stand up, and  has taken the tiller over the top of the after deck to get a little more swing.   I cant wait to see some pics of her out sailing. Nice job, well done.

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Boat Blind Plans | Happy New Year to all

Boat Blind Plans

As I write, sitting in my bunk watching the sun set over the estuary, its 8 15 pm on New Years Eve.  Traditionally a time of good wishes to all, a time for making resolutions about what will or will not be happening next year, a time for family and friends and a time for reflection.

To be sure its only another marker on an artificial calendar, but it’s a useful marker, one that is close to the longest day of the year where I live and the shortest where a lot of my friends live. It’s a time when we get holiday breaks, some of which have theist backgrounds, some that are pagan but its still the end of year break.

Its also a time when advice tends to be handed out, much of which causes me to look at the advisor and think, you should take your own advice buddy and if you did you’d be better off than you are, but occasionally there is a gem.

Heres one that I heard yesterday.

“When making New Years Resolutions, don’t make ones you know damn well you wont keep, don’t make ones that you know are beyond your ability, but try making one, and ones enough, that is well within your capacity to achieve, and work on it until its done.  You’ll get a lot of satisfaction from that, whereas to vow and fail just reinforces a defeatist position.”

That’s good advice, a bit wordy though. I’d put it thus--- “Get yourself a mouthful of lifes good things, but don’t bite off more than you can chew”.

All the very best to everyone for 2016.

John Welsford.

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