Beyond Napkin Plans

I’m trying to turn my shantyboat speculations into something that feels a little bit more tangible.

Ooo, graph paper!  Getting fancy now.  When I sketch it out proportionally, the shanty boat is less long and skinny than I had drawn it.  In fact, it looks like a tiny shanty.  On a boat.

Id kind of like to make the cabin a little more squat, which I can afford to do since Ive dropped the cabin floor a foot or more below the level of the decks.  However, I am limited by a funny thing:  The head height of the porches.  They need to be at least 6 foot at the lowest part (and even thats pushing it a bit and likely to bonk any of my NBA friends).

There was some concern about balance with the cabin shifted back from center a bit.  Mostly that is to give us a big fine front porch and it only shifts the cabin back about two feet.  Plus I heard a boatbuilder suggestion to shift weight toward the back.  It lifts the bow and allows you to take oncoming chop a bit better.

Oh shit, and why do I keep forgetting the head?  There is a little 1-1/2 deep x 3 foot wide bump out along the front (or maybe the back) where the head goes.  Looking at it here, probably the back would be a bit more aesthetically pleasing.  It bumps into the interior a foot and half also to make a tiny 3 x 3 foot bathroom.

The interior is 10 x 8.

A little SketchUp magic and Voila!

 

Nice.  I’m liking the look of this.  Now, I just need to get myself a border collie.

Read More..

Boat Plans Choices Made and Not Made

So it looks like were building a boat.

Not merely throwing a bunch of shit on the deck of a couple pontoons, or strapping a bunch of barrels together, but making a boat.

You know, one of those things that floats in the water and has things like a hull and a deck, not to mention nautical terms Im still learning like bilge, stringers, chines, skegs, and bulwarks.

I checked out a half dozen plans seriously.  I ordered study plans, an abbreviated form of the full plans for study purposes, from a couple of boatbuilders, and looked at reviews of many more.

Retreat Designed by William Atkin, c. 1947 Length: 18 Beam: 7 Atkins Retreat is a sweet boat.  We liked the simple barge styling and how the cabin was positioned.  We ordered the study plans and particularly enjoyed dealing with Pat Atkin, Williams daughter-in-law who now manages Atkin Boat Plans in Noroton, Connecticut.  However this is an old design that suggests cedar planking rather than plywood. We thought William Atkin would be assuming we knew stuff that our generation had long ago forgotten.  More here.
Minnie Hill 20 Designed by Sam Devlin, 2008 Length: 20 Beam: 8 2" We took a look at this boat as well.  It seemed like a fine boat with a simple design inspired by the Retreat.  The scant study plans and coarse lines of the plan did not inspire a ton of confidence.  More info here.
Aqua Casa 20 Designed by Berkeley Eastman, 1990 Length: 20 Beam: 7 3" We liked the look of the Aqua Casa but thought the curved hull would confound us.  We also wanted a covered deck rather than an open deck that could be swamped.  More info here.
Waterlodge Designed by Glen L. Witt, c. 1990 Length: 20 2" Beam: 8 2" We liked a lot of the things about the Waterlodge.  The simple design and construction.  We did wish the cabin was pushed back toward the stern which it is in the 24 version.   More info here.

There were lots and lots of boat plans we looked at,  but these are the ones for which study plans were readily available.  Its worth mentioning that we also looked at the classic Coolwater, but knew that the plans that appeared in Modern Mechanix in the 1940s were sketchy at best and no competent boat designer had made a crack at developing complete plans.

In the end it came down to confidence that the boat designer could adequately communicate to us what we needed to know to build a boat.  Our choice came down to small details.  There were designs that had a centered cabin or one pushed a bit back toward the stern -- we leaned toward the latter.  There were designs that had covered decks versus open decks -- we went with covered decks.  There were designs that called for twin rakes fore and aft, and designs that had very little rake in back -- we were drawn to the latter.  We understood that all these things could be modified in the plans, but were not confident in our ability to freestyle from the designers intentions.

A few boat designers and builders suggested Glen L. Witts Boat Building With Plywood as a great guide to understanding plywood boats.  I picked it up first through inter-library loan at the local university library, read it, and, when it seemed like such an indispensable volume, bought it online.  Step-by-step, every aspect considered.  Sober and serious and refreshingly frank, the tone was perfect for what and how I wanted to learn.  I was impressed by Glen L. Witts ability to describe the nitty-gritty of boat building.

When it came time to shell out money for boat building plans, I was confident that the Glen-L plans would not only feature a great barge-style houseboat, but that the devil in the details would be on our side. 

I ordered the Glen-L Waterlodge plans for just over a hundred bucks.  They arrived promptly.  I opened them with excitement and was not disappointed.  These are beautiful large detailed blueprints.  Gorgeous.

Even if I dont build a boat, I now have beautiful nautical art I can hang.

Read More..

Obtaining Plans for Your S S Boat

All plans for boats designed by Sparkman & Stephens from design numbers 1 - 2,600 are in storage at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. They are archived in a purpose built, museum quality building that protects them from fluctuations in temperature and humidity and from fire.

Designs generated after design number 2,600 were generally done using CAD (computer aided design) and are kept on our file server.

Plans for designs 1 - 2,600 must be obtained from Mystic Seaport Museum. To obtain plans for your boat please click here to access the Mystic Seaport webpage regarding the S&S plan collection which explains the process, the costs involved and contact information. You are welcome to email us to obtain a list of available plans for your boat. Please click here to email us.

We still maintain the intellectual property on all of the plans in the collection but Mystic Seaport handles any actual plan reproduction. For information on yacht construction using existing designs and royalty payments please click here.

Read More..