Boat building is more than just boat building...

Boat building school leader: Skills learned in maritime trade have currents in other facets of life

Betsy Davis, executive director of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, addresses the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce. —Photo by Charlie Bermant/Peninsula Daily News

By Charlie Bermant
Peninsula Daily News

PORT TOWNSEND — Students at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding graduate with skills that are beyond the obvious, the school’s director said in a presentation to the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

Executive Director Betsy Davis, who took over leadership of the school in October, told about 30 people how learning how to build a boat also teaches skills that can be applied in many facets of life.

“I learned a lot about how to problem solve in the physical world,” Davis said of her own schooling.

“I met people who were brilliant in fitting three-dimensional objects who may not have functioned well in a traditional academic environment, and I learned an ethic around craftsmanship and how to do things right.”

Davis previously worked in the software industry agency, which she said was a different world.

“When I worked at Microsoft and it came time to ship the software, there might be a bug and we’d say that we were going to fix it in the next version,” she said.

“With a boat, you spend all that time milling the wood, and if you screw that up, you need to start all over again.

“When building a boat, you need to do things correctly and cost effectively, which is an important skill that could be lost in our society.”

The school, now in its 33rd year, attracts students from as far away as Australia, Austria, South Korea and Tanzania.

Its mission is to teach and preserve traditional and contemporary wooden boat-building skills while developing the individual as a craftsman.

Students build boats ranging from 9 feet to 40 feet from scratch.

Upon completing the one-year program, they are awarded an associate degree in occupational studies.

Davis said that enrollment has nearly doubled recently, from 35 students two years ago to over 60 currently enrolled.

This follows a recognition of the value of the maritime trades.

“The boat school is the same thing for the marine trades in Port Townsend as Stanford is for Silicon Valley,” Davis said, quoting a former student.

Those on the state level are aware of the economic impact.

“The state is looking at the economic benefit that maritime fitness brings,” she said.

“Things like our school and the maritime initiative in the schools make Port Townsend and Jefferson County very relevant to the state. It’s a viable part of the state’s economy.”

Davis said that the maritime industry “is where the jobs are,” with the need for maintenance, construction and repair providing substantial opportunity.

Additionally, the average maritime industry yearly salary of $70,000 is above the state median of $51,000.

“It’s this really compelling sector that sometime gets overlooked,” she said.

“You guys out here are doing a good job in building visibility and supporting this.”

The school is located at 42 North Water St, in Lower Hadlock.

The school plans a Boat Fest and Sail In from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 30, which features tours, boat rides and live music.

Additionally, the school hosts an open house at 3:30 p.m. on the first Friday of every month.

Introducing Marshall's Cove Brand Marine Paint. Now at Fisheries!

Congratulations Pete! Just a quick plug for a locally owned company (Bainbridge Island) and a supporter (or enabler) of my boat building and restoration addiction.

Traditional Enamel Gloss Traditional Alkyd Enamel • Durable Marine Finish • High Solids These are the gloss versions of Marshall's Cove enamel paints. These enamels use only the best alkyd resins available for longevity, flexibility and flow. Because Marshall's Cove enamels are high solids, they are able to keep the VOC content limited. This paint is a traditional alkyd enamel that is user friendly and provides consistent results. Details Traditional Enamel Satin Traditional Alkyd Enamel • Durable Marine Finish • High Solids These are the satin versions of Marshall's Cove enamel paints.These enamels use only the best alkyd resins available for longevity, flexibility and flow. Because Marshall's Cove enamels are high solids they are able to keep the VOC content limited. This paint is a traditional alkyd enamel that is user friendly and provides consistent results.  Details

How Big (or Little) is Your Chest?

I'm trying hard not to have this blog become solely about my obsession with Chris Schwartz and his chests (tool). Building a proper tool chest has long been on my list of personal projects; however, between school and the 4 or 5 boats I am building on the side (more to come on that) it has been hard to devote time to projects like this.

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Chris Schwarz

A common bit of advice on building tool chests goes like this: “You should build the chest to fit your tools.”

I’d like to amend that melba-toast statement to this: “You should build the chest to fit ourtools.”

Woodworking tools come in standard sizes, and the standard tool kit hasn’t changed much since Joseph Moxon laid it out in “Mechanick Exercises” in 1678. So if you are in the craft to build furniture, your tool kit probably looks a lot like mine. If you are in it for type studies and patented tools, ignore the rest of this blog entry.

When I started studying tool chests (several years before writing “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”), I noticed that they were built in some fairly standard sizes. Most of the outliers were actually for other trades or specialists. In truth, there are more than three basic sizes of chests, but I’d like to discuss three sizes I have found most compelling.

The Floor ChestThis is the massive tool chest I built for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” and have subsequently built more than 20 times for classes and customers. It is the Denali of tool chests. It’s bigger than it has to be, but it’s still not big enough.

It is roughly 24” x 24” x 40”. And if you can’t fit a tool in this chest, then you don’t need it. This chest will swallow full-size handsaws, over-sized jointer planes, 18th-century tenon saws, straightedges, a full set of hollows and rounds and all the other tools you need to build furniture.

The standard model usually has three sliding trays, though I have seen them with as many as eight.

During the five years since I built this chest I have modified small sections of it, but it is still basically the same design as when I drew it out in 2010.

What’s the downside to this chest? It is a floor hog, taking up as much square footage as a table saw. If you have a small shop, this chest might be too much for you. But after working out of a chest this size since 1997, I decline to downsize.

The Traveling Tool ChestIf you need to move your chest frequently, the full-size chest is a heavy burden. Moving that monster by yourself is difficult but doable – if you first remove the trays and heavy tools. If you need to be mobile for work or to attend classes, a scaled-down chest might be the answer.

I just finished building one of these chests for the August issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. I built the carcase and Jameel Abraham built the marquetry panel for the lid. This chest’s design is based on the length of a panel saw, one of the longer tools in a furniture-maker’s tool kit.

While full-size handsaws are more than 30” long from toe to tote, a panel saw takes up less space – 26” give or take. That’s not much longer than a standard jointer plane. This chest can be 20” x 20” x 30”. That might not seem much smaller than the full-size chest above, but I can tell you that the slightly smaller dimensions allow you to move the chest easily by yourself.

The downside? You can still pack a standard toolkit in the chest if you omit the moulding planes. (OK, that’s not entirely true; you can build a removable tray that holds moulders thereby squeezing every cubic inch of storage out of the chest. It’s just not convenient to work out of.)

These chests typically had two sliding trays for the small tools. And the tool well below held all the bench planes, saws and joinery planes.

The other advantage to this chest is it will fit in the back seat of most passenger cars. The full-size chest will not (unless you first remove the door).

The TallboyThe other curious chest I’ve been toying with is a mix of the full-size chest and the traveling chest. While I’m sure this chest was made all over the Western world, I’ve encountered most examples of it in North America.

It is generally a nailed-together carcase that is designed to hold full-size handsaws, a full set of bench planes, joinery planes and lots and lots of smaller tools. Like the traveling chest, moulding planes are rarely provided dedicated storage space in this variant. But they still can hold a handful of moulders if need be.

So the defining characteristics of these chests are they are long, shallow and tall. The one I’m building now for a series of classes in 2015 is 15” x 17” x 34”. This chest will easily fit into the back seat of a car. It will accommodate the (less expensive) full-size handsaws and is super simple to build. It’s all rabbets and nails.

All three forms have their charms. But their dimensions depend more on how you live than on what sort of stuff you build.

The wait is almost over!!!

If you have read my earlier posts then you will know that I have been waiting with great anticipation for the article in Popular Woodworking on Chris Schwartz's new traveling tool chest. Looks like the wait will be over this August!

Traveling Tool Chest with a Marquetry Lid

By: Christopher Schwarz | March 25, 2015

My favorite project from 2014 is one I haven’t been able to talk much about, until now.

Jameel Abraham of Benchcrafted and I collaborated on building a tool chest for a two-article series in Popular Woodworking Magazine. My article on building the chest will be in the August 2015 issue; Jameel’s article on the lid will be in the October 2015 issue.

The idea for this special chest spawned from my study of tool chests for three years leading up to my book “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” While the vast majority of chests I studied were plain and utilitarian, a handful were not. The maker adorned the interior with veneer, banding, stringing and even framed and moulded photos of half-naked women.

Why did they do this? Popular myth is that it served as the calling card for the woodworker as a display of skill, or that it was a project required by masters of the apprentices as a rite of passage. The equally compelling explanation is the woodworker did it to please himself or herself – end of story.

That’s why Jameel and I embarked on this project together. We thought it would be fun. And it was.

The chest itself is a design I have refined after years of studying and building chests. Nothing about it is arbitrary. As a result, it can hold an impressive number of tools in a compact space (18” x 18” x 30”) and make them easily accessible to the user.

It also is designed to be easier to build than a full-size floor chest, but the joinery is carefully designed to withstand the type of abuse I’ve seen on chests that have survived 200 years or more.

The interior panel is all Jameel. While you might know Jameel for his workbench hardware, his MagBlocks or perhaps his painting, he has incredible marquetry and carving skills. And he pulled out all of the stops for this panel, which took more than 100 hours of work.

The most nerve-racking part of the project (for me) was fitting Jameel’s panel onto the assembled carcase and then building the dovetailed dust seal around it without nicking the finished panel or getting any glue on his polished marquetry.

But it all worked out OK.

The chest is outfitted with hardware from blacksmith Peter Ross, including chest hinges and a sexy crab lock. (If you want to learn more about the hardware, check out these DVDs.)

For me, the best part of the project is where it is sitting right now: In Jameel’s workshop. He plans to use it to store tools. And that’s what it was built to do – not to be on permanent display under glass somewhere.

— Christopher Schwarz

El Primero - Oldest operating yacht in the world!

'Oldest operating yacht in the world' hauled out at PT Boat Haven

Owner aims to give 1893 yacht to Tacoma Historical Society

Posted: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 2:30 pm

By Robin Dudley of the Leader | 0 comments

The 120-foot El Primero, hauled out in Port Townsend Boat Haven last week, is "the oldest operating yacht in the world," said owner Christian Lee Lint.

Lint, an aerospace engineer, tugboat captain and yacht deliverer, is an energetic and experienced maritime-history buff whose joy in life is keeping old boats up and running.

"This is what I live for," he said.

The steel-hulled luxury steam yacht was built in 1893 in San Francisco and brought to Tacoma in 1906 by Chester Thorne, who lost it to Sidney Allen Perkins in a poker game in 1911.

Perkins died in 1955. The next owner replaced the 225-horsepower steam engines with twin Detroit 671 diesel engines with about 250 total horsepower, Lint said; top speed is about 14.5 knots.

The vessel was built along the same lines as the Titanic, Lint said, but with an important difference: the steel plates were annealed (fastened) correctly on El Primero. It also was re-plated and received new wiring in 2000. Marine surveyor George Rebman is scheduled to survey the hull this week in Port Townsend.

Lint bought El Primero in 2010 in Blaine, Washington.

"I saw it under covers, all rusted and neglected."

The Port of Blaine was about to destroy it. Previous owner Ken Hayman had spent more than $30,000 on it between 2000 and 2010, and "it's come way up" from 2010, Lint said.

A group associated with the Tacoma Historical Society, and led by Richard Hildahl and Stan Selden, has taken El Primero under their wing, Lint said. Bill Baarsma, director of the Tacoma Historical Society, "has adopted me under his subchapter 501(c)3. They [Tacoma Historical Society] want [El Primero]."

Some families in Tacoma who are associated with the boat would like to see it become a "floating museum," and are helping pay for the current survey and repairs, Lint said. It's currently insured and approved by the Coast Guard to carry up to 12 passengers.

COCKTAIL PARTIES

"It's made for sunset cocktail parties" more than for overnight passengers, Lint said. "I'm sure it can pay for itself." Lint aims to give the boat to the Tacoma Historical Society, and said he'll gladly help maintain it for free.

He also envisions a world cruise underwritten by Bethlehem Steel, current owner of Union Iron Works, the San Francisco shipyard where El Primero was built, and General Motors, which made the engines.

Lint, who mainly works on tugboats in Alaska, but also recently delivered a boat to Lagos, Nigeria, is pouring his own money, time and skill into El Primero because he wants to see it saved.

"I'm spending tons of money making it good enough to give away," he said. "The boat is really cool."

Donations from three Tacoma families involved in the boat's history are also helping pay for the haulout. Lint is working for free; two paid workers are helping.

"The Tacoma Historical Society was wonderful," Lint said, "stepping up to the plate. They see the value of the boat."

To help save El Primero, tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Treasurer,
Tacoma Historical Society, P.O. Box 1865, Tacoma, WA 98401.

For more information, visit the Tacoma Historical Society online at tacomahistory.org/SpecialProjects/el_Primero.html.

FSBO: Original Hankins Sailing Sea Bright Beach Skiff

Found this incredible local boat on Craigslist while home on spring break...too bad I chose to fly and not drive out here.

Ahoy... you are viewing an authentic 19' Sailing Sea Bright Beach Skiff, which is a lengthened version of Hankins traditional 16' skiff and is understood to be the last in existence that is family owned and/or known to privately exist solely.

Built in the winter of 1970 by Jersey legend Charles E. Hankins at his family's Lavallette, New Jersey boat building firm, Charles Hankins and Sons. His father, Charles M. Hankins, established the boat building business in 1912. All together, the Hankins family boat building business produced award winning Jersey Sea Skiffs and other small crafts for almost a century.

Building Specifics:

• L.O.A. - 19' (Not including rudder.)
• The Stem and Stern post are each of one piece Natural Crook White Oak.
• The Breast Hook, Transom Knees, Thwart Braces and Crooks are made from tough, durable Hackmatack, also called tamarack or American larch.
• The Rub rails, Cap, Sheer Clamp are Single Length White Oak.
• All Planks are 5/8" White Cedar.
• Ribs are ¾" x 1-1/4" on 8" Centers of 2 Planks 23" at its maximum width and is made up with ½" x 1/8" Spline.
• The Transom is from the same Stock and the Joints are Splined.
• Knowing that Cedar is tender on grounding, a Full Length Shoe 1" x 6" Oak tapering on Both Ends is fared to the Forefoot and Stern Post and Copper Riveted to the Hull.
• Being 6" in the way of the Centerboard Slot, each side offers a good bed for the Heads of the Bronze Carriage Bolts, which are run up and secure Trunk Logs.
• Water Line Length is 16' 7" / Beam at Sheer is 6" / Beam at Water Line is 4' 10".
• Freeboard Forward is 30", least 19" / Stern is 22"
• Draft of Hull forward is 3", maximum of center of lateral resistance 10", ft at Stern Post is 8", Deck Sheer is 7" and Bottom Rocker is 3".
• Rake of Transom is 30 Degrees.
• Centerboard Construction: Lumber was selected for proper grain to minimize warping of 1-1/8" X 5" White Oak Planks Doweled with 3/8" Bronze Rods.
• The Rudder Hangs by 3 Sets of Bronze Gudgeons, which receive a 5/8" Bronze Rod that serves as a Common Pin. This allows the Rudder, which has 4" more draft than the Hull to slide up the Pin when Grounding/Beaching.
• Sail Area: 141 Square Feet, Jib is 30 Square Feet, Main is 11 Square Feet.
• All Spars are Sitka Spruce; Mast is 15'-6" in Length x 3-1/2" at its maximum in Diameter and Tapering to 2-1/4" at the Head.
• Sprit is 16'- 6" x 2-1/8" at its maximum Diameter tapering to 1-¼" at each end.

Antique Hand Bilge Pump is included.

Auxiliary Power: Fitted with a Stainless Steel Bracket to hold a "Show Quality" small British Silver Seagull 12-hp. 2-Stroke Outboard Motor, but truly being an easily steered hull, a Zephyr is all that is needed to give her way.

Trailer: (Show/Competition Quality) 1974 Holsclaw Double Axle renovated trailer. New axle hubs, back plates, master/wheel brake cylinder(s), new wheel bearings, with high pressure wheel bearing grease, new rear tail-lights, 5 new tires and 5 new O.E.M. Holsclaw half-moon chrome hub caps.

Mooring Cover: High-quality "Marine Blue" heavy duty custom mooring cover, with Velcro ring-slit for leaving mast up. New in 2013 and used only 3 months ever...

All copies of original build documents, Bill of Sales and written correspondence between original owner, legendary designer John Gardner and boatbuilder Charles E. Hankins are in good legible state.

Owner's manual for British Silver Seagull outboard engine is included.

The original trace paper-full rudder pattern and copies of early photos of the skiff being built, plus the day of completion are complete. Detailed build drawings and a fresh scanned color copy of National Fisherman's, October 1973 - 2 page write-up by Technical Editor-John Gardner are also included.

Video of a skiff being built by Charles Hankins and the history of the Sea Bright Skiff can be viewed on the web at: www.folkstreams.net/film,41 Click on Sea Bright Skiff. Our skiff was built in the same shop and in the exact manner filmed.

A Copyrighted CD of the film is in hand for a Kiosk Video Screen and can run as a film loop or play-on-demand for public display/viewing.

This past autumn our Hankins 19' Sailing Sea Bright Beach Skiff was entered on display at the 32nd Annual Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival on Oct. 3rd-5th, 2014 at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland.

Our family was honored to have received SECOND PLACE in the Restoration Judging Category and Scoring Criteria, which the following is explained:

Restoration: Boats are judged on their importance in preserving our nautical heritage and on the extent of the work done to the boat.
1. Design -
a. Pre-WW II and rare 20, b. Pre-WW II, but more common 15, c. Post-WW II and rare 10 and d. Post-WW II, but more common 5.
2. Degree of difficulty -
a. Major restoration (bringing 'em back to life) 30 and b. Mostly minor repairs and cosmetics 10
3. Presentation -
a. Documentation (pictures, drawings, etc.) 10 and b. Tools displayed 10
4. Overall execution of the boat and its display: 25 - 40 *
* The scoring for "overall execution of the boat and its display" includes construction quality, project photos, clarity of presentation, and attention to detail. Possible scores are: Outstanding -- 40, Excellent -- 35, Good -- 30 and Average -- 25

Participants from all over the USA attend the 3 day festival. Competition was abound!
Charles E. Hankins would have been proud none the less...

The Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources title for the skiff and Motor Vehicle Administration title on the classic boat trailer are clear and in hand.

FOR SALE: $15k O.B.O
to the next steward(s), who will treasure, protect and gingerly use her with passion as we have!

Call: show contact info - Spring 2015

If you are only interested in purchasing the skiff without the British Silver Seagull Outboard ($500.00) and/or the 1974 period Holsclaw Double Axle custom-fit complete renovated trailer ($1,500.00) a fair price reduction of $2k will be honored for both.

Will offer negotiating mileage/tolls to personally transport skiff safely to the new owner(s)...

NOTE: Our family has chosen not to donate this museum quality original Hankins Sea Bright Beach Skiff to any non-profit, government or public organization(s), so please do not inquire or communicate anymore to persuade otherwise.



Charles E. Hankins was born on August 27, 1925, and raised along the New Jersey shore. At an early age, he started helping his father, Charles M. Hankins, in his boatyard to make Sea Bright skiffs, a type of wooden boat well suited for the coastal area where they lived. Initially, he was able to do only small tasks, but he watched closely as his father worked. Charles built his first boat when he was about 15 years old. During World War II, he left the boat shop for three years to serve in the United States Coast Guard. When he was discharged, he returned to work with his father and older brother, James.

The Sea Bright Skiff was first built in the 1830s in the area known as Sea Bright, just below Fort Hancock in Monmouth County on the Jersey shore, where there were no inlets of calm water and boats had to be launched directly off the beach into pounding surf. Fishing was vital to the livelihood of local communities, as were lifesaving capabilities in a region where shipwrecks were common. In response to these needs, local boatbuilders applied their time-honored skills to the creation of a new type of boat. Its flat bottom with curved rocker and rounded or "sheer" sides let it skid over the sand and turn easily instead of upsetting. Its slanting stern allows the waves to go under rather than into the boat when it is being taken ashore, and its relatively light weight and flexibility made it unlike any other boat in the world.

Over time, the boat became so admired and so associated with the town where it was created that it took the Sea Bright name. Although the Sea Bright skiff has been fine-tuned by several generations of boatbuilders to fit changing local needs, from fishing to rum-running during Prohibition to lifesaving today, its basic form has remained the same.

Hankins's father worked for several years with Charles Huff, a noted boatbuilder around the turn of the twentieth century. In 1912, the elder Hankins established his own business and created an identity as a boatbuilder to meet the needs of his clientele. Although fishermen utilized 33-foot skiffs to get out beyond the breaking waves and set nets, rum-runners preferred 28-foot skiffs outfitted with surplus airplane engines from World War I. Hankins said that his family sometimes built pursuit boats for the Coast Guard so that they were able to chase and get up alongside the rum-runners.

Hankins's father began supplying the Lifeguard Service with these skiffs in the 1920s. For lifeguards, Hankins said, the boat needed to be smaller to facilitate greater maneuverability in their efforts to control crowds, patrol for sharks and debris, and sometimes pick up shipwreck victims. The boats are also used for lifeguard training, drills, and competitive tournaments.

Since the deaths of both his father and his brother, Hankins has taken over the family business. With the help of a full-time assistant, he spends two weeks making each skiff. Over the years, he made some subtle but important changes to the skiff's design to meet the changing needs of lifeguards. He designed a longer boat to produce more "glide" in lifeguard tournaments. His Sea Bright skiffs are 18 feet long, one foot longer than the boats made by his father. He also designed a special "competition" oarlock that is less dangerous than the horseshoe prongs of the older oarlocks. Other features of the boat's design remain unchanged.

The average life of a Sea Bright Skiff is 20 years. On occasion, the boats find extended life beyond the ocean: for example, a restaurant in Point Pleasant uses a skiff for its salad bar. Hankins's reputation as a boatbuilder has grown considerably; he has received orders from Rhode Island, Nantucket, Long Island, and as far away as Maryland, Florida, Alaska, the Bahamas, Europe, South America, and Greenland. Hankins has made more than a thousand boats since 1945. Two Hankins boats (one by him and the other by his father) are on permanent display at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut.

This particular 19' Sea Bright Beach Skiff was on display in New Jersey for years at the Toms River Seaport Society & Maritime Museum. Beyond rare. . . Again, it is the last known true Hankins heirloom of this style that is personally owned. It was soaked, swelled and sailed during the summer of 2014, prior to that, it had been stored indoors for years on display and while it was refurbished.

In 1993 Charlie was invited to Washington, D.C. to build a lifeboat for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. At that time, he received the National Endowment for the Arts Award. On Junes 24th, 2003 Charles E. Hankins passed away.

The SLIVER Project

Keeping in theme on my postings on design, the following is an article by Robert Perry on The Sliver Project that the school was commissioned to build and that Jim Franken (who I had written about previously) was involved in.

By Robert Perry on January 9, 2012 10:17 AM

  

There is probably no greater compliment a yacht designer can receive than being asked to design a new yacht for a friend.

When I was a kid I loved to walk the docks down at the Shilshole Bay Marina. This was back in the day before they began putting locks on the gates. I would take a sketch pad with me and stop and sketch various design details that appealed to me. I think I was 15 years old at the time, before I had a driver's license but I'd get from Mercer Island to Ballard mostly on foot. It was a good walk. I was strolling the docks one day and I came to a boat that stopped me dead in my tracks. It was long, skinny, pale green and had an amazing canoe stern. Everything about this boat was different from the other boats I had seen. Even the cabin trunk with it's raised pilot house was different. Te name on the stern was OCEANUS. I would later learn that this was Bill Garden's own boat. In time I would race on OCEANUS but then I just stood and stared. I'm not positive but it may have been that encounter with OCEANUS that started my love affair with double enders. My life at the time revolved around two things, not counting girls, yacht design and guitar playing. I was convinced I wanted to be a yacht designer. My high school geometry teacher, Don Miller, a very patient man, encouraged me to call Bill Garden. I did and arranged for a Saturday meeting at his office. Bill was gracious and generous with his time and sent me home with a big roll of prints he was probably sending of to the dumpster until I expressed an interest in them. But if I have to think of one boat that has stood out in my mind as the ultimate expression of the yacht design art I think it would be OCEANUS. Bill is gone to that big design office in the sky now and OCEANUS was broken up for scrap a bout two years ago. But long, skinny canoe sterned boats still appeal to me.

About a year ago I got a call from Kim. I have known Kim for years and raced and worked with his son on ATALANTA when Derek was the skipper. Kim and I share a love of the history of yacht design and we also share similar tastes in yachts. Kim had owned a K. Aage Nielsen sloop of uncommon beauty and his current boat is a 30 square meter class sloop. Kim thought it would be a good idea to get together and discuss a new boat, maybe a long, skinny double ender and I am certain OCEANUS was mentioned. Kim came up and we started chatting. The new boat would be about 60' long and would be designed as a daysailer. I pulled pout some  tracing paper, I call it "flimsy" and I started sketching with Kim at my side. In very few minutes we had a profile that Kim and I liked but it was a rough start. My idea was a boat with some overhangs, not as much as OCEANUS had but enough to provide some fun in the shaping of the ends. I had this idea that I would use bow sections very similar to those on the Laurie Davidson America's Cup boat BLACK MAGIC. I would use that shape to help push volume into the bow in increase the prismatic coefficient and get a bow that did more than just hang out over the water. Overhangs can't just float out there. They have to be immersed at some heel angle if they are going to do any "work". Kim liked the idea. I drew a few preliminary sets of lines. Kim then sent me a copy of a Herreshoff profile of a long double ender and said, "How about this look?" The overhangs were gone. The Herreshoff boat was all waterline. I told Kim, "I can do that." I like waterline. From there things progressed rapidly. Kim and I were almost always on the same page and having a large bank of common reference design made communication easy. I think, according to my revision notes, that I drew eight preliminary hull shapes before Kim and I both agreed that we were "there". I would later make a change by adding more deadrise after Kim decided to build the hull in strip plank construction. I needed more volume below the sole for floor structure depth. The keel is a steel weldment that will double as a fuel tank with a lead bulb. The rudder is actually a rudder I did for another boat. That owner asked for a new rudder design because he did not like the first rudder. I designed him a new rudder and in the end the problem was bearings not rudder design. So we had this almost brand new carbon rudder sitting at the boatyard in California waiting for a new owner. It is perfect for Kim's boat.

There is really nothing special about the hull lines. With less than 18,000 lbs. displacement to work with and 62' of LOA I just pushed volume into the ends to get the Cp up and I made the turn of the bilge firm aft. There are no hollows in the shape. The sheer is a bit flat but with a narrow boat more spring in the sheer would look odd. I do have to admit that when you enter the boatyard you have to look hard to tell which end is the bow and which is the stern. In the photos of the boat in the hop the stern is closest to the camera. Dan Faulkner, my good pal aka Gatekeeper, has made two very beautiful half models, one for Kim and one for me. For more information on Dan's model making go to

http://www.gatekeeperhalfhulls.blogspot.com/

Kim did not care much about the interior of the boat. It was a daysailer and simplicity was the key. But I couldn't help thinking that if it were my boat I would want some comfort below for cruising. I also had the idea that we could use interior joinery as structural members to give our long, skinny boat some longitudinal stiffness. I drew an ultra simple layout with a rudimentary galley, using Igloo coolers for reefers, comfortable settee berths in the salon, a usable head forward and a big queen sized double berth forward. The front of the settees, counters and lockers forward are all one long longitudinal stiffener. Headroom stops at the forward end of the head. That was essential to preserving the look of the boat.

The real focus of the boat is the cockpit. The SLIVER will be tiller steered with the mainsheet directly forward of the helmsman's position. We will use a rigid vang and we will not have a mainsheet traveler. The cockpit seats are long and the seatbacks are high for comfort. Here is a rendering of the SLIVER done my good pal Rick Beddoe aka Sons aka Sonadora. This is an early rendering and the keel geometry has been changed.

I had a very distinct rig in mind based upon the rig geometry of the 30 Square Meter Class boats. This would be a fractional rig with the hounds at about 72%. I drew it and it looked sexy. I even drew exaggerated bend to the upper portion of the mast, just like the 30 Square Meters have. I loved it. The sailmakers hated it. The spar maker hated it. I could tell that I was in for a right good beating then something happened that changed the entire approach to the rig. Bob Pistay, a Seattle sailmaker, suggested we look at a used carbon Farr 40 rig. I called the Farr office and they very graciously provided me with complete drawings for the Farr 40 rig. They are very nice guys. I copied the Farr 40 rig onto the SLIVER and the fit was near perfect. Of course I lost my silly long "topmast" and my exaggerated bend at the top was eliminated but the rig fit, gave us the sail area we were after and did it at a tremendous cost savings over an entirely new rig. When you look at the sail plan it looks like a tiny rig on a big boat. But the SLIVER is not a big boat. It's a long boat. And, that rig is enough for a SA/D of 22.78. SLIVER at less than 18,000 lbs. has more sail area than a Valiant 40 at, let's be honest, 27,000 lbs.. If you like those ratios the D/L for the SLIVER is 49 and that is very low.

Choosing a builder is always very serious business. Kim and I discussed various ways the boat could be built. Kim liked the idea of a wooden boat. I liked the idea of a composite boat. After discussing the project with several builders Kim settled on building the boat at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Hadlock Washington., not too far from where Kim lives. Kim and I both got our construction preferences. The hull would be strip planked with cedar and the deck would be composite and come out of a one off female mold. The hull will be sheathed in Vectorply E-TLX 2400-10 triaxial cloth. Kim really liked the idea that the boat was going to be built locally with local help. For the engineering of the new boat we went to Tim Nolan and Jim Franken. They have an office in Port Townsend 15 minutes away from the boatyard. I had not worked with Tim or Jim before but I had been very aware of their work, usually in large powerboats. Tim does the engineering and Jim does all the amazing 3d modeling work we have used for all the stages of construction including the design of the rollover jig with CNC cutting by Brandon Davis of Port Townsend. The project is benefiting from a highly skilled team of local craftsmen. The stem and stern post were CNC cut and added after the planking was completed. The female deck mold is complete ( you can just see it behind the hull) and the deck will soon be laminated.


Not sure what else there is to say about the SLIVER project. So far it has been a lot of fun. Kim visits the shop frequently and I go over once and a while just to admire the work. I have a picture in my mind of the SLIVER sliding along effortlessly and silently in the light PNW breeze. I think it will make a gentle hissing sound. Kim will be at the tiller with a very contented look on his face. I'll be on the beach silently telling myself, "You did good Bob. You didn't turn out just like Uncle Mick."