Traditional Small Craft projects for next semester

Batela

The Batela is a traditional Venetian boat, that is, developed in the Italian city of Venice. It is a flat-bottomed boat with a slight degree of rocker (meaning, the bottom is curved from bow to stern) to make it easier to row and control. Rowed standing up, it is essentially a cargo carrier or ferry.

The Traditional Small Craft class of 2015 under the direction of Master Instructor Jeff Hammond will complete the boat.

The batela is approximately 30 feet long, and will be built largely of western red cedar over sawn frames.

This is an extremely interesting commission in that the boat was developed using design input provided by the owner in the form of sketches and commentary accompanied by video of Venetian batelae. Jeff drew the boat using that data, and refined it based on additional commentary and guidance to meet the owner’s direction.

Sid Skiff

Type: Sail

Construction: Wood

LOA: 16'

LWL: 15'6"

Beam: 4'5"

Draft: 1'5"

Displacement: 450

Master Boatbuilder Ray Speck drew the lines for this classic Puget Sound small craft while working as a boatbuilder in Sausalito CA. Ray saw that the harbormaster, Sid Foster, was using a particularly sweet little 12' 5" lapstrake skiff to row around Richardson Bay.

Ray took the little skiff's lines with Sid's permission, and over time, developed them into a range of skiffs from 13 to 18 feet long. Ray estimates he's built just about one hundred of these beautiful boats so far in his nearly 45 year career as a boatbuilder, many of them while teaching at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. 

You can row one of Ray's Sid Skiffs, built in the mid-1980's, at The Center For Wooden Boats in Seattle WA on south Lake Union www.cwb.org

This Sid Skiff has a mahogany backbone, and is planked with western red cedar over white oak frames. It is fastened with copper rivets and bronze fastenings. Spars are spruce, and the 24-inch centerboard is steel. Oar pads are locally harvested black locust.

Catspaw Dinghy
(we will be building the lapstrake version)

An open boat that rows with ease and swiftness and is stiff enough under sail to stand up to a breeze.

LOA - 12' 8 3/8"
Beam - 4' 5 5/8"
Draft (cb up) - 6 1/2"
(cb down) - 1' 8"
Weight - 150 - 200 lbs.
Sail Area : 65 sq. ft.
Construction: Carvel planked over steamed frames
Alternative construction: Lapstrake or strip

Designed by Joel White & N.G. Herreshoff