Boat Kits, Boat Kits, Boat Kits

There is a lot of work happening in the world of kitting boats in the shop. The Goat Island Skiff kits have been done for a week now and are going to make some beautiful boats. The Deblois Street Dory, Hull #1 is being planked by a customer here in Portland, and plans are being finished up by Eric Risch for a new, 14'9" rowing skiff called Caravela, which will be built for customers in Martha's Vineyard and will be available as a CNC cut kit by the end of June. As if that was not enough, we are excited to soon announce a new collaboration with a fabulous designer in Europe who is known for his beautiful sail-and-oar boats. A press release will be forthcoming. Enjoy some images of the boats we are kitting.



Goat Island Skiff (designed by Michael Storer) built by Richard Harvey in the UK with a beautiful sail by John MacNamera.



Deblois Street Dory (designed by Clint Chase) being built by Shane Hall in Portland, Maine.



Echo Bay Dory Skiff (designed by Eric Risch) being kitted for CNC by Clint Chase, available in late March

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Goat Island Skiff Build for Making Kits

My own build of the GIS continues until this Friday when kits for the boat go out, the patterns for which are based on this build. The assembly of the sides is quite typical of a self-jigging skiff, with side panels wrapped around bulkheads, glued, and carefully leveled to prevent twist in the hull. These builds are notorious for twist getting built into the hull. It is easy to see when the boat is in the water without any people or gear, and the transom sits out of level with the water. With this sighting trick in mind, you will see it more often now!

Pre-finishing is always employed to make finishing and painting a more efficient process. I use "scrape-filling" to fill the grain of the wood and seal the plywood in epoxy.



I approached this hull differently because of the twist in the side panel as it wraps around the first bulkhead, developing compound curvature as it fairs into the stem. Putting the whole thing together in one glue-up session, solo, is a workout. But boy was it fun. I've built a few dozen boats like this; this skiff was the most fun to assemble.

I started by glueing and screwing the panels to the first then second bulkheads, the place where the compound curvature in the panel is centered.



The stem was fastened then the hull was zipped up from the midship frame aft. It is now glued with no twist in the hull fore-to-aft.



I am also posting on the Michael Storer Boats Forum.

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GIS Yawl Bare Hull Under Construction

A Day's Work...



Busy putting together a bare hull for a Goat Island Skiff and finishing the kit process.

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Lying Head to Wind Under Mizzen

Awhile back I wrote about the merits of the yawl rig and posted James McMullen's Instructions on How to Use the Yawl Rig.

Here is a great image showing perhaps the greatest use for the mizzen: lying head-to-wind while the helmsman or crew moves forward to set or strike the sail.

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