can i build the glen l francis drake 29 this way?

hi guys, i am wondering if the glen l francis drake http://www.glen-l.com/designs/sailboat2/francisdrake.html can be built the way i want, im pretty sure it can but i want to make sure, so my question is can the francis drake be built to resemble the james cook in the fallowing pictures http://www.glen-l.com/designs/sailboat2/dsn-jmse.html

i like the way it is sort of laminated or whatever you call it, please answer if u know.

 

Double diagonal strip planking ? The plans supplier should have a help line ? But really if you want to see timber through a clear finish, you better (a) make a superb job of it, or see every flaw (b) be prepared for a maintenance schedule that will drive you nuts.

 

the drake is a plywood hull, the other is cold formed cedar and fiberglass, all compound curves. the cold formed hull takes a lot more tooling, more labor and costlier materials, the other is likley plywood on frames, much simpler building process with minimal tooling (forms).

There is no easy way to change the design, it would be a complete new design, the whole structure of the hull is completely different. find the Navel Architech that did the hull you like and pay him to deisgn a boat the way you want (or alter an existing design). There is no easy way to "covert" the hull from one to the other, the below water line shape is completely different, and would behave different. It is a new design.

the glen-L site, about the drake, says: "Hull type: Round bilge hull form with fixed ballast keel. Plans available for "one-off" fiberglass using either PVC foam sandwich core or fiberglass planking with fiberglass laminates, or for cold-molded plywood construction with solid wood veneers as an alternate."

the "cold-molded plywood constrution with solid wood veneers" may be the look you are looking for. why don't you ask Glen-L? It appears they may have a version that will look the way you want.

 

My understanding is both hulls can be built as cold molded (double diagonal). There are other methods too. Though the picture of the James Cook coming out of the barn look cools, it doesn't stay this way. It gets painted after a sheathing, so you're not going to see all those diagonal planks. This is one of the most difficult build methods for a novice builder to consider (double diagonal veneer). A double planked plywood version is available and slightly easier for the novice.

All this said, the plans can be converted by a professional for not much money, depending on the detail you might need. I did a conversion to strip plank (a much more novice friendly method BTW) some years back on a James Cook. The builder was fairly experienced and I supplied a new set of scantlings, plus few other details and he was able to sort out the rest.

Building a boat like either the Cook or Drake is a huge undertaking. A first time builder has nearly zero chance of completing a project of this scope, if you go by the usual odds of completion. Even an experienced builder would be laboring for some years on a build of this size, so you have to ask yourself what really are your skill sets, tools available, building site requirements, etc., before you start buying materials. I'm not trying to scare you or insult your dream, but just a reality check, because many just simply don't know what they're in for, when they start.

Lastly, both of these designs are quite dated, by modern standards, in terms of design attributes and build method. There are newer, more modern designs, that still retain the classic look these yachts have, but use modern building methods, materials and incorporate modern hull design. You might want to consider different designs, to get better everything like; speed, maneuverability, efficiency, commonly available materials, rigging, etc.