Virginia Pilot Boat design?

Another characteristic of early Chesapeake (carvel) build is a great deal of edge fastening, especially in the ceiling and topside planking.
Also, the garboard is heavily edge-fastened to the keel.
I used to work at Mystic Seaport and we studied this stuff.

 

BATAAN , thanks for all the information and advice. I've got a coulple of Reuel Parker designed dinghies to build before I start to seriously think about the Pilot Schooner design.

Most likely I'll get him to design my 30-35 'Pilot Schooner based on the early pre 1800s type.

Making a scale model sounds a good idea, I'll have a go at that and see how it works! That 1820's drawing of that shallop seems about the right style for the model.

 

Foresail sheet: single part on each side, taken through a Spinlock rope clutch to a self-tailing Harken winch. You can pull the slack through the clutch when tacking and avoid using the winch usually. 2-speed winch gives adequate power to sheet foresail when needed.

 

when you build model, follow Culler's Pungy stern pattern.

 

Yes the clutch and winch are probably a good idea for the fores'l sheets , just look a bit out of place on a late 18th C style boat! I would like to (when the time comes) to keep things as simple and Low-tech as possible....within reason.

I've got Culler's complete plan catalog book from Woodenboat so I will refer to it in regards to the stern. I recall him writing that it might look complicated but in reality its pretty simple to build?!

 

Pungy "T" stern is a horizontal crosspiece of timber tenoned on top of the stern post. The rabbet for the rising bottom planking is cut on the bottom of this piece and the rabbet for the end of the deck cut in the top. "Transom" is just another plank edge fastened to the exposed after part of the first one and forming the above deck part.
Pete sent me a drawing once in one of his letters and I'll see if it's accessible. If so I'll post it.
Big advantage of a sheet clutch is it's a one-way bullseye. You pull in the sheet and the sail can't pull it back out until you release the clutch lever. Clutch probably more important than the winch as you can luff the sail to get some slack then pull in.

 

The sheet clutch sounds like a very good idea indeed. I recall reading Chapelle about the Pilot Schooner Rig as used on Tancook Whalers. Apparentley the only critisism was that the "Lug"fores'l could be a bit hard to sheet in, so you would have to luff to doo this.

I'll have a good look at the Culler 45'Pungy plans and the construction details he shows.

 

Found a letter PC sent me back in the 70s about the pungy stern, and by extension, the early pilot boats with a wide flat stern that is very narrow.

 

On a smallish lapping foresail, a 'whip' or 2 to 1 to a sheet clutch should be plenty.