Texas Dory

Peckerwood or pecker wouldn't?

 

I'm iron wood with a balsa heart . . . stiff, but a little on the crunchy side.

 

PAR

With iron knee naturally. Sorry, still no opportunity to elevate your reputation.

 

I sent a copy of the study plan that came with the full size plans. It is a boat called Sea Rover drawn by Wm. Atkin for Jim Orrel in 1965. USPS is slow sometimes.

 

An what do you want once they arrive?

 

Post the pics.

 

These are pretty old designs and the transitional versions of the sea skiff hull shape. I saw a lot of these as a kid on the Chesapeake, but they never had anything close to the fancy cabin, windscreen or helm these drawings show. They where usually open boats, some with a small foredeck. The helm was on the side or on the engine box. The where used to fish and work, many carried a derrick for hoisting or moving mooring weights.

It's a plank keel type of build, the originals where solid planking, when wide strake stock was still available. The hull form is a modification of the file planked versions, but with the advent of engines, these tended to leak quickly, so the bottom was modified with fore and aft planking, which still worked the garboards loose, so they made the bottom extra stiff, sometimes double planked, but usually just a big hefty hunk of something stout. The rest of the construction is pretty conventional.

The shape is a typical sea skiff, with a full length flat panel on the bottom and moderately fine entry, relatively skinny (by modern standards) form and clean straight run. The round bilge made turning easy, though she wasn't as stable as other types, she could handle bigger water, changing loading and varying conditions well.

A glued lap version of this would be significantly lighter, eliminating the frames and most or the other structure. I'd also consider something other than a straight shaft setup, maybe an outdrive or outboard. You'll get more cockpit area and it'll steer a whole lot better too. I own a 28' sea skiff of similar dimensions, slightly more beam for it's length. I find I have lots of room around the engine box, but wish it wasn't there. Years ago I converted an old Thomson from a straight shaft to I/O and what a huge difference it made. The cockpit was wide open and the boat that couldn't back down to save it's life now was very maneuverable, even at low speed. I did have to move the tank and batteries, but that's about it, after the engine was moved to the transom.

I don't see a hook in these drawings, but the scale is very small, so there might be a very shallow one. Given her intended speed, it would be a modest hook at best. Modern variants of this hull form have a much tighter bilge turn curve aft along the run and most incorporate some deadrise in the midship section, rather than the plank keel approach. (they just make the plank shorter and bring the garboards together under the boat's belly, instead of the stem and forefoot. The quicker bilge turn make the boat a little more stable and the dead rise forward cuts chop better without pounding, which a sea skiff will do if driven too hard in a mess.

Kharee, you owe me a six pack . . .

 

I just love these old school looking craft, boats that look like boats and not space ships.

 

A Spira "Clemente" with the Sea Rover topsides look is the what I have in mind. Outboard in a well. Aft cuddy cabin over motor well and porta-potty similar to Mark Abbema's 36' commuter. Just got to have at least 30 ft. length. Or a little more.

I can see a run to Jamaica in good weather for Christmas!

 

kharee,
I'm not a fan of OB wells … stinky things that take away hull volume that's needed to support the engine … unless it's small.

I looked up the Clemente and see that it's a Key Largo w a "V" bottom. A very shallow V. I'm not convinced the V would produce a softer ride. Enough to be noticeable. But it may turn w better manners. Perhaps directional stability?

The Key Largo (flat bottom) would be easier to build and 98% as good IMO.

These Spira designs are simple and don't compare to Atkin designs but are very easy to build.

Oh PAR about the "hook". This Texas Dory pictured in post #23 does not have the hooked after plane that many of the Texas Dories did. In the catalouge that I had a long time ago there were quite a few different hull types represented. The two chine "sampan" was popular and the hooked bottom type was represented in 5 or 6 designs. I assumed they were good for moderate speeds and gave good pitch stability but less efficiency than a straight run aft. The hook was 2 or 3" deep. PAR if this was the Texas Dory w the hooked bottom it would be very obvious. The Sea Skiff in post #32 reminds me of the Atkin boat "Spermaceti". But it was a Seabright type lacking the straight run aft.

 

kharee,

D. N. Hylan designs & constructs boats & his Top Hat & Marsh Hen study plans are worth viewing. So are Simmons Sea Skiffs.

http://www.dhylanboats.com/

http://www.simmonsseaskiff.com/

 

The Simmons sea skiff is only available in up to 22', though it might be stretchable, not likely to 30'. The Hylan stuff looks to be lobster boat variants, in the length necessary.

The Atkins boat above isn't the best candidate for open water use, but on a nice day a fairly long run could be made in calm water. Lots of variants for this style of hull form (used by Atkins) are around, though I'm not sure how many plans are available, as they were replaced with more efficient and capable hull shapes. Other then it's sheer sweep and general narrowness, there's nothing particularly exciting about these types of hulls. It's no more shoal than other flat bottoms and tunnels, sea brites and inverted V's are more shoal. If you're going to put a V on a boat, it should serve a purpose, so the very shallow V bottoms seen in the older designs aren't much different than a flat bottom, except harder to build.

When selecting a design a solid SOR needs to be established so you can refine you search to something other then stretching or shrinking another design. Figure out what you want, you major priorities and list them, then select a design that hits most of them.

 

I like Gerr's big skiff a great deal. It is like a large Carolina dory.
http://www.gerrmarine.com/images/boat_images/power/gerr28skiff/gerr28skiffA.JPG

 

The SSS was included to show that outboard wells give extra protection against following seas. I should have mentioned that. Enclosed wells also offer quieter running, improved looks (IMO) & some protection against casual theft. There's also the Redwing 26 & with the run aft flattened & strengthened, it might climb onto the plane.

http://www.cmdboats.com/rw26.htm

Jacques Mertens FL 26 lengthened & with outboard power.

http://bateau.com/studyplans/FL26_study.htm?prod=FL26

http://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=30482&hilit=outboard version of the FL26

Paul Riccelli Cooper Junior.

http://paryachts.blogspot.com.paryachts.com/p/blog-page_39.html

So many choices.

 

Agreed, a well done outboard well has a lot of benefits and I use this feature on a number of my designs. Engine flooding, cooling and intake air condision issues can be handled, usually easily. My first well design was for Copper Jr's bigger sister and all that was needed was a two 4" in duct fans. One pulled fresh air through a clam shell on the back of the box and ducted it directly to the front of the engine, where the air inlet was. This was used in combination with another fan drawing air from the bottom of the well and blowing it through two clam shells on the transom. Gone where the excess smoke, contaminated inlet air, high under compartment temperatures, etc.

Given the SOR, there's lots of options available, though 30' home builts are adventurous to say the least, so choices will be limited, compared to 18' outboard fishers.