Need advice on hull

As strange as it may sound the smaller the boat is the harder it is to design. This is because they are so sensitive to weight. So if you are going to design it yourself then spend a lot of time getting your weight estimate right.

For good ride you want high dearise and for stability you want low dearise so your final design will be a compromise between the two. There's no magic number as it all depends on weight and boat layout.

I would suggest looking at manufacturers web sites. Many of them publish technical specs that would be a good starting point.

Also do a search on kit boat designs. I have seen them as low as $400. If you can find a similar design it would be money well spent.

 

I'm sure that's true, but the great advantage of starting small is that if it's a disaster, it's a small disaster. Of course, the way to properly distribute weight in a small open boat is to get aboard and then move around until you like the way the boat sits.

Also, there have been so many small boat designs, derived from working boats and optimized over the centuries, that you have a vast array of good examples to steal ideas from. The downside, I suppose, is that you're unlikely to come up with anything that's genuinely new as well as genuinely good.

 

Please post progress updates. As your plans near completion, many on this site (Not me, I only build others designs, for now...) will point out major flaws and comprimises you will have made. With your skill level in building things you will be able to make a good boat, if the design is good.

Go for it!

 

Hello Francois,

Look here http://www.fishyfish.com/tolmanskiff.html and
here http://www.devlinboat.com/. You could try here as well http://boatplans-online.com/. Tom has an excellent site. http://www.bluejacketboats.com/

Good luck,

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