The Cutts Method, building & repair

This is an interesting twist to wooden boatbuilding and repairing.

I ran across this old brochure I had from a very well respected old boatyard here on the Chesapeake Bay in Oxford, Maryland. Its been a number of years since I last visited this yard, but in my youth it always fasinated me.

I shall just post the brochure as I scanned it. Enjoy

 

I read about this a year or two ago. It is interesting ... but if it is patented then how can a small time boatbuilder use it?

 

1) I'm not sure how long the patent has been issued, so it may have expired.
2) Mr Cutts is a very accommodating gentleman who I'm sure would respond to a letter of request to use by a small boatbuilder
3) I'm not sure that Mr Cutts is still with us, as he had a bit of age when I last saw him.

I'm sure he would love to see more people adapt some of his boatbuilding knowledge. I'm quite sure he was never computer knowledgeable, so the exposure of this knowledge was very limited. I posted it because I thought it deserved attention it may never receive otherwise.

I also have some pictures of a very pretty boat constructed in this method that I will post when I find them.

 

She was a relatively smaller vessel with a very shallow draft for the Chesapeake Bay. So her rig was correspondingly shorter, and a bit more beam to give her stability

But what a pretty sheer & deckhouse line and clipper bow

 

I wonder how long a patent on a building method is good for?

This is unusual for a patent holder from what I understand, and it is good news for anyone wanting to use this method commercially.

If he is no longer with us I hope his heirs are as accommodating as he was if his patent is still valid.

I wouldn't mind using this technique on a small boat, but I have been designing tunnel-stern Seabright skiff types of hulls recently and the underwater shape of these boats include concave surfaces which would not support this method of construction. Most other common hull forms do not create this kind of problem of course ...

Thanks Brian, this building method certainly seems to be both practical and ingenious to me.

 

Not necessarily unusual, many patent holders license others to utilize their patent rights. It just depends on the price put on this license agreement.

 

As is stated quite clearly on the last page of the document.

 

Very interesting concept..

Has anyone seen this applied by a small / backyard boatbuilder??

Is Kevlar rope an easily-obtainable material?

This seems to be a great application of appropriate materials in tension and compression, and the known combination of wood and epoxy.

I believe I have heard of double-planked hulls with a layer of glass or poly?? in between the layers. Seems a similar idea of placing elements in compression and tension appropriately.

After cutting innumerable pockets (well, hundreds) in hemlock beams for the post-and-beam barn I built a few years ago, I may be a continuing member of the "I Love My Router" club...

 

Hi, I just heard of this site today and joined. I saw a Haven 12 1/2 being built by an older fellow in a suburb of Philadelphia last summer. He was retired and had written an article on the method some years back in wooden boat. The boat was upside down and about 1/2 of the routing for the kevlar ropes was done. It all looked kind of rough and would have taken some serious grinding to get a smooth surface before the 2nd outer layer of wood goes on. I personally was not impressed with the method. Because the layer of wood with the groves cut partway through ends up simply as spacer material between the remaining innermost wood that does not have it's fibers cut and the additional outer layer of wood. It is interesting that you effectively have internal ribs but I thought the method inefficient, patent or no patent.
As for myself, I am an amateur builder who has come to a lull as I ponder how I can build another boat now that my 2 car garage is full of 5 boats. It will come to me eventually I guess when I'm ready.

 

cutts hull bulding method

The Cutts Method patent # 4398490 was issued in Aug. 1983 and has now expired (U.S. patents have a 20 year life).. The method may now be used by one and all for fun or profit!

Isn't the Internet wonderful? it took me just 10 minutes to find the information on this patent!



David Garrison