RMS

The First Sampan Skiff

In 1990 I was deeply involved in the Westlawn process and WoodenBoat, an excellent publication, ran a design contest for a 15' boat that would be equally at home being rowed, sailed or running under a small motor. As part of my course work I entered that contest Here is part of the lines drawing, I can't show you it all because it was all done by hand to a scale 1”=1'.

 The quality of the picture is very poor because it is a scan of a photocopy of a 16 year old drawing ( I never throw anything away). However I show it to you so you can see the detail that is required.

I have taken that design and redone it in my CAD programme, changed the hull a little bit and altered the lateral resistance quite a bit. Here are the new lines.

The original design had a fore and aft box seat for rowing with a hinged top into which you could stow the spars, sail, leeboard and oars. It had a small, 2hp, outboard that just cleared the tiller when tipped up, was clear of the keel but did not clear the water. I think you can all see the problems all this would create.

Over the next few weeks we'll look at the changes made and discuss why I made them and work this up to a completed design. I'm doing this is smaller chunks so that I can actually get a post out at more regular intervals.