new skiff design

Bringing the conversation started by madmooner to a new thread......

Our next stock design will be a small, general purpose power skiff. So in this thread we will refine the requirements. At this stage, input is welcome from one and all

general requirements (These are pretty broad at this point):

light weight, powered by 25 to 50 hp
stitch and glue or sheathed strip construction ?
easy to build, rig, and power
crew: 2 to 4 ?

NIce Joel! I'm excited to see what comes out of this!

For me, simple is key. I've been around boats but never built one.

As I mentioned earlier, enough vee up front and gunnel height to handle some chop. Light enough to beach and launch. While shallow draft is not a focus, being able to push into some shallow sloughs for ducks is a big plus. Stable to move about. Self bailing.

Gunnel caps to mount a couple rod holders and down riggers.

My thought is to have the deck sole over foam. A decent casting platform up front with three compartments. One forward and two on each side behind. Battery in one, fuel in the other, anchor and line in the forward.

Rear platform to sit and steer, or stand and push, with insulated hatches for fish/ice etc....

Is a motor well necessary? I'd just as soon have a full height transom and the motor on a bracket or plate.

16-17' seems a good size. 40hp? There is some motoring to be done around the Puget sound and I'd want to be able to go a decent clip.

Anyway, just some thoughts!

16-17' seems a good size. 40hp? There is some motoring to be done around the Puget sound and I'd want to be able to go a decent clip.

It depends on how fast you want to go comfortably. What speed and under what conditions are you talking about?

Is a motor well necessary? I'd just as soon have a full height transom and the motor on a bracket or plate.

motorwell is not necessary. Omitting the well just means you have to buy a manual jack plate or offset mounting plates - no big deal.

As I mentioned earlier, enough "V" up front and gunnel height to handle some chop. Light enough to beach and launch. While shallow draft is not a focus, being able to push into some shallow sloughs for ducks is a big plus. Stable to move about. Self bailing.

This is where I think a compromise will come in. My last skiff that was very similar to what you describe was very easily driven, took a chop well for its size, BUT it was not as stable of a boat as you might be looking for (you could not comfortably put two men on the same side without feeling uneasy). This is simply a matter of having a relatively narrow and light hull - which allows for the low HP requirements.

I would propose a slightly wider skiff to give a little more initial stability and a little more "V" for a more comfortable ride in chop. It will mean using a little more HP though - 40 at least.

Sounds good Joel and I fully understand about compromises!

I'd not expect a small skiff to do too much in a snotty chop, but when calm I'd be all day going from spot to spot If I couldn't make 20ish MPH comfortably regardless of tide. Same with stability. Wouldn't expect two big fellas to be able to hang off the same side with out some thought, but don't need it to flip over either!

Madmooner wrote:Sounds good Joel and I fully understand about compromises!

I'd not expect a small skiff to do too much in a snotty chop, but when calm I'd be all day going from spot to spot If I couldn't make 20ish MPH comfortably regardless of tide. Same with stability. Wouldn't expect two big fellas to be able to hang off the same side with out some thought, but don't need it to flip over either!

We are on the same page then, I thought I read you wanted to pull pots over the side and that would not be very easy with my FS17.

Oh, I plan on pulling pots! But no plans of mounting a power davit or anything.

Most rec pots are fairly light. You see folks on kayaks with a couple of them stacked up. I can stand on the front deck and pull them up off the bow, I'd imagine.

I understand better now, I was envisioning bigger pots

Working now in initial 3D model, will post something soon..................

some initial sketches, very rough at this point. Will probably remove some of the volume from bow...

Looks good and I like the bow!

Before I convinced myself I should build myself a boat, I was looking at a small panga. I'll see if I can attach a pic.

I just emailed the pic. Can't access PB for some reason.

Madmooner wrote:I just emailed the pic. Can't access PB for some reason.

I did not get an email.

Hah! Im a bit of a luddite!

Should have worked this time.

Nice looking skiff. Will you be selling plywood too?

Cracker Larry wrote:Nice looking skiff. Will you be selling plywood too?

thanks Larry, its easy to draw a nice looking hull - making it build-able, now thats the hard work We can get much nicer shaped with strip composite vs plywood composite, but its a little more work on the front side.

I want to experiment a little with 5 ply meranti underlayment plywood, it is basically the same thing as meranti 6566. 5 ply in 1/4" and nice faces. It could easily knock a few hundred bucks off the build cost of this boat, and its available almost everywhere.

I do not plan on selling plywood, but that might change if there is demand.

So we have decided to go with sheathed strip construction for this skiff, which I am excited about. We are no longer limited to the shape that can be tortured out of a panel of plywood

We will still need some plywood, but it will be for flat parts.

now that we are decided on sheathed strip construction we move forward with the design.  Here is the next rough draft for consideration.  I think we will flatten out the sheer line just a bit.  Right now disregard the deck and insides, we are working on hull shape now. WELCOMING COMMENTS NOW

The pics just show as a grey minus sign for me. I am logged in. Looks like they are pointing to google.

So strange seems these google galleries are viewable different ways.  Below are the pictures posted two ways, and here is a link to the whole gallery...

https://goo.gl/photos/xyVtacnNnvYUP3t79

a third way using this forums upload option...

I dig it Joel!
Looks nice and stable.

Sweet. I like it

Madmooner wrote:I dig it Joel!
Looks nice and stable.

Im glad you like it, we are moving right along with the design. What is your time frame to start building? I think we might be ready in a couple weeks with the plans.

DAYTRP wrote:Sweet. I like it

Thanks! Yes, it should be a great all around skiff. Could be built as a center console or flats boat too.

Exactly what I was thinking. Reminds me of the 15 I built

Very nice lines. I like it too!

Still rough draft, but progressing.  The rear casting deck is just about the same height from the sole, so it makes sense to make this the same level with gunnels, Of course it would be very easy to make the rear deck shorter if you wanted.  The motor-well will be a little different than what you see in the picture, and if you plan to use a jack plate, it can be built without a motorwell.