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FAMILY SKIFF,SAILBOAT, 15' X 5.5', 350
POUNDS EMPTY
The Family Skiff is large enough to
swallow up three men or maybe a family with two kids.
She has two benches that are 7' long and there should
be plenty of room for all. I would say her fully loaded
maximum weight might be 900 pounds and her empty weight
about 350 pounds, leaving about 550 pounds for captain
and crew and gear.
At the same time the Family Skiff can
easily be handled solo, although with just the weight
of the skipper she will not be a stable as when heavily
loaded. The boat also has two large chambers for buoyancy/storage
and I can see her used as a solo beach cruiser because
the benches and the floor space are large enough for a
sleep spot. This shape of hull has proven to be both fast
and able in rough water, a lot better than a similar flattie.
I've made her deep, too, with lots of freeboard.
The balanced lug rig sets on short spars
and sails very well reefed, in fact can be set up with
jiffy reefing. The spars are all short and easily made
and stowed, the mast being but 14.5' long and setting
97 square feet of sail. In addition there are oar ports
for those with lots of time and little money and a motor
well for those with lots of money and little time. Two
horsepower is all that a boat like this can absorb without
going crazy. The motor well is actually an open self draining
well that uses the full width and depth of the stern.
It will come in handy for storing the wet and muddy things
you don't want inside the boat, like anchors and boots.
I've suggested in the plans that the rudder can be offset
to one side a bit to give more room for the motor. both
Petesboat
and Frolic2
have used an offset rudder with no harm other than perhaps
needing a curved tiller to make it more comfortable. In
the case of Petesboat the 60hp motor was on centerline
and the rudder way over yonder to one side with linkage
to a centerline tiller. Pete said the large rudder offset
had no effect on steering.
Family Skiff uses taped seam construction
needing two sheets of 1/4" plywood, five sheets of
3/8" ply and two sheets of 1/2" ply. |
