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Links to the rest of this site
Cedar strip canoe plans based on traditional types
Paddlinglight is publishing a series of digitised plans for building cedar strip versions of well known traditional kayaks and canoes.
Barton skiff - plans for a 16ft plywood outboard skiff
Download plans to build a 16ft plywood outboard skiff designed for a small outboard motor with small fuel requirements
Free kayak design software.
New free software for designing kayaks.
Free plans for a lively sailing version of the 12ft Ella skiff.
Free plans for a 12ft stitch and glue sailing skiff named after my daughter.
Italian 10ft racers publish their plans.
Italians race development class of boats limited only by sail area and length limited by the standard (in Italy) 3.1m sheet of ply. The website's in Italian, but has lots of pictures and best of all one of the builders and racers has published plans for their boat - and it's a lot like a large sailing Mouse, such as the Eek. It's been going on for years apparently, but I've only just learned about it from Frank Baldry of the UK HBBR. Thanks Frank!
Free plans for a very simple 14ft stitch and glue rowing skiff.
Free plans for a very simple 14ft stitch and glue skiff drawn by myself (Gavin Atkin) and named after my mother. It's the third member of the family of small skiff designs I've been working on lately!
Free plans for a very simple 12ft stitch and glue skiff.
Free plans for a very simple 12ft stitch and glue skiff drawn by myself (Gavin Atkin) and named after my daughter, Ella.
Easy to build plywood flat-bottomed rowing skiff
A 12ft skiff that breaks down into three parts.
Easy to build plywood flat-bottomed rowing skiff for rowing
An easy to build light-weight 15ft 6in rower suitable for use on lakes and rivers, perhaps for exercise rowing but also usable for picnics on the river, fishing and the rest. And you might say it's ultrasimplicated.
The Black Skiff
Free plans for a yole-derived boat by Mark Wallace.
Plans for Thames skiff and punt
Plans for two boats - one extraordinarily beautiful, the other an extraordinarily eccentric racer.
Double-ended 10ft clinker-built skiff
A very sweet but difficult looking clinker boatbuilding project. If anyone builds this one, I've love to hear about it please!
Practical Boatbuilding for Amateurs
Classic 1889 boatbuilding book by Neison and Dixon Kemp.
Cinderella
A nicely-built example of my Cinderella canoe, adapted for rowing with some neat outriggers made from ply. The boat was built and photographed by the talented Martin Wellby. Get the free plans from the download.
http://www.dinghy.pl/
Small boat plans by the talented and hard-working Radoslaw Werszko.
Ben Crawshaw builds the Light Trow
Ben builds the Light Trow - and writes a great blog while he does it!
Blackfly
Free designs for a very sweet ply camp-cruiser for one, or a cat-rigged sailing dinghy for more.
intheboatshed.net
- a blog about old boats
Not really about free boat designs - though there might be some later - but a new blog about boat restoratons, traditional boatbuilding, and traditionally-derived boats. Most are in the UK, but we will include some US material, not least because the author is an enthusiast for American boat types. Please visit!!!
Try our customised Google search designed to eliminated all the irrelevant junk you sometimes get!
Bean boat canoe
A little open-canoe for paddle-savvy kids who love the water, and aren't nervous in a tippy boat!
Classic outboard launch
I like this one from an old American magazine - built with some of the right period details, it could be a real head-turner.
Sharpie plans
Plans for a 12
Square Metre Sharpie - one of the more obvious European developments from the North American sharpie working boats.
Tubby dory
A slightly tubby-looking dory based on an old boat adapted for sailing as well as rowing. Again, I think it must have been copied from an old American magazine.
Kayaks, paddles etc
Still more on
canoes. Why has the world gone canoe mad? Because they're a good thing,
that's why...
Proa
Proa by Othmar
Karschulin. Be proa-active, why don't you?
Optimist plans
Plans for
building an Optimist. I don't know if they'd be accepted by the
Optimist mafia these days though...
A canoe called Cinderella
My contribution
to canoe madness here at FBDR. Not as simple as Joe's, but rather
elegant and by no means difficult to make.
Swinging a ship
How to make a
compass deviation table. Also, closely related pages discuss ratios and
boat photography.
Kiteboards!
The kiteboard
cookbook. Good eating, folks...
Malibu Outrigger
The Malibu
outrigger...
Madura Jukung
Madura Jukung,
19ft long, complete with plans and lines.
Lepalepa Bugis Outrigger Sailing
Canoe
Full plans and
lines for this 12ft 9in outrigger canoe.
Very simple canoe
Simple little
canoe drawn up by Joe Tribulato. Thanks Joe.
A new link about curraghs
At last - a new
link about curraghs. Courtesy of Colm O'Gairbhith
Hulls to AutoCAD
Here's how to
successfully transfer 3D files from the Carlson Chine Hull Developer
into AutoCAD.
Stability essay
Our friend Hannu
again, this time on the subject of stability.
The remarkable inventions of William
Watt
Inventive
individualist William Watt has some very interesting pages that small
boat design enthusiasts should see.
Which glue do you trust?
Here's
something to make you think hard about which glues you use...
Free designs
If you
don't mind dimensioning these
drawings for yourself, some of them are free. I must say that the
sailing boats drawn
with their transoms in the water look very odd to me, but some of the
others
look pretty good.
Free CAD
Alternative
free CAD package
Powerboat plans
Some
free old fashioned powerboat plans here.
Sailcalc
Peter
Vanderwaart's excellent
labour-saving sail calculator has been getting better and better.
Fishing boats for Nepal
Wonderful
United Nations FAO fishing boats for Nepal.
Clever and amazing small boat fun
The
mighty Hannu has been adding more of his clever and frequently
astonishing small boat designs. Look out for his latest - a paddling
plywood Admiral's hat.
Design for a schonker
This
might be for you if you're interested in this whacky traditional-style Dutch craft designed and built by a bunch of young people who are keen to bring back sail-powered cargo ships.
Hydrofoil
primer
Learn
about hydrofoils.
Two-sheet skiff, and electric power skiff
They're
a bit too light on design displacement to my mind, but certainly worth
a look.
Polycad
and Yachtlines
I'm
reminded that Marcus Bole's Polycad site offers some real treasures and
not a few challenges for amateur boat designers, including Polycad
itself and Yachtlines, which I'm told is very cool indeed - apparently
you punch in a few hull parameters and out pops a workable hull. That's
a scary thought...
Hullform
updated
I
gather Blue Peter's free software has moved on from the DOS version
many of us tried a few years ago and is now available in Windows and
Intel-based Linux version.
New Micro Mouse variant
I would
never have guessed that there would be so many variations on the Mouse
design - but I would also never have guessed that so many of these
little boats would be built, and we're now up to 112 amazing
launchings. This latest Mouse variant is designed specifically for
younger children, and has a flat bottom for easy building. I've found
that kids can cut timber and hammer nails into predrilled holes under
close supervision, though I'd advise parents to keep them away from
adhesives. Also, Micro Mouse has a big sister Flattie Mouse
that combines
the looks of the curved sides of the standard Mouse (laughter off) with
the ease of flat-bottomed building. Yes, I know it's called Mini Mouse
in the file, but we're going to change that.
Tiny punt
My good
friend Les Brown's 5-minute punt design. Even if you don't want to
build a punt, I'm sure it'll make you smile...
Dark
Ages boats
British
boats of the Dark Ages.
Hjortspring Boat
An
ancient and rather fabulous canoe found in a peat bog in Denmark.
Cedar strip dinghy
Lines
for a very nice small dinghy from cedar strip.
More Russian plans
More
Russian stuff - I hope some of you can read it better than I can.
Hulls to AutoCAD
Rick
Malagodi's method for persuading Chine Hull Developer (aka Hulls) .dxf
output files to work in three dimensions under AutoCAD.
Alternative small boat
Here's
Thorbjorn Lee's radical approach to the one-sheet boat. Unconventional
it may be, but T's pleased with its performance, and I think it's a
very interesting idea.
Tiny punt
My good
friend Les Brown's 5-minute punt design. Even if you don't want to
build a punt, it should make you smile...
Hot Rat
Dig
this - a 12 by 3ft flat-bottomed, flat-sheered Mouse derivative
designed to be built in a weekend. With a 70sqft leg of mutton sail, it
should give an adult or older teenager a fun wet ride. What could be
better for the summer? And this could be the cheapest, simplest club
DIY club racer seen since the Optimist.
14ft Expedition Mouse
Some
call this a Mouse for grownups: I call it the Expedition Mouse, for it
can be paddled, sailed and even slept in with the help of an airbed. I
think it's novel and interesting compromise for the adventurous
paddler, and it's still a very simple building job.
Gavin Atkin designs Yahoo group
A Yahoo
group for people building and using my non-Mouse series designs. Join
the race to be an early member ;-)
Scale explained
A
teach-in describing some ot the mysteries of scale.
Two-sheet boat
An
attempt at the maximum two-sheet boat, including some nice details.
Light sculling trainer
Plans
for a nicely worked out light sculling boat.
Sail trimming etc 1
Articles,
including material on main and genoa generic tuning.
Sail trimming etc 2
Article
about how sails work and are cut.
Fun ideas
Inventions
that time forgot - and which you might have mused about yourself.
Fun with jonboats
Instructions
for designing and making your own jonboat.
Is this the ultimate one sheet boat?
The man
behind these pages makes quite a large claim, but whether or not he's
right the use of materials and the discussion are both well worth
reading, particularly if you have ever tinkered with the one-sheet
skiff idea.
Magazine designs
The
excellent Svenson website has now been updated and improved with
additional material and a user friendly presentation using thumbnails.
Tom
Colvin essays on materials
Check
out Tom's drawings and so on - but do remember you are also visiting to
read his essays on building materials.
Classic Marine essays on metals
and booms
Some
valuable reference stuff here. Thanks Mr Bowlocks!
Folding dinghy!
A quick
reminder that this link does exist.
Free plan for a tiny dink
Basic
plans for an even more basic little boat.
Stitch and glue kayaks
Building
info for two stitch and glue kayaks.
Kayak sail
A sail
for a kayak.
Building an Ozark Johnboat
How to
build an Ozark Johnboat in words and pictures.
Carene update
Carene free design software.
Wacky Lassie
I found
myself thinking about the Wacky Lassie easy to build flat-bottom canoe
the other day - and even though I think I've linked to it before,
because it's a great little boat I thought I should put up this link
again just to remind you all.
Gidge Gandy's Groovin Garvey
This is
Sandspur - a great little garvey design from The Rudder.
Once again, we have Craig O'Donnell to thank.
A fat little skiff
The
building of a fat little skiff, with plans.
Polycad
Fascinating
hull design software.
Standard
sail dimensions
John
Kohnen - the man behind The Mother of all Maritime Links pages, etc -
has begun assembling a catalogue of the dimensions of the sails
designed for standard boats. His very reasonable theory is that
second-hand standard commercial sails are the cheapest available, and
that they should be used more often in home-built designs.
An index to the Ideal series
Also
from John Kohnen is this tantalising index... Thanks to Jeff Gilbert
for pointing these pages out to me.
Low-cost boat building with Polysails
Dave
Grey, the man behind Polysails, has begun a project to provide more
low-cost boat building material aimed at families and teenagers, and
plans more. While you're there, do take a look at his articles about
making sails.
1885 open cruising boat
A very
nice 18ft open cruising boat found in an old copy of Forest
& Stream by Craig O'Donnell. Thanks Craig!.
Swallows and Amazons new URL
This is
the new URL for the Swallows and Amazons pages. Fancy designing and
building your own boat based on the ones in Arthur Ransome's books? The
Swallow has an interesting long keel...
A small land yacht
Build a
small land yacht, and have serious fun.
UK Epoxy plans
UK
Epoxy's offer several free plans for those who buy their glues and
cloth!
Jay
Benford's essays
If you
haven't read them before now, check out Jay Benford's essays.
Pati a vela catamaran
Build a
pati a vela catamaran, and read more about them here.
A hull design wizard - really!
This is
an astonishing piece of work - a software wizard that asks a series of
reasonable questions and in return spits out a Carlson Chine Hull
Developer model of a proposed chine hull based on the recommended
ratios and proportions spelt out by some of the best small boat design
books I know of. Hulwiz's files should be regarded as a starting point,
not as a finished product, and it is possible to create silly or even
dangerous results by giving it silly inputs. Nevertheless, I think
Lew's contribution in developing this piece of software has been
terrific, not least because of the huge range of hull types it offers,
including prams, double-enders, sharpies, dories, vee-bottoms and the
rest. If you decided to play with it - and you should as it's a real
treat - you'll be pleased to know that the latest version of Chine Hull
Developer is available near the bottom of Gregg Carlson's home page.
Designing
human powered boats
The
theory behind successful human-powered boats.
Build your own hovercraft
Build
your own hovercraft from these plans.
Handy software for people who make things
This is
an amazing collection of calculators and other things that just might
come in very useful one day.
Ice
yacht
Build
your own ice yacht.
Folding
kayak
How to
build your own folding kayak.
A canoe rig
A rig
for a canoe or similar.
Designing models
This is
about designing models, but I can't help thinking that there must be
material here that could also be of use to people those working on
people-carrying craft.
Conversion utility
A
conversion utility you might find useful, for example when
communicating across the Atlantic.
The argument for DIY boats
Why
it's best to build your own boat. I'd say that the best argument is
that it's fun, but there are other reasons...
Alternative materials and methods
Lots of
non-mainstream (and cheap!) materials and methods from David Beede and
others.
Fat little dory
A
design from George Beuhler that makes a 9ft dory for one person. And he
says you can stand up in in it!
Epoxy
company gives away dink design!
UK
Epoxies is offering a set of plans for an 8ft pram dinghy to people who
buy a £75 epoxy pack.
Animated boatbuilding
UK Some
nice animations of boatbuilding techniques.
Practical projects
Projects
and tips including making windows and Dorade boxes from a bunch of
Bertram 31 enthusiasts.
Classic Marine articles
A new
address for the excellent Classic Marine articles.
Krevetka-2
How's
your Russian? If it's good you might be interested in this site, which
includes plans for the Krevetka-2. If like me you're all at sea where
cyrillic characters are concerned, you might get at least some sense
from Krevetka-2
- 1, Krevetka-2
- 2 and Krevetka-2
- 2
Linux hull modeller
A
project to develop a Linux hull design package. Feed the Penguin!
Home-built
cat
The
story of a home-designed, home-built catamaran.
French-English sailing dictionary
If
you're looking at French pages such as the dory pages, this might be
useful.
Spray lines
The
lines of the Spray which started life as an in-shore oyster boat,
before Slocum took it around the world. Check out this boat's shallow
lines. And here are some more Slocum links.
Small outboard boat
Corky -
a tiny outboard skiff; there are a few other interesting things here
too.
Gondolas
Interesting
stuff about gondolas - I didn't know they were built with a bend to
make them steer more easily.
New one-sheet skiff link
A new
link for Herb Mcleod's one-sheet skiff.
Rowlocks
Just
about everything you could want to know about rowlocks. You say
oarlocks, I say rowlocks, they say crutches. (sings) Let's call the
whole thing off...
Win plans
Win a
free set of plans for a beautiful kayak in Stillwater's prize draw.
US Navy materials study
The
Navy considers materials for use in a sail training yacht. As a US
citizen of my acquaintance remarked, now we can see why it's so
expensive...
Thinking about lightning
Lightning
deserves to be taken seriously.
Designing a sternwheeler
A page
of design considerations when selecting a hull for a sternwheeler.
16ft pirogue plans free with epoxy
Jacques
Mertens-Goosens is giving away plans for his 16ft canoe with each sale
of an epoxy pack made up for the purpose. Why doesn't everyone sell
glue this way? Maybe that's what I should do!
Dogsbody launched
A home
builder in Denmark has built my Dogsbody outboard skiff from a kit
suppled by a local boatyard, See the pictures here, and get the design
from my Free Designs page.
New plywood coracle plan
William
Watt cooked up these clever plans for a one-sheet plywood coracle after
seeing Toby Churchill's. Thanks for sharing them William!
Small pram
A
different take on the classic two-sheet dinghy form. See sketch here.
Backyard casting
Ever
fancied casting your own boat parts? find out how here. And here.
AND here.
Dory plans
Sign up
with Spira International, and gain access to free plans for a 13ft
rowing dory.
Mouse boats go open-source
Here's
a radical idea - the Yahoo group mouseboats is now open-source. Anyone
can design a Mouse-series boat and it will be included in the
collection of designs if the ruling tribunal accepts that it embodies
the spirit and features of a Mouse-derived boat. To be accepted,
designs must also come with a good amount of design information
sufficient for another amateur designer to adapt move the idea on in
some way. Already there are a good range of free designs for small
one-, two- and three-sheet Mouse-derived boats and I know there are
more to come. I think this represents possibly the best opportunity to
play with small boats the world has ever seen...
Build the Duckworks design comp winner!
This is
the best link, complete with new pictures and extensive drawings and
instructions. You may also be interested in some of the other designs
too, as they are an excellent good bunch. Runner's-up
Pedal power prop
How to
make a slow-speed propeller suitable for pedal-power.
Paddle choice
What
kind of paddle do you need?
More
magazine plans
I have
linked to these pages of plans scanned from 'Science &
Mechanics' and 'Boatbuilder Handbook' before - but the collection has
grown so quickly I feel I should draw attention to them again. The
designs include hydroplanes, runabouts, sailing craft of various types
and sizes, cabin cruisers ranging from 15 to 21ft, a 25ft houseboat,
and, tucked away in a section called 'Other excellent boat plans' two
tunnel hull racers, a 'Sea Doo' and a canvas kayak. My favourites are
the 8ft outboard runabout for kids, the 12ft JonBoat, and the 16ft
dayboat and pocket sailing cruiser.
Still more magazine plans
The
Polysails site also offers a range of interesting old magazine plans.
Just recently I noticed a lively 18ft sloop I hadn't seen before -
Corky.
More simple oars
Another
set of instructions for making serviceable oars using diy skills. Not
bad these ones...
Interesting FAQ
I
thought this FAQ looked interesting.
Software links
Haven't
linked to this page of software links for ages, but it's good if that's
what you're looking for.
US coastguard rules
The
rules for US-based boat users.
Plywood coracle
Gaze in
awe at Toby Churchill's amazing plywood coracle. In fact, why not build
one? Everything you need is here. Also, check out his canoe.
Foil simulator
FoilSim
foil simulator from NASA.
Free
TurboCAD link
TurboCAD
have now gone back to offering a full featured but early version of
their software for free as a way of locking-in users. But I don't care
about being locked in - this is such excellent software I can stay
locked-in for ever!
Ratios essay
Everything
you ever wanted to know about ratios.
Rigging
essays
Essays
on rigging from Brion Toss.
Knots
Encyclopaedic
site about knots, including sailing and boating knots. Did you know
there was such a thing as knot theory?
Schonker
Drawings
of a traditional Netherland schonker, including the traditional style
leeboard.
150
essays on surveying
Not
directly about design, but extremely interesting nevertheless. David
Pascoe's 150 articles about boat surveying.
Free
plans at Turkish website
The
range of plans available via this Turkish free boatbuilder's site is
growing all the time. Look out in particular for plans for a tiny
orange-box dinghy and the German Piraat racing dinghy - and I gather
from the man behind the whole thing that he's expecting to add some old
Practical Mechanics plans shortly, including a 10ft cat-rigged skiff
and detailed instructions for a 25ft motor cruiser.
FAO wooden fishing boat designs
Two
sizes of wooden fishing boats via the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation - there are lots of detailed instructions and nice design
details here. There are also designs in ferrocement
and fibreglass
if you prefer.
Small boats for C19th boys
19th
century advice to boys on how to build and sail small boats.
Epoxy mast
Building
your own epoxy mast doesn't seem so bad...
A painting of your boat
How
about a classy painting or illustration of the boat you built or
designed? Wouldn't it be something nice to hang over your fireplace?
Christopher Warner's undertaking commissions at what I believe are very
attractive prices. Yes - I've broken my rule here and included
something that's not free design information, but Chris is a talented
chap offering something some of us will find useful.
Singlehander, sailboard attitude
Is this
the ultimate Mouse series boat? Maybe! It's traditional to thumbs down
narrow sailing craft, but the thumbs up sailing canoes - and that's one
tradition that makes little sense to me. Still, if this is to be a
sailing canoe, so be it. It should be lively and fun, and challenging
to sail with its 63sqft sail (there's a polytarp-style sail cutting
diagram) and optional wings for youngsters. The boat is just under 12ft
long from three sheets of 1/4in and a quarter sheet of 1/2in ply.
There's also a smaller alternative sail for those who prefer to stay
out of the water. Until it's been built and proven on the water, it's
certainly best to regard TheEdge as an experiment... But it might be
just the right experiment for this summer. PS - if you can't print it
at a size where you can read all the information, you could take the
files to a print shop.
Sail area, CoE calculator
Here's
a great sail area and centre of effort calculator cooked up (cookied
up?) by Peter Vanderwaart, moderator of the Yahoogroup boatdesign.
pdfFactory Trial Version
pdf
Acrobat-format drawings could become the format of the future for
passing around boat plans, free or otherwise - the creator prints to
this utility as if it was a printer, and the resulting file can be
printed out by just about any print shop. Also, here's a utility that
converts pdfs into 300 and 600dpi bitmaps. GSscript/GSview
Gaff rig explored
Here's
a new link to these useful-looking pages of material on the gaff rig.
Stressed skin Moth
How to build a
stressed skin Moth - perfect for those of you who like a little racing
to complement your capsizing fun.
Modern
rigs
Interesting
essays on the design and construction of modern rigs.
Rigging
a canoe
Advice on how to
rig a canoe with a small sail and a leeboard. Also, get your top
quality canoe sailing tips from the OCSG.
Sailing
Light Trow
This is something
I've been meaning to get around to for at least 18 months; a lively
sailing rig for my Light Trow design.
Handy
calculators
Calculators for
chain storage, capsize risk, bobstays and hull speed.
Sailing
canoes
Fabulous, almost
encyclopaedic pages about sailing canoes.
Curve
of Areas
Some standards
that scientifically-inclined designers might like to compare to their
own work.
Animated
knots
Some nice
animated knots.
Classic Moths
Material about
Classic Moths, including some good design stuff.
Flying Pig
Poke about Bill
Serjeant's inspiring site and you should find diagrams of an unusual
small sailing dinghy.
Javelin
Designing and
building a Javelin two-handed development class skiff.
Alternative
D4 rudder
An alternative
lifting rudder for the D4.
3D modeller
An new 3D
modeller. The free demo is of only limited use, but it's interesting
nontheless.
Narrowboats
Oddly there are
very few links that I have been able to find that include
design-relevant information about traditional British narrowboats.
These pictures may help; also here are some pages about the design and
building of the narrowboat 'Whisper'. Design and building of the
narrowboat Whisper.
Viking
canoe
Send an email to
Gerrie Warner, and he'll send you plans for a small Viking canoe.
Wacky
Lassie
A step-by-step
guide to building the Wacky Lassie, from Fritz Funk Doesn't include
intermediate frames, but does include the central mould.
French
dory pages
Plans put up by a
group of French dory enthusiasts. Interestingly, the collection
includes Portuguese and French dories, as well as much more familiar
Grand Banks and Swapscott types.
Turkish
dinghy cruising portal
Download details
of a micro-dinghy, the Piraat, and a new home-designed dinghy.
Planing
hull maths
The mathematics
of planing hulls expressed in Excel files.
Twin
keels essay
The virtues of
twin keels.
More on
multihulls
A good place to
learn about multihulls.
Make your
own oars
Oar making links
from Jacques Mertens-Goosens very popular pages..
General
purpose outboard skiff
This is my
attempt at drawing a general purpose 12ft outboard skiff. Of its type I
think this is quite nice little boat but it must be regarded as
experimental at least for the time being. If you can't print it at a
size where you can read all the information, you could take the files
to a print shop. If anyone's interested in building this little craft,
please contact me at gmatkin@clara.net.
12ft
rowing boat plans
Sign up at the
Dinghy Cruising Yahoo group to access plans for this simple 12 skiff.
Simple
Boat Building
This on-line copy
of Geoffrey Prout's classic book describes how to build a flattie
dinghy, a vee-quartered sailing dinghy, and a very nice 8ft
clinker-built praam dinghy that would look fabulous in epoxy ply. I
believe an outboard will be described in the next chapter.
Sail area
calculator
It does what is
says on the tin, and in a very convenient and easy way.
Crab
claw rigs
Is the crab claw
a better sail for cruising than the rigs we've been using? While you're
there, don't miss the rest of the Proafile site
Boat design
ratios
A handy glossary
explaining what all the numbers mean.
A
5-metre longboat
Sign up at this
new Yahoo group to download plans for the graceful and fast-looking
5metre Cyber-Boat longboat.
Foil
sections 1
and Foil sections 2
A veritable
cornucopia over flowing with such gems of foil sections as Caesar never
dreamt of - for those who like that kind of thing.
Mast-aft rigs
An essay about
the merits of mast-aft rig designs.
New
designs from Andrew Gibbens
This site now
includes a punt, a sharp-bowed version of Andrew's original scow, and
straight-sided rowable jonboat. Also, don't miss these drawings of an
entertaining lug-rigged
scow. Fancy a dip, anyone?
Homebuilt
hydrofoil
How about some
plans for a small DIY hydrofoil? They look a hoot to me.
More designs from old
magazines
A series of
runabouts and small skiffs, including a child's outboard runabout with
a top speed of 10 mph.
McKenzie
riverboat plans
All the plans you
need to build a classic McKenzie riverboat. John has also asked me to
point out that some rather more professional plans for similar craft
are also available from Roger Fletcher at http://www.riverstouch.com/.
How
to design a Cherub
Build one of
these and enjoy buckets of zarjaz thrillpower. Eeek!
More sewn
boats
Further pictures
of some amazing sewn boats.
Folkboat
drawings
Interesting
drawings of a thoroughly beautiful design.
Model Stevenson
pocket yachts
Build a Stevenson
pocket yacht from paper.
Build an
International Moth
Some Australian
geezers explaining how to build the International Moth - one of the
most challenging and impractical boats I can imagine. It turns out that
one of my neghbours sails one, and he insists that it's an exhilarating
experience, despite being so wet.
William Watts'
experimental canoes and boats
William's
extraordinary imagination is at work dreaming up new ideas for boats
and canoes that can be built on a shoe-string budget. He's been trying
some out and intends to report after freeze-up, he says.
Skinny
Mouse
My take on a
flat-bottomed Mouse variant. I've kept this tucked at the back of a
drawer for some time, but can't resist making it public any longer. It
could not be easier to make - mark out and cut out the sides transoms
and bottoms, attach battens around the sides and transoms, assemble,
build in bouyancy tanks or struts to taste, add a gunwale and then
attach the bottom. No epoxy and tape needed, unless you want to build a
gold-plater. It's been pretty well tested and works well, and is even
quite quick. It's more vulnerable to wave action, though, than a
standard Mouse. If you can't print it at a size where you can read all
the information, you could take the files to a print shop.
One-sheet
Cubcanu
Another one-sheet
canoe design, this time with less emphasis on stability and a little
more on freeboard. We should have a race!
Steam
bending and plank spiling
Gregg Germain's
steambending FAQ and his instructions for spiling in a new plank.
Essex
smacks - and a sail area calculator
Terrific drawings
showing how the Essex (England) smacks were built. Glorious boats. Also
there's a handy calculator here that quickly works out the area of a
sail from its four sides - but I'm not sure if I believe that it can
work...
Blackberry
John Bell's
dory-like 11ft flat-bottomed rower is 'just so'.
Oarmouse
My drawings of a
two-sheet 14ft Mouse variant designed for fairly quick one-man rowing.
As always, I've included a .hul file for those who wish to take a look
at the hydrostatics, or to develop their own version. If you can't
print it at a size where you can read all the information, you could
take the files to a print shop.
18 foot proa
Go to the T2
link, and you'll find plans for a proa that's been built and tested.
Crocket-designed
21-ft sailing cruiser
Crocket-designed
21-ft two-berth sailboat found on one of the woodworking plans sites.
Thanks Dennis!
alternative
centreboard
John Perry's an
interesting man, and in his boating an example to many of us. He's
shown that it is possible to successfully design, build and sail your
own boat, and he's also an inventive kind of soul. I was recently
reminded about his alternative centreboard design idea (scroll some way
down the page).
Lightweight
launching trolley
Scroll down
through this pdf of Optimist stuff and eventually you'll find some info
on making a lightweigh launching trolley from plastic piping.
Kayak
building shopnotes
Some great
shopnotes for builders of strip planked kayaks. I imagine it will also
be useful for builders of other strip-built craft.
Home-designed
motorsailer catboat
The 'Froggy guy
from Hell' has drawn up a single-sailed motorsailer, and I can't work
out whether to take him seriously or not. You judge for yourself.
Home-designed
cruising catamaran
David Roy is
designing and builidng an 18ft catamaran for weekend cruising.
Tank
volume
A utility for
quickly calculating the volume of a tank.
Alternative CAD
software
another CAD
package some of you might like to try.
'Simple
Boat Building'
Geoffrey Prout's
classic book 'Simple Boat Building' is currently being serialised by
the good folk of the Woodenboat Nz e-zine, and it kicks off with a
chapter on designing flat-bottomed boats.
Payson on
oars
How to make oars
from Harold Payson, one of the heros of instant and backyard
boatbuilders.
Greenland paddles
Everything you
could want to know about Greenland Paddles.
Paddles
Good article
about making canoe paddles.
Proas
Amazing page
about proas from Craig O'Donnell.
Unit conversion
lookup
Handy unit
converter - very useful for those working on both sides of the Atlantic
and elsewhere.
Working
out a catamaran
A glimpse into
this chap's design notebook as he works out his catamaran - so long as
you have the software to see the files.
Understand
rigging
Reference data
and articles from Moray McPhail's Classic Marine catalogue, including
an excellent essay on rig loading, explanatory material about rigging,
and some good advice on bouyancy in small boats.
Lightweight
box mast
How to make a
lightweight box mast, from Dave Grey of Polytarp sails fame.
Dink drawings
The nice people
at Classic Boatworks have a new domain name. They mail out free plans
for a small hard-chine pram to anyone who visits their site and emails
them a request, and I gather their pages will shortly include a how-to
covering the construction of their pram dinghy. Take a look at the rest
of their site while you're there.
Rundgatting
Building
a replica rundgatting.
Construction drawing and Sailplan
Hull and sail
plan for a 13ft catboat.
14ft sportster and Small
outboard boat
Basic, but
workable plans for a 14ft outboard sportster, and a 12ft 9in outboard
boat.
Baidarka
Free
plans for building a baidarka canoe...
Sewn boats
Amazing,
wonderful sewn boats from Russia, and from before the era of epoxy. I
wonder if stitch and tape inventor Barry Bucknell knew about them...
Oar length formula
An
alternative formula for defining oar length, and other goodies.
Junk rig article
A nice
article about the virtues of the junk rig.
DIY rescue throwbag
Dead
easy to make throwbag for rescue situations. We should all have one,
probably.
Old-style speedster
Rather
basic plans for an old-fashioned outboard boat. Great fun, I'd say.
Notes on design software
Here's
some notes I wrote on using the free boat design software that's
available.
A bigger Mouse
The
original small Mouse is proving popular - so here's another with a
displacement of about 425lbs, or just about enough for two
reasonable-sized people and their sandwiches, or for one person and
some gear. It's 12ft long and is makeable from two sheets of 1/4in ply.
If you can't print it at a size where you can read all the information,
you could take the files to a print shop.
Conversion utilities
Useful
conversion utilities, including Imperial and Metric lengths, and
speeds. Thanks go to Lew Clayman.
Foam composites
Scary
problems with construction based on foam composites.
Making a hatch
A handy
hatch, from John Welsford and David Robertson's excellent web magazine,
Woodenboat NZ.
Self-steering plans
Interesting
self-steering plans.
Land yachts
Some
great stuff about land yachts.
X-boats etc
Pages
about some wonderful old one-design racers. Comes with line drawings
etc.
New Jersey history
New
Jersey's maritime history with additional information including pages
with extensive information on steam bending and molds to bend it on.
There's also a diagram and parts list for building you own steamer set
up.
Mouseboats discussion group
There's
now a Yahoo discussion group for people who are building or are
interested in building the Mouse one-and-a-half sheet canoe, and its
sailing sister the slightly larger FIying Mouse. There's even a short
film clip of the first Mouse on the water! Both designs are free and
can be downloaded via links here, at Yahoo, and at Duckworks.
Bray on twin keels
Interesting
discussion of twin keels including some large claims.
Forest
& Stream skiff launched
Above
left: Some time ago, Craig O'Donnell emailed me a scan of some plans
for a handsome
little skiff
taken from an 1890s issue of Forest & Stream.
I really liked this and used it for my rop-of-the-page logo, and
re-drew it using CAD for the stitch-and-glue generation of a century
later. Download a .zip file containing the .dxf and .gif files of the
drawings and developed panels, and a few pictures of the finished
article. Forest
& Stream skiff or click here
for just one
picture.
If you can't print this
stuff at a size where you can read all the information, you could take
the files to a print shop.
Stevenson Projects Mini Cup
Plans for
Stevenson's fast lateen-rigged 12-foot board boat are now available
free.
Almost free plans
David
Goodchild offers a wide range of boat design plans in the form of
pamphlets for just a few dollars each.
Small boat sailing rigs among the canoes
I have
been struck that some of the best material about small boat rigs comes
from pages devoted largely to canoes.
Design issues on buying a canoe
An
insight into how canoes work - and it's not as simple as you might
think.
Project to design and build a two-sheet sailing
skiff
Will
these people succeed? I hope so - they obviously enjoy their building
and sailing their own little boats.
Choosing oars
An
essay from John Welsford discussing oars provides just about everything
you're likely to need to know.
Kayak and boat design software
Software
for designing strip built kayaks and boats, and calculating drag.
Old
boating projects for boys
Some
rather basic descriptions of boating projects thought to be appropriate
for boys of a century ago or so. Some of them look terrifying to me.
Others might be an interesting challenge...
Electric boats
Electric
boat design information.
14ft rowing dory
The
South Haven Dory, a light and handy 14ft rowing dory designed and built
by Paul Van Den Bosch. The plans are free and they're available via
this link! Well done Paul.
Compare your boat
How
does your boat measure up?
Building the Spray 700
Design
information about a seven-metre 'minimum cruiser', and a lot of
boatbuilding advice. It looks more sensible than many long distance
cruising vessels I've read about.
Wild ideas
Some
completely crazy design ideas including canting masts and rotating
keels, from van de Stadt.
Free designs
An
amateur designer publishes his attractive drawings, including a very
nice 11ft outboard speedster.
Origami one-sheeter
Les
Webster's highly original one-sheeter. Not quite free, but very nearly
so.
Flying Mouse
My
micro sailing boat. Take a peek - there are gifs as well as dxf files.
Also, there is a discussion group for builders and users of the Mouse
family, and for those interested in the designs at Mouse
Boats. If you can't print this
material at a size where you can read all the information, you could
take the files to a print shop.
Cyber-Boat designs for free
The
Cyber-Boat range of designs is now available free - the link above
takes you to a Yahoo, and all you have to do is to sign up to the
Cyber-Boat Yahoogroup and look in the files section, where you will
find a nice selection of dwg files. There's also a link to the
designer's home page, which itself has a link to IntelliCAD.
New
TurboCAD link
IMSI
keeps moving the link for downloading their free version of TurboCAD -
TurboCAD 2D Lite. This is where it lives now.
Keel design essay
LIke
the man said - it's an essay about keel design, from Vacanit.
Home Boat Builders in the British Isles
An
attempt to encourage amateur boat building in the British Isles.
Wonderful canoe pages
These
pages are on the way to becoming the best I've yet seen on canoes -
lots of great historical stuff, on-line books and so on.
A replica Liberdad
A
Slocum fan to beat them all builds and sails a replica of the Liberdad.
Boat design simplified
You may
have come across Barend Migchelsen's name in the newsgroups. This is
the best and clearest description of his easy to follow boat design
theory I have yet seen.
DIY bilge pump
Dave
Carnell's DIY bilge pump.
DIY drift boat
How to
build a driftboat.
Cajun boats
How to
build a Cajun skiff or pirogue.
Making oars pictures
A good
sequence of pictures showing how to make oars from a plank... from
Dynamite Payson. Check Jim Michalak's way-back archives for drawings of
oars very similar to these - and for that link go to my favourite sites
listed above.
Canting masts, rotating keels
There
are some extraordinary design ideas in this boat. My thanks to Peter
Vanderwaart.
Conor O'Brien's ideas
Some
more unconventional ideas, this time from old-timer Conor O'Brien.
Thanks to Craig O'D.
Plywood knowledge
Everything
you need to know about plywood.
Aerodynamics knowledge
Everything
you need to know about aerodynamics. Thanks go to Joe.
Curve of areas
Also
for the scientific designer, a curve of areas table put up by Peter
Vanderwaart.
Alternative sailing craft calculator
How
stable, fast etc is your boat?
Duckworks Competition and other matters
I've
been a bit hyperactive over the last few months - two of my designs
came first and third in the Duckworks design competition for a small
coast-wise cruiser. You can get the files direct from here: Bluestone
files; Castles in
the Air files. The zip includes frames
etc for both lapstrake and chine versions - though only the chine
version is dimensioned at present - I'm sorry, but my patience didn't
run to dimensioning the lapstrake version's frames :-((. Let me know if
you really really want them, and maybe one day I'll run them up for
you. At the other end of the size range, my experiences with very small
boats have led me to develop the Mouse, an amazing 8ft double-paddle
one-sheeter that you can build for a few quid on your kitchen table: Mouse files.
Also, there is a discussion group for builders and users of the Mouse
family, and for those interested in the designs at Mouse
Boats. If you can't print the plans
material at a size where you can read all the information, you could
take the files to a print shop.
Powering large hulls
The
powering of large hulls. There's also a good glossary on this site.
Sculling and the yuloh
A guide to
sculling and yulohs, from a highly respected New Zealand small boat
designer. Please don't fail to look at his designs while you're there -
you won't regret it.
Light,
cheap wingsails
Huzzah -
cheapskate boatbuilders can enjoy using sophisticated 21st century
rigs. Here's a guide to making light, cheap and effective wingsails
from polytarp.
Tyvek
sails
Tyvek can also be
used to produce low cost sails.
40s Boats is back!
Here's an amazing
set of magazine plans for a selection of 1940s designs, including a
20ft V-bottom motor cruiser, a 22ft Chesapeake Bay Sharpie, a
flat-bottomed 14ft cat-rigged knockabout, a 20ft sailing toothpick with
a raisable bulb fin, a 15ft racing sloop, a 20ft scow, a 12ft V-bottom
sloop, a dual use 8ft pram with a wheel and handles. a 10' sailing
dinghy or tender, a 15' strip-built canoe, and a loopy 16' bicycle
powered version of a Mississippi riverboat stern wheeler. Once seen,
never forgotten. And do please take a look around Dave Grey's useful
site about polytarpaulin sails while you're there.
Steambending on the Web
Gregg Germain's
steambending FAQ gets a new web address complete with pictures.
Arctic
kayaks
Interesting
detail regarding the traditional kayaks of the Arctic regious.
Canoe for kids
Fritz Funk's
'Wackie Lassie' canoe for children.
New software source
Also notice that
they're giving away free 3D software. I haven't tried it yet, but if
any of you do, please let me know what you think. Thanks go to Rory
McPhee for pointing all of this out to me.
Lofting lecture
Rory promises a
new lecture on lofting here any day now; his pages are developing very
nicely - and very usefully.
Crayfish two-sheeter
Here's Woods'
Designs very appealing two sheeter - it's not free, but so cheap I felt
I could break my own rule and include it.
Design ratios explained
Need to
understand the important design ratios? Read Chuck Merrell's columns at
the Duckworks e-zine immediately. Access is free.
The Rules updated
The list of
experts' 'Rules' by which we should design and choose out boats - have
been updated. It has been extended quite a lot with submissions from
the excellent boatdesign and openboat Yahoogroups. You may find it
essential reading; you might think about joining the groups, too.
Glossary
A useful glossary
of terms - but save it quickly if you think you'll need it, as I've got
a hunch it may not be around long.
Quilla Price skiff lines
and sailplan
This is such an
old-fashioned and head-turningly beautiful boat, I just had to share it
with you. Thanks to Craig O'Donnell for letting me in on the secret in
the first place; those who interested in a muscular kind of
old-fashioned boat, I'm in the middle of a project to draw up a
plywoodised version.
The Ensign's gig
Crazy name,
crazy... No! Wait a minute! Here's the design stuff for a little
sharp-bowed two sheeter. It doesn't sound like the author has managed
to balance the boat's rig particularly well and there's no bouyancy to
speak of, but in other respects it's none too shabby. Must get my two
sheeter finalised and published one day...
Rowing boat stability
An essay on the
stability of rowing boats.
Tortured ply canoe - in Danish
Tortured plywood
canoe plans in Danish. It sounds like another little job for Babelfish
to me.
Yacht stability
Graham Radford
talks turkey about stability. Is he right?
A classic skiff in ply
I have CADified a
classic 13ft 6in skiff from the beginning of the last century. As usual
for one of my drawings, there are some gifs and dxf files, and added a
small sailplan that the original did not have. I think it will make a
perfectly good general purpose boat for those who have access to rivers
and lakes, and don't go far out to sea on a bad day... As always,
please build a model before you build the boat!
Christmas dinghy
Chuck Merrell's
very neat and attractice small dinghy.
Heaving-to
aid
Did I ever tell
you about the brilliant Huntingford Impeder? The Miracle Class Dinghy
site includes a description of this simple and effective gadget for
temporarily lashing a tiller where you want it to be when hove-to etc.
I must make one for this summer.
Blue Foam dinghy
Here's someone
building their own small boat design, and publishing both the design
and their progress. Good luck to them.
Rethinking the proa
The proa has just
been reinvented! Can it be true? See what you think.
Russian
catamarans
The Russians sail
home-made inflatable catamarans, says Vladimir Eremeev. I'm sure he's
right, but the Babelfish web translator made a terrible and sometimes
funny job of his favourite website on the subject. A search of Russian
home-built catamaran sites by a human Russian-speaking boat design nut
could be really good.Babelfish.
14ft kayak
Jacques
Mertens-Goosens, the man who gave us the wonderful D4, adds another
free design - a 14ft kayak made from two sheets of ply.
An
almost free flattie design
A flattie skiff
for rowing or a small outboard. The plans are free, but the designer
wants $20 if you build it. Also, be warned that you will probably only
be able to access these plans if you have Word 97 or later - Wordpad
(the cheapie word processor that Microsoft throws in with Windows), and
StarOffice just don't seem to work with this file.
Beautiful sailing canoe
The story of how
a home builder adapted a 1910 sailing canoe design and built it in
strip planking.
Classic Marine
Moray McPhail's
Classic Marine sells an excellent range of fittings and rigging parts
made from bronze, brass, gunmetal, galvanised steel, tufnol and wood as
appropriate. An essential resource, if you're designing, building or
already own what he would call a 'real boat'.
The Scheel keel explained
It's shallow,
it's interesting, and it's different.
Mission statement
Here's someone
explaining their approach to design. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? How
much of this would you do?
Hebridean boatbuilding
Drawings of an
interesting 19-footer from the Outer Hebrides, and some other stuff
about traditional boatbuilding on Harris. I want to go there and see
this now!
Dave Grays sail design notes
If you ever need
some useful simple notes about sail design or about polytarp sails, do
check Dave's site.
Another land yacht
Information about
a land yacht from Gregg Carlson, of Hulls fame.
Another glossary
Good explanations
of various bits of hullform terminology. It's rather oriented towards
ships rather than small boats, but a lot of the principles remain the
same.
More CAD links
Here's another
list of CAD products and free downloads. I can't honestly tell you
whether this lot is any better than the last.
Interesting schooner drawings
Schooner drawings
- those who like this sort of thing will probably exhale softly with a
gentle 'aaaah' in their throats. and adopt a faraway look.
22ft motor cruiser
Part of the
design work for a veteran 22ft motor cruiser.
Land yacht
A neat land yacht
using a sailboard sail.
Understanding boat designs
Ted Brewer has
put up an excellent primer for those who want to understand boat
designs, and the ratios often used to describe them.
Fast sharpie
Some drawings for
a sharpie with a very great deal of zarjaz thrillpower.
Folding dinghy
At last! A
folding dinghy! This for everyone who was wondering if only kayaks
could be made to fold. Also, here's an alternative link to the folding
dinghy, including a picture! Huzzah! Thanks to Chuck Leinweber for
finding this, and many other things. Actually, I think this is a pretty
good shape for a non-folding dinghy too... Folding dinghy with picture
Viking
ship material 1 and Viking ship material 2
More material to
read on these fascinating craft. I saw some in a museum in Oslo when I
was a child, and I remember thinking they were still beautiful.
Cool kayak design software
Just what it
says. Please let me know if you find it can do more - I find now need
very, very good reasons before I'll learn my way round a complicated
new software these days.
Epoxy technical info
A collection of
how-tos for people using epoxy.
New folding kayak
The Eva is a new
folding kayak design - the above link goes to a description hosted by
Chuck Leinweber of Duckworks, and this will get you of Igor's plans: Folding kayak plans.
Yacht and ship modeller for PC and Mac
Here's a beta
version of a yacht and ship modeller for PC and Mac. It's a fairly
early version of a rather sophisticated tool (despite the small file
size), and it's very interesting.
Mathematical tools
This link has
online curve-fitters, an online Simpson's rule
solver and other such stuff. Thanks to Lew Clayman.
Some CAD stuff I've found
Following a
disaster with my hard disk, I've been installing new CAD packages, and
this list at Ten Links looks pretty good to me. Sadly, none of them
seem able to make much sense of the 3-D dxf files that Hulls produces. IntelliCAD 2000 looks pretty comprehensive to
me, while CAD-Std is small, simple and fast. And
people who like to model in 3-D might like to look at NURBS
Modeller
Free
Boat Design Resources gets its own domain
Free Boat Design
Resources from Around the Web has now got its own domain and an
exciting new address: www.smallboatdesign.co.uk. Please change your
bookmarks, and tell your friends. Don't worry anyone - it doesn't mean
that I'm about to sell out to Yahoo!
International Canoe lines
You don't see
many International Canoes these days (at least we don't here in the
South-East of England) but they're a long, narrow singlehanded
hydroplaning sailing racer with a sliding seat and a sloop rig. They're
meant to be gazed upon with awe. Also check the this link, particularly
the historical stuff at
Canadian
International Canoe Association . Finally, look out for this
plan for an unusual canoe
yawl . Thanks for the tip go to Jeff
Gilbert.
Tiny dory at Duckworks
Plans for Ira
Einsteen's tiny dory are now also available via Chuck Leinweber's
excellent Duckworks pages. They can still be found, however, together
with Ira's Herring Skiff, at Scotty's
Free Design Pages.
Multihull Boatbuilder
Things have been
hotting up at Multihullboatbuilder. Various design bits and pieces, but
no complete free designs when I last had a chance to look. This is
probably just a matter of time...
Shanty boat
How about a nice
retro 1950s-style shanty boat? Drawings courtesy of David Beede.
Leeboards, and 'dipping' a sprit
Advice on how to
set up an effective leeboard, and how to 'dip' a sprit to avoid the
'bad' side when going about. From Messing About in Boats
Trikini
Plans for a
fantastic 24-ft trikini. If any of you build it, please can I have a
go? Please?
John Winters' canoe essays
What makes a good
canoe? And, almost as important, how can I learn to talk as if I know a
good canoe when I see one? An ex-pat Brit now in Canada, John explains
a lot about canoes, and reveals that he's still got that British sense
of humour.
George Buehler shows how it's done
George Beuhler
shows how much detail he provides in his plans - and shows the rest of
us how a professional presents his drawings at the same time.
Have you found
anything I should add to this page?
This page was assembled by
Gavin Atkin. I have a policy of concentrating mainly on material likely
to be of interest to the low-budget sailor. The links on this page DO
NOT imply approval or endorsement of the products or services offered.
I would be grateful for
constructive, do-able comments, links to free and low-cost designs you
may have found or have put up on the Web or via FTP, or wish to put up,
and also for any other information about free and low-cost designs and
resources I can include on this page of links. In terms of designs, I'm
looking for original work based on a new concept or on traditional
ideas. Anything recognised as being too close to the work of a
recognised current designer must be refused - and this has happened.
This page is meant to be interesting, useful and fun, not a rip-off of
those we admire. Email me at gmatkin@clara.net. Do please let me know if you
find these pages interesting or useful, and if you have anything to
add. If you would like a logo to add
to your own links page, here's one I made earlier: logo
The very curious may be
interested to jump to my homepage.
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