plans for seabright skiffs?

[Dean Preston]

Can anyone tell me where to get plans for seabright skiffs around 25-28ft., trailerable beam, to be strip planked? Dave Gerr's DR Northwest Cruiser is appealing but a bit too big. Would also like anyone's opinion on semi-displacement seabright hulls. Any advantages? I favor fuel economy over top speed.

[nedL]

I believe Mystic Seaport has taken the lines off a 24' pound boat that they have in their collection. Granted, a traditional "Sea Bright Skiff" in the 22' - 25' range would be a pretty big boat to trailer, as they were traditionally quite full amidships in that size range. The traditional boxed or rolled garboard keel does make for an easily pushed (efficient) hull at hull speed, and can even move quite nicely above that (though the efficiency then drops as speed increases). In the period of the 1930's - 1950's the Atkins designed a number of variations of the Sea Bright Skiff that were less beamy & may fill your needs. On the Jersey shore there was very little done in the way of documenting locally built boats, even during the time of construction, so there are really no plans to look over & choose from. You might want to check out the book "The Sea Bright Skiff" by Peter Guthorne.

[ 06-09-2003, 10:28 AM: Message edited by: nedL ]

[nedL]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid36/p28ef1929359a61477e7912a5a1499d62/fd21e291.jpg

[Dean Preston]

Thank you Ned, I'll be getting that book. The hullform I find fascinating, with many advantages. Actually William Atkin's boats are very close to what I want (double-ended is a plus),but I kind of wanted a pure powerboat, maybe with a get-home rig/cargo boom and a small pilothouse styled like a Norwegian fishing boat's. It would be a sin to bastardize one of Atkin's motorsailers, and pass it off as his design. I'm sitting here with a couple thousand bf of African mahogany, a shop full of machines, and no design. This summer I'll be having a bit more spare time too. :cool:

[holzbt]

The Atkin's designed several seabright skiff powerboats. I've found several with a quick search through some old Motor Boating Ideal Series books.

"SUNRAY" LOA 25' 6", beam 6' 7", draft 1' 8", plans in vol. 8 "Modern Motor Boat Plans And Designs"

"SPERMACETI" LOA 27' 10", beam 8' 0", draft 2' 0", plans in vol. 47 "Workable Plans For Practical Boats"

"NAIAD" LOA 28' 1", beam 8' 8", draft 2' 0",plans in vol. 40 "Professional Plans For Amamteur Boat Builders", and vol. 46 "A Treasury Of Inboard Cruiser Designs"

Most of their tunnel designs are versions of seabright skiffs. Most are V-bottom but a few are round bottom. I don't think it would take much to convert these designs to strip constuction.

[ 06-09-2003, 08:15 PM: Message edited by: holzbt ]

[Dean Preston]

Sir, thank you for responding. Can you please give me Pat's phone number or any other way I can acess the genius of Atkin's lines without going through all the interlibrary loan hassle? Not that it's not worth it, but you seem to have my holy grail at the moment.

[holzbt]

http://www.by-the-sea.com/atkin&co/