change in design

[eastern270]

I was wondering if anyone has built a handy billy 21 with a very small inboard instead of the honda outboard in a well like suggested. Any comments about doing so would be welcome. Similar design called top hat can be built either way.

[Keith Wilson]

Go to the source. The Handy Billy design has a lot of history behind it. It's based on a Weston Farmer interpretation of a William Hand design. William Hand developed that hull shape in the early years of the 20th century, and drew quite a lot of boats of that type, all with inboards for obvious reasons.

Dave Goodchild (bless him) has reprints of several old magazine articles that somtain complete plans for Hand boats; Go here (http://www.dngoodchild.com/divide_author.htm) and look under William Hand.

The immediate ancestor of Handy Billy is Weston Farmer's Piute, (http://www.dngoodchild.com/5835.htm) a little lager at 25'. You can get complete plans here. (http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/store/plans/wf/)

http://www.dngoodchild.com/5835pic.jpg

The closest Hand design to Handy Billy is Shark:

SHARK, A HAND 21-FOOT UTILITY RUNABOUT
Designed by Wm. H. Hand, Jr.
The last runabout in the series of Hand plans is presented herewith. Only twenty-one feet long but combining in a small space all of the conveniences and utility of a larger boat. The arrangement is well planned and provides a pair of individual seats forward at the steering position. Additional seats in the after end of the cockpit will accommodate five or six more people and adapt the boat to ferry service and other utilitarian purposes. The motive power is one of the simple little 9 to 12 h.p. Universal motors. It is capable of driving this boat at a sufficiently rapid rate to comply with all reasonable requirements for speed. This boat is within the range of construction by the amateur builder.

One desiring a smart little runabout suitable for use around the summer home, lake or camp, should find this design interesting. The described motor, though small, will drive the boat at a good clip, and be very economical with the present high cost of gasoline. The divided forward seats and auto steerer provide a convenience not usually found in a runabout of this type, and the cockpit provides ample room for ferrying to and from camp, fishing, or any use a small boat might be put to.
--WM. H. HAND, JR. http://www.dngoodchild.com/5434.jpg

And I REALLY like this one, although at 29 feet it's much larger, but very elegant.

http://www.dngoodchild.com/5052.jpg