Skiff design mods - advice??

[BrianY]

I am a first time boat builder - or at least I will be once I start the darned thing - who is thinking about builiding the 12 foot skiff from Richard Kolin's Traditional Boatbuilding Made Easy. I like everything about the boat except that it's too short. My question is it o.k. to increase the length of the boat to 13' (an 8% increase) by spacing the stations an extra 3" apart (they're spaced at 3' apart in the original plan)? If I do this, should I also increase the width of the stations proportionally (from 48" max to 52")?

Lastly - what do I do about the sailing rig? Should I increase the sail area by 8% also?

Or - does anyone know of a similar but longer (14' would be ideal)design suitable for a newbie with pretty good woodworking skills ? ? ?

Thanks.

[Steve Lansdowne]

I took Rich's course the year it was offered in Brooklin and we stretched this design to 14', as I recall, with the same beam. We did not build the sailing version. I think he just stretched the spacing between each set of molds by a given amount. Contact him for specifics.

[Dennis Marshall]

You might have a look at the designs of Wm and John Atkin, specifically Willy Winship and Lark. These are for traditional construction or you could use marine ply. Also, Gartside has some nice boats in the 13-14' range that are well worth your time to look over.

[Ross M]

You might use the search feature against the Designs/Plans section. There is considerable info in the archives regarding this. Try the terms "changing length", "modifying plans", etc. till you get your answers.

Ross

[Keith Wilson]

Sure, why not? Traditional builders did this all the time - built different length boats from the same molds by changing the spacing. Stretching it out a foot is IMO no problem at all, and might even improve it. The stem profile will change just a little also - increase the fore-and-aft dimensions 8%. I wouldn't make it wider, which is a much more significant change Nor would I change the sail area; I don't think you've changed it enough to worry about that.

I'd second the recommendation for Wm. and John Atkin's plans, If anyone was better at designing flat-bottom skiffs, I don't know who.

[John E Hardiman]

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