Coach Boat Help

[mcgoldrick]

I am a volunteer coach for our local optimist dingy sailing team (8ft pram). As a result I am spending an inordinate amount of time in an ugly and noisy old aluminum fishing boat chasing and towing the kids around. I would like to build a simple ~15ft chase/tow boat. I have an existing 9.9 short shaft motor but may be able to upgrade the motor eventually. I also have a slide I can store the boat on. We sail on a large lake that routinely has 2-3’ wind or powerboat chop.

I am looking for a design that is inexpensive, simple to build and maintain, can be left on the slide, will carry a couple of adults and kids, tow 2 to 6 opti’s and is stable enough that I can sit on the side and talk to the kids. It also needs to be durable since the kids are constantly crashing into it.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Tom

[mcdenny]

Bolger's Diablo. Works great and really simple to build. Just the right size for your OB. Lots of builder websites around.

[Thorne]

How does the slide work? In other words, do you also have a weight limit?

It almost sounds like a lightweight but large skiff, scow or jonboat design would work, as you don't go fast and the square bow would give your dinghy sailors another place to come alongside when you are stopped.

[Steve Paskey]

Plans for "Diablo" are available from Harold Payson in Maine: http://www.instantboats.com/diablo.htm

For a simple plywood Jonboat, see Jim Michalak's "Jonsboat":
www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/jim/jonsboat/index.htm (http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/jim/jonsboat/index.htm)

You might also be interested in some of the small powerboats from Jacques Mertins:
http://www.bateau.com/products.php?cat=16

His 16' flat-bottomed garvey, for instance, might be a nice choice -- easy to build and a squared off bow like a jonboat, but better looking than a jonboat and a bit better handling.
http://www.bateau.com/studyplans/GF16_study.htm

[DrakeChristensen]

I always liked the Ben garveys that WB offers plans for...have that one in the list of things to look more closely at some day.

http://www.woodenboatstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=400-126

[mcgoldrick]

The Diablo looks very interesting and like it would not pound as much as a garvey. With the relatively narrow floor and significant flar how stable would it be for kids to climb into and out of from their boats?

The Garveys would give me more interior room and initial stability but I worry about the pounding. Do any of you have any experience with them in significant chop?

Thanks for your suggestions.

Tom

[Tom Robb]

Pounding is proportional to speed, and I'm guessing that you wouldn't be towing a string of Opti's very fast.

[mcdenny]

Once the Diablo's chine is immersed she stiffens up considerably (as any hard chine boat does). My son-in-law weighs about 275# and he can sit on the gunwhale with a few inches of freeboard remaining. Off loading kids shouldn't be a problem.

Honestly, the other ideas about boats with square bows (garveys, jon boats, etc) sound like they would make a lot of sense for tending the kids. I've always thought the Doug Hylan Ben Garvey would make a great utility boat.

[Boatmik]

Bolger's Diablo. Works great and really simple to build. Just the right size for your OB. Lots of builder websites around.

Ideal boat - huge capacity for lugging kids and those big inflatable bouys - low power requirement, easy to build. quite stable

Has two nice solid strakes down each side for optimists to bang into.

Will take power up to about 25hp. I've had up to 8 people in the one I had use of and she still went like a rocket.

Plans are cheap (Book - Build the New Instant Boats by Dynamite Payson)

Consider doing the taping and gluing with epoxy.

One change - make the transom knee as shown but 1 1/2 inches lower and put it on top of a 1 1/2 square bit of timber that extends to the second bulkhead forward. It tends to pant a bit - but this mod fixes it.

http://www.ourdiablo.hypermart.net/images/P1010002.JPG

Here's a pic off the net. It has standard flat topped seats as standard. The console shown here is non standard.

Michael Storer

[rbgarr]

If that's the design you choose, I'd add six inch wide side decks with flotation under and cleats along an inboard coaming mounted vertically so the small boats could be tied up quickly like at a float and the kids could clamber in and out safely with out catching on anything. Line the rails with old canvas firehose stuffed with pipe insulation or those 'beach noodles' for protection of all boats. You could call or write Doug Hylan, the designer for other ideas. He's very approachable. http://www.dhylanboats.com

Are you sure the wind driven chop is as high as 3'? The average kitchen countertop is that high. I can see that big powerboats could create that at speed like the party boats and ferries do around here. I sailed Optis as a child and there's a fleet of them that sails in the harbor right in front of my house, but if kids in Optis are regularly faced with those conditions something is out of whack. I would think the aluminum jon boat would have been very dangerous for you in chop like that and that collecting kids in Optis for a string tow would have been near impossible.

[mcgoldrick]

Most of the chop in the 3’ range is from large powerboat wakes. However, Minnetonka is a fairly large lake and can generate that type of wind created chop. The Opti’s are not out in it but I do like to go out and take pictures of the “adults” racing/crashing in it.

In addition, speed is not an issue when actually towing the Opti’s, however we often have more than one course and it is nice to be able to quickly get from one course to the other.

Do you think the Diablo would be much more difficult to build than a Garvey?

Thank you all for your valuable feedback.

Tom

[mcdenny]

The Diablo is very straightforward. Phil Bolger puts a lot of thought into making his designs easy and economical to build. Payson's book has the plans plus building directions.

Looking at the Ben Garvey study plan in WB's Forty Wooden Boats indicates it needs to be lofted, Diablo doesn't. The garvey is built on a ladder frame with temporary molds, Diablo needs no building jig or temporary molds. I'd guess Diablo would take 1/2 or 2/3 the building time of Ben garvey.

The Ben garvey does seem to be a more substantial boat - 9" longer, 7" wider.

There probably are other plans for similar garveys that are more like the Bolger stitch and glue method.