Two RowBoats

[SchoonerDreamin]

I am enticed by the way this "lapstitch" boat goes together but plans arent available for it and I would assume this was because of the patended process of "lapstitch"

Are there any other boats of this design with a similar construction process?

http://www.clcboats.com/boats/chesteryawl.php

[David123]

I could be wrong, But the CLC lapstitch construction is comprised of computer guided machining of the wood so that the plank laps fit together easily and minimize fairing. It is my belief that cutting the laps is something that CLC views as tedious and prone to failure at some level when done by the first time builder. CLC seems to be quality oriented and also serious about customer satisfaction. I believe that they are more concerned about the finished product and how the builder and others who admire the boat view the finished product and construction process.

I have posed your question on the CLC message board. You can track the response here:
http://www.clcboats.com/forum/bbs.pl/cart_id=/?read=75392

I have visited their shop in Maryland and find them to be easy to deal with. I am in the construction of a Mill Creed 13 from plans.

[JimD]

I have hazzy/foggy recollections of reading an article by Chris Kulczyski (I think) and the red tape of applying for a patent. Dunno, maybe Leggo already had one. Nice looking boat though. Bet it wouldn't be too hard to build it without the stitching, too, so the planks didn't have hundreds of holes drilled in them.

[Steve Paskey]

I don't think the lack of plans has anything to do with patent issues or the difficulty of cutting the rabbets for the laps at home.

I say that because plans are available for CLC's Skerry, which also uses lapstitch construction. The Skerry building plans contain a number of drawings that were created specifically for someone building the boat from scratch, and a lot of work went into the package. I don't know if they intend to release a plans package for the Chester Yawl. It will probably depend, at least in part, how much demand there is for plans.

[David123]

Here's the response from CLC regarding the plans question originally posted.



"Not a practical subject for scratch builders. There are a great many parts, all of which are prefabricated to a high degree of precision or the hull won't form up. We have a CNC machine for that purpose. 1/16" of error on each of 12 planks would add up to a hull that is some other shape. I don't want to take that tech call. Highly skilled boatbuilders might pull it off, but it would take so much time that it would be easier, and make more sense, to build the Chester Yawl as a "glued lapstrake" boat rather than a "LapStitch" boat. Same story for the Annapolis Wherry.
Now, plans for a glued lapstrake Chester Yawl make a lot of sense to me and it's on the Top 50 list of things to do. Some LapStitch boats have fewer parts and are more forgiving, for example the Eastport Pram and the Skerry. Plans are available for those, and will be available for the Passagemaker Dinghy presently."


Seems that glued Lapstrake might be in the offing, but the Lapstitch process will still originate from the CNC kit versions.

[Sailman58]

I built one of the prototype Chester Yawls, and can confirm that there would be a lot of work to create the rabbets. I forget how many planks are involved, but the number 7 or 9 seems to ring a bell. Most, if not all of the planks are scarfed from 3 pieces. The glued ply lapstrake will probably be easier for a scratch builder.

Some of the canoes are in Chris K's canoe book.

Ron