The Phil Swift Shilling

[Sea Frog]

Yes, the small one from the UK.
Any feedback?
I love her lines except the roof that looks too big to me.
How tender is she?

http://www.willowbayboats.co.uk

[Flying Orca]

You can check it out at http://shilling.blogspot.com. Personally, I like her looks just fine. ;)

(edited to add: don't know about how tender she'll be, but she was well-reviewed in the press clippings Phil Swift includes with the study plans.)

[Sea Frog]

Orca,

There sure is a lot to learn from such a hands-on blog !
As of tenderness, please don't take it personally, as all trailerable centerboarders tend to be on the tender side, for lack of real heavy ballast and deep keel.
Tenderness isn't so much of a trouble as the righting back movement eventually occurs after a few panicky seconds. And you have to entertain those onlooking folks on the shore ! ;-)
As of roof size and aesthetics, well, de gustibus nec disputandum.
I just felt that the hull and rig were designed in such a timeless fashion that the cabin roof should naturally be dealt with in a more Victorian style, which should unfortunately require a bit of thwart and stringer tweaking along the way, not excluding tiller carving and other time wasting jobs...
I bet that boat will sooner be a paragon of character than a paragon of comfort, anyway. :)

Regards,

Eric

[Flying Orca]

There sure is a lot to learn from such a hands-on blog !

Hi Eric - well, there's a lot to learn for Tara and I because neither of us has tackled a project like this before. I've helped build canoes and a 22' Bartender, but the whole sailboat thing is new.

As of tenderness, please don't take it personally, as all trailerable centerboarders tend to be on the tender side, for lack of real heavy ballast and deep keel.
Tenderness isn't so much of a trouble as the righting back movement eventually occurs after a few panicky seconds. And you have to entertain those onlooking folks on the shore ! ;-)

Nothing personal inferred. ;) I'm out at the shop, so I've had a chance to look at the articles in the study plans. Neither reviewer mentions tenderness, but then the closest mention of anything even remotely related is that one reviewer called her "well-mannered"! Both emphasized how well she does in light air, but I think that's what they both encountered when test-sailing... so it might be a case of making lemonade.

As to the roof etc., I'm enough of a newbie when it comes to sailboats that I wouldn't know a Victorian roofline from... well, a non-Victorian roofline. We just really liked her looks, liked the study plans even more, and decided to go for it.

Cheers! - Courtney

[Sea Frog]

Well, once stripped of the medical white paint, I think this is what I had in mind, based on the same hull shape :

http://www.vanveenjachtbouw.nl/pictures/cabin

http://www.vanveenjachtbouw.nl/cabin.html

[Flying Orca]

Those are pretty nice lines, to my relatively inexperienced eye anyway. Thanks for the photo!