Bolger plans confusion (chebacco)

[Thermo]

I asked this on the Bolger group, but you guys are so helpful here that I'll take all the info I can get.

We're building a sheet-ply Chebacco for camping. (We hope it will handle the thin water of Chincoteague Bay between Ocean City MD and Chincoteague well, and permit some beached landings on the back side of Assateague Is.)

I've got the newer Payson book with some plans in the back. The plans are not scalable (something slightly less then 5/16" = 1') So you have to get a set of scaled plans.

That's where I'm running into trouble. If I'm going to order plans anyway, I'm not going to want to build the boat as Payson has it in this book.

While still using the sheet-ply hull, I want to have a bigger cabin on it, such as the one Ben Ho used on his lapstrake Chebacco 'Three Rivers' A newer set of Chebacco plans also supposedly have the mast moved forward some, and this makes room for a forward hatch. This bigger cabin also allows a pair of windows looking out to the cockpit.

More cabin room, and more wel-lit openings will go a long way for the claustrophobic SWMBO (I already have standing orders to make 'screen-doors' for the top hatch and washboard) and the increased headroom will be a lot better for my bad back. (Pictures below)


Ben Ho mentions getting these plans 'custom' from Bolger, for the bigger cabin. Yet his boat is a clinker hull, and that just isn't happening here. So how am I to accomplish this thing? (He also raked the cabin bulkhead forward for looks which is a complicated mess I want no part of.)

Do I just keep to the standard plans and then raise the cabin sides a bit before roofing it? I would think so, but this doesn't answer my problem with the mast position. I've definitely read somewhere that the newer design moves the mast foreward several inches to counteract a known weather helm issue. I want to build the 'fixed' version if I can.

And I still don;t know who sells what version of the plans.
I assume Payson is selling the version that matched the one in his book, but this appears to be older mast arrangement.

Who would you go to for Chebacco plans? Bolger or Payson? Payson's set I can at least order without writing to ask how much they cost and so on, but I don't think it's the right set for what I want. Also, will I end up paying three times the price of the plans set if I try to get them from Bolger?

Normal Chebacco Cabin:
http://www.chebacco.com/chebacco_news/ch142.jpg

Three Rivers' cabin:
http://www.chebacco.com/articles/019/04/article_files/image016.jpg

http://www.chebacco.com/articles/019/04/article_files/image022.jpg

[boylesboats]

What and where have you been so far about Chebacco?
Have you gone here? http://www.chebacco.com/
Have you download a 21 megabyte.pdf articles?
http://www.chebacco.com/archive/chebacco.pdf

There are few other threads on Chebacco in here...

[P.L.Lenihan]

Hi,

I'm not 100% certain of this but I believe that Bolger sells his plans for the same price as Payson markets them......99% certainty?

I too would avoid the forward raked cabin bulkhead for one simple reason;you can keep the sliding companionway hatch closed and the drop boards off when it rains without getting water in the cabin with a plumb bulkhead.The only advantage to the forward raking bulkhead is it makes a comfortable back rest when sitting in the cockpit,facing aft,period.

Write to Bolger and ask him for the Ben Ho"Three Rivers" version of Chebacco.

Peter

[Don Maurer]

I bought Chebacco plans from Bolger a few months ago. I believe the set you are looking for is design #540-#575. These are sold as a set for $250. The set contains the "original" Chebacco 20 with the low cabin on the sheet plywood hull, the same cabin on the lapstrake hull and the modification for the light cruiser version (AKA doghouse version) that has a split pilothouse with near standing headroom and the mast moved forward on a tabernacle. As this was designed as a modification rather than a re-design, it can be adapted to either hull. There is also a raised deck version, design #545 I believe that was commissioned by Ben Ho, but it is not the same design as Three Rivers. Three Rivers is the standard laptrake hull with a raised cabin that I believe is Ben's own design.

[Thermo]

That's what I thought too. I saw where he commissioned the raised-deck version, then he appeared to discard it and just raise the cabin roof himself.

I think it's within my limits and abilities to raise the cabin roof a few inches as he did and frame in a similar enclosure for a tiny head.

Really, any little cabin modifications don't scare me as long as they don't involve moving bulkhead #4, or any of the other frames, from their original positions.

Looking at the Three Rivers build pics, it seems that the frames have been lopped off at the sheer anyway, and the new cabin structure is just attached afterwards. However, this picture shows a very handy permanent framing member in the middle of the cabin area which isn't there on the sheet-ply hull, (which uses a pair of temporary bulding frames instead) and must be a lapstrake thing.

http://www.chebacco.com/articles/019/04/article_files/image006.jpg

Still, I'm thinking that the only real plans 'modification' I need that is different from Payson's standard ($60) plans is the mast being moved forward and put on a tabernacle.

I wonder if Bolger sells a mod sheet for a reduced price so one doesn't have to order duplicate plans for the whole boat.

I guess I'm going to order the cheaper 'standard' plan set from Payson as a start, and then worry about the mast tabernacle modification when it bites me in the behind.

[JimD]

Find a pic of a boat built to the new plans. Put the mast step where it is in the pic. Build the cabin any way you want, with in reason.

worry about the mast tabernacle modification when it bites me in the behind.

You may feel it nibbling at you quite early on depending where the bulkheads/frames are to go, and to make sure the tabernacle is well supported, especially in the extreme bow of a catboat...but you probably have already anticipated that:).

[Thermo]

I just discovered.... If I photocopy the plans in Payson's book at a zoom factor of 123% (on my copy machine) it produces a fine set of 3/8" = 1' scaled plans with all the dimesnions written on them as well. It took some fiddling, but when triple-checked against the dimensions written, it's on the mark.

Well, at least I can start laying out my little scale paper bulkheads on my little scale paper "sheets of plywood" anyway.

You may feel it nibbling at you quite early on depending where the bulkheads/frames are to go, and to make sure the tabernacle is well supported, especially in the extreme bow of a catboat...but you probably have already anticipated that:).

I'll make sure to use lots of extra duct tape in that area ;)

This is gonna be the year. Wow, I was just thinking last month "I'll never get this boat made with the nearest lumber or hardware place over 40 miles away!" It was a real cog in the works.

And what'dya know, but a local "Mom and Pop' just opened a hardware store 30 seconds from my driveway and can get me anything I want for just as cheap as anywhere else. That's gonna get the thing done a lot faster and cheaper with gas over $4 now.

[Tom Robb]

If it were me, I'd phone Payson and discuss your concerns and also write Bolger with the same. Talk is cheaper than wood and I'll bet both of them would prefer a proper example out there in the world to a botched example - better advertising for them if nothing else.
And paying more for corrected or updated plans is probably the cheapest part of the boat.
Also build a largish, say 1" or 1 1/2" to the foot model of wood with all the bits to scale. You'd have the model to display in the shop and good practice at the building of the real thing.

[Thermo]

If it were me, I'd phone Payson and discuss your concerns and also write Bolger with the same. Talk is cheaper than wood and I'll bet both of them would prefer a proper example out there in the world to a botched example - better advertising for them if nothing else.
And paying more for corrected or updated plans is probably the cheapest part of the boat.
Also build a largish, say 1" or 1 1/2" to the foot model of wood with all the bits to scale. You'd have the model to display in the shop and good practice at the building of the real thing.

Well, being of the lazy sort, I opted to Email Payson and FAX Bolger today with the issue. Hopefully I'll hear good news shortly.