BYYB Forums

Greetings Gentlemen,

Being that I grew up near the bay, my other favorite boat is the Chesapeake Bay Skipjack. I recently tripped over a very unusual rendition of a small yacht in the Skipjack style from Edmund Cutts. Her name is Hummingbird, and there is a listing for sale at http://www.woodenboat.com/edmund-cutts-skipjack-yacht-0.

She has a most unusual cabin top ...



Can such a complex shape be made from plywood, or is it strip planked?

Here are some more photos ...



















Cheers,
Tom

Actually, that's not as unusual as you might think. It can be done in plywood, typically with a seam down the middle and it allows more crown to be used. A lot of old school boats incorporated this type of top when plywood first showed up in the early 20th century. If planked from solid lumber, it was done on a bias, typically about 30 degrees to the centerline, breaking at the centerline. Most cabin tops like this where double planked and often without roof beams as a result.

She looks really sweet. Her lines are very nice.

An old friend who was arguably one of the most versed on SkipJacks, would have called that one "gussied up" jack. If it's a Cutts build, then it's notable, but a bit over the top for a jack. When I was younger, I used to argue with old man Cutts about his patented build method, when I was working for another builder down the street.