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I live on a shallow bay on the Oregon coast.  It's a good-sized bay but its shallowness limits me to sailing in a much smaller area.  It is pretty easy to find oneself all of a sudden be sailing in 12-24" of water.

The Weekender is a shoal-draft type of vessel, but its design has issues as has been discussed.

Can anyone suggest any other "shoal/shallow draft" sailboat plans in the 14-19 foot range?

I know that there are many "kick up" types of centerboards/leeboards and rudders.  And those are great for shallow sailing.  But I am looking for a design like the Weekender mods by Paul Ricelli.  His mods look great and likely work... but it's still a Weekender.  It's a heavy boat (550lbs) and I am looking at something more like 350 lbs finished hull weight.

Question:  If someone were to build the Weekender using Paul's mods, how much lighter would the boat be?  Or, if I were to build an "Open Weekender" with no cabin and just made the cockpit larger, would that lighten up the hull weight significantly?

Also, I am looking to have an unstayed mast and a single lug sail with this boat design.

Comments/Suggestions welcome.  Thanks!!!

If you don't need a cabin, Super Skipjack should do the trick.  With any of the Stevenson designs you have to be aware that the rudder hangs down pretty far, so shoal draft they aren't until the rudder kicks up. I like the SSkipjack because it is smaller and lighter while using the same sails as Weekender. 

Al

(01-17-2017, 02:08 PM)Al Stead link Wrote: [ -> ]If you don't need a cabin, Super Skipjack should do the trick.  With any of the Stevenson designs you have to be aware that the rudder hangs down pretty far, so shoal draft they aren't until the rudder kicks up. I like the SSkipjack because it is smaller and lighter while using the same sails as Weekender.

Al
Thanks for the reply.  I'm thinking I want the Weekender cuz I want a bigger boat than the Super Skipjack.  Plus it looks to be constructed quite similarly to the Weekender, but is shorter by two feet... and that's a lot, at least for me.  But the Skipjack is a LOT lighter than the Weekender, and for me, that's good.
I really want the 16' length, but with a shallow draft... maybe about 18 inches.  Paul R's Weekender mods cut down the keelson by quite a bit, and adds a short extension to the center part of the keelson to increase sideways resistance.  I am hoping he will chime in here soon with his comments on my questions.

I have looked some for some shallow draft day sailers but have not yet found any plans yet.  But there's got to be some other plans for shoal draft day sailers, right?

A few years ago I worked up a masses calculation of three different Weekender builds. One was a pure taped seam build, which dropped the boat 20% in weight, another was restructured down into the high 200's (about a 43% reduction) and a foam core composite build that was in the 150 pound range. The foam core was intentionally spec'd light and would be weaker than a stock Weekender, but could be "beefed" up (add 50 pounds) to take what a stock Weekender could.

The cabin roof and sides really don't weigh all that much and if you made it removable (pretty easy BTW), you can use it as a dayboat or a pocket cruiser, depending on whim. You could climb aboard, flip a few toggles and lift the cabin sides and roof right off. Two guys would make quick and easy work of this, though a hoist, come-along or winch can make things easy too.




This is Murphy and she's a little over 17' and a pure dayboat. Designed for heavy weather sailing and this version sporting a BeetleCat sail. Lots of storage, so a good raid boat and plenty of floatation chambers (4) so she can't sink either. She's a V bottom of conventional proportions and arrangement. She can plane off, but you do need a fair bit of wind for this and you'll be thinking about a reef about time she's starts to scoot off. Fun if you're a white knuckle guy, easy to manage if you're not. This boat weighs in around 325 pounds (148 kg) and is a taped seam build.

I've been looking for another boat to build for almost a year now.  I have gone pretty far afield and had to carefully examine all the aspects of each boat trying to check off all my never ending list of requirements.  Today I found myself pulling the trigger on the next one.  I am ordering the plywood for Autumn Leaves.  After reviewing the complete plans, I came to the conclusion that with some modifications to enhance safety, (more floatation), and a gaff main, this boat will fill the bill for my circumstances.  If I go about it diligently, I can see the boat in the water under sail by late summer.  Most likely I will spend the next couple winters with it in my shop fine tuning and dressing it up to my standards, but in the summer it will be all sailing. 

This time I will keep records of the build, and will make periodic updates if anyone here is interested.  This will likely  be my last boat build.  When it is done, I will have three wooden boats to manage so I doubt that I will be bored ever again.  To my knowledge, this boat has not been built yet.  I may be the first one on the water.  I like that.

Al

(01-17-2017, 02:55 PM)Paul Riccelli PE,NA link Wrote: [ -> ]A few years ago I worked up a masses calculation of three different Weekender builds. One was a pure taped seam build, which dropped the boat 20% in weight, another was restructured down into the high 200's (about a 43% reduction) and a foam core composite build that was in the 150 pound range. The foam core was intentionally spec'd light and would be weaker than a stock Weekender, but could be "beefed" up (add 50 pounds) to take what a stock Weekender could.

The cabin roof and sides really don't weigh all that much and if you made it removable (pretty easy BTW), you can use it as a dayboat or a pocket cruiser, depending on whim. You could climb aboard, flip a few toggles and lift the cabin sides and roof right off. Two guys would make quick and easy work of this, though a hoist, come-along or winch can make things easy too.




This is Murphy and she's a little over 17' and a pure dayboat. Designed for heavy weather sailing and this version sporting a BeetleCat sail. Lots of storage, so a good raid boat and plenty of floatation chambers (4) so she can't sink either. She's a V bottom of conventional proportions and arrangement. She can plane off, but you do need a fair bit of wind for this and you'll be thinking about a reef about time she's starts to scoot off. Fun if you're a white knuckle guy, easy to manage if you're not. This boat weighs in around 325 pounds (148 kg) and is a taped seam build.

Paul... thanks for your comment.  I am looking for a sailboat without a centerboard/leeboard, but has something like the Weekender's keelson.  Your Murphy you and I have already talked about.  But it's got a centerboard.  As mentioned in my OP, Alsea Bay on the Oregon Coast is a shallow bay, good sized but shallow.  I'd like to be able to sail all over the bay without having to really give much though to running aground.  Do you know how much weight would be shaved off the Weekender by introducing your mods to it?  Your mods cut away a large part of the keelson, add a small skeg, and modify the rudder, and add a bit to the depth of the truncated keelson.

A modified Weekender is typically a retrofit, not a new build, though certainly could be used in a new build. Basically you cut most of the deadwood off and add the fin. If it's a new build there's a different approuch to building the fin and it offers a good bit of floatation, to help hold her butt up, which is often needed on most Weekender builds. In this regard, not much of a weight savings, even though the boat does float a little higher at the stern.

A true tape seam conversion on a Weekender would save about 20% - 30% off the boat's weight and if the cabin was removable or just not built, maybe another 50 pounds can be subtracted. This places the boat in the 335 pound range, give or take.

Centerboard craft are all I can live with, as my waters are very shoal. My local lakes have an average depth of about 10 - 12 feet, which means you can walk out into the water for a couple hundred yards and still be in knee deep wet stuff. Centerboards are the best "gunkhole" boats, as the board acts like a depth finder. With the board partly down, say 12" of draft, you can still sail up wind, though not great, enough to pass over the skinniest waters. I use the board this way all the time, as an indicator of how deep it is. When I feel it bounce on something, I pull the lanyard to raise the board an inch or two and continue on.

To directly answer you question, your search for a fixed appendage, shoal draft boat will be difficult, mostly because the three usual choices are so commonly accepted and offer much better performance potential. I know that Bolger has a number of fixed appendage designs, though you'll have to get used to the box boat look. Some of Michalak’s design may work for you too.

Thanks again, Paul, for the prompt response.  I get what you are saying about learning to use the kickup CB and rudder in shoal areas... not that hard to do and like you say, I should be able to still get decent to windward performance.

I just thought that there had to be something else out there similar to what the Weekender does... just better... when it comes to shallow draft.

I saw some of Bolger's designs... boxes as you said.

I've got several of Jim Michalak's building plans for his boat and looks like I will be building a Mayfly 16.  It's got the 7-foot cockpit I want, along with the lug sail... 350 lbs.

Thought that I would give the Weekender... or something like it... one more try before committing to another design to build.  If I'm successful at this endeavor, perhaps I can build my self a Murphy some day.  Cheers.

super skipjack has loads of space, nice little build, although i found the following:
- i think the rudder as per plan is a bit undersized, not real responsive, although that is also a function of speed, and the long keel
- boat isn't as stable as you'd think, not that i ever worried about going over, but it always felt like it could benifit from some ballast

alot of great advice on this board, but at the end of the day, build something and float it! best feeling in the world. no matter what you build, there will be give and take involved, nothing ticks all the boxes.

and post pics!!