Romilly Strip Plank Version

This strip plank version of Nigel Irens "Romilly" was developed following many enquiries to Nigel's office from those wishing to build the boat themselves.

The Romilly design is becoming an iconic day sailor, offering fun sailing in the traditional style made more accessible through the use of modern materials and methods.

The first Romilly prototype was designed and built in 1995. She was constructed from single skin GRP and shortly after her launch Dartington Boatworks was set up to build and market the Romilly and Roxane designs. The production boats are now built in the Netherlands.
We have had many enquiries from potential amateur builders interested in building either design using wood epoxy methods and these plans have been developed to make this possible. There are a few small changes to the production Romilly design, which reflect the change of material and also incorporate a bit of development, drawing on our experience with the production version.

The Hull Structure

The hull is constructed from Western Red Cedar Planking, over eight plywood bulkheads and frames. The transom and stem are also set up before planking. It is up to each builder whether to use a tongue and groove section strip plank (like "speed strip") or a "concave / convex" section. Some may even choose to use a conventional bevelled edge section with edge fastenings between frames. The planked hull has an external glass sheathing to help prevent damage to the planking and ensure the structure remains sealed.
All the frames and bulkheads are specified as 12mm ply. Most of the fit out of the hull and deck is also plywood of varying thickness, although some builders may wish to substitute a solid timber of their choice in some places.
The entire structure is glued and sealed with epoxy resin.

Keel, Centreboard and Rudder

The keel is a lead casting, and is bolted on externally in the traditional manner. It has a slot in the centre for the centreboard. The centreboard itself is a ply and glass sheathed steel fabrication.
The rudder is made up from layers of ply, again protected by a glass sheathing.

The Rig

Romilly's lug yawl rig is one of the main features of the design, and its light weight helps the boat to perform well with her shallow draught and minimal displacement. The production boats use all carbon fibre main spars, and glass fibre mizzen spars. We include plans for these in the package which should give enough information for any composite spar manufacturer to build them. We appreciate that some amateur builders may need to minimise the cost of the project and prefer to build hollow timber spars for the boat. For this reason we include plans for timber spars, although we still recommend that the major spars be built from carbon. The design notes incorporate a section on making the decision on spar material and include some comparisons which will allow the builder to asses the likely differences in stability and performance.
One of the developments from the production boat is the inclusion of a boom on the mainsail. This makes the main sail easier to handle and much more efficient off the wind. It also eliminates the need for any winches on the boat.

Specification

Plan price

The full set of drawings and additional information is available for a price of £300 ($600, 385€ rate of 25/03/2008).

Edward A. Burnett
Burnett Yacht Design
in association with Nigel Irens Design
March 2008