PocketShip preview

Here's a quick preview.  Next week CLC hope to get a proper web page up for PocketShip.  This one will be available as a plans-only boat from the start.  Of course the first one was built from a kit and all of the parts fit well, so if anyone wants a kit they'll be available. This is the sketch I made once the drawings were settled down. 

After much tweaking and consideration, this is the final sailplan.  It was always going to be a gaffer---Gaff rigs are all about horsepower, like a V-8 truck engine.  And it was important that the mainmast is only 16 feet long, to make it easy to build from local materials.  PocketShip will eat West Wight Potters for lunch on all points. Almost all stitch-and-glue;  the only framing is the stuff that's there to support the deck.

The boat is built upon a keel-centerboard unit, which is built over on the bench.  There's 120 pounds of lead tire weights in the empty sections of the keel.Once the keel was set up, it was propped up by two particle board molds, and the rest of the hull was assembled, literally, in less than a day.  Pretty neat to watch.

Here's another photo, minutes after the panels and bulkheads were stitched together.  The "floor timbers" were made up as sub-assemblies.  Absolutely everything was epoxy-coated and sanded smooth before assembly began, to minimize the amount of interior sanding to be done.  That odd-looking bulkhead will be cut out later to make room for the berths.

Before the deck and cockpit were installed, Geoff finish-painted the interior and fastened down the floorboards.  A lot easier to work in the interior with the lid off!  Sharp-eyed ShopCam followers saw this image appear online a few months ago.

Here's where we stand today, looking rakish with a test-fit on the bowsprit and tabernacle.  Spars are done, just need to finish the external fiberglass, sand forever, paint, and cut the portholes in the sides.  (No portholes make it look kinda high-sided.)

The plan is to have PocketShip sailing at OkoumeFest, if everything goes as planned...

John C. Harris
Chesapeake Light Craft
Annapolis, April 2008
http://www.clcboats.com