I was cruising around some of my favorite designers’ and boatbuilders’ websites the other night — as I am wont to do in pursuit of personal and professional edification and for subjects for “My Wooden Boat of the Week” — and I spotted this from Ross Lillistone (Bayside Wooden Boats):
Three Brothers
Ross, as you may know, is a talented designer and builder in Oz. I thought this design looked familiar, and then I read this (part of the design brief):
“Jumping to now –
Ian rang me a couple of months ago to say that he had seen the advertisement for the WoodenBoat/Professional Boatbuilder Design Competition 2 , and said that he thought that something like the boat we had been discussing would fit the design prescription perfectly. So, I started burning the midnight and early morning oil in an attempt to get a design on paper, and to do the required calculations to determine whether such a boat could meet the criteria specified in the competition rules.
Two-and-a-bit months down the track, and I have a buildable design on paper, with two different wheelhouse layouts, and a completed weight analysis. The conservative weight calculations and the comparative data from the hull drawings have allowed me to make some firm predictions regarding speed, fuel consumption, and load-carrying ability.
In broad terms, the character of the design is as follows: -
· Long and narrow with a very fine entry to promote fuel efficiency and smooth running in a short, steep chop;
· Light-weight and simple;
· Hull-form optimised for efficient operation in the semi-displacement speed-range;
· Trailerable.
My performance predictions with 288kg (634lbs) passenger weight and 85kg (187lbs) for engine and fuel are as follows: -
· Assume displacement of 820kg (1804 lbs)
· Salt water
· LOA 26ft 2ins LWL 22.6 ft”
Ross did, indeed, enter her into our Design Challenge II. Although she didn’t win, she certainly is one of MY notables. (Both WoodenBoat and Professional BoatBuilder will be writing about the winners and notables in future issues. To see/read about the winners, click HERE and scroll down the page.)
Ross’ client wanted a improvement on Phil Bolger’s Sharpshooter design for quite a daunting trip.
“Some time ago I received a letter from my long-time boating and bush-exploration friend, Ian Hamilton. Ian seemed to have been going through something of an extended mid-life crisis, but never having been one to comply with convention, his mid-life crisis-driven ideas were not much different from his normal fantasies, and I didn’t pay him too much attention.
Ian’s latest idea was for us (not that I was consulted about the ‘us’ bit) to wander over to Western Australia to spend a few months exploring the Kimberleys. Australia is a very big place – as big as the U.S. – and most of it is made up of desert. In fact, Australia is the driest inhabited continent on the face of the globe: the Kimberleys are as far from where we live as it is possible to get in this country - about 3,500 kilometers or 2100 miles in a straight line, and all across uninhabited desert…
Now, I am interested in the Kimberleys - the fantastic terrestrial and nautical scenery - but I didn’t ever believe that the trip would come off. With that in mind, I let Ian babble on about boats and equipment in the hope that it would all go away. However, he has remained persistent, and for a long time he pushed to have a boat designed which would have the load-carrying ability and the range, to operate in that remote part of the world.”
http://www.baysidewoodenboats.com.au/
And, as always, please feel encouraged to post your comments below.
