| Ensenada A 27' 2" V-Bottom Jib-Headed Cutter By William & John Atkin |
| |
| A Vee Bottom Auxiliary Cutter | |
| Twenty-six years ago I designed for MoToR BoatinG a little skipjack schooner. Small for a schooner but never-the-less a shipshape and very practical vessel. Reminiscent of older times she has a clipper bow, trailboards, sharp rake to her masts, and a rather shapely overhanging counter stern. Her magazine name is Coot. In June a letter concerning a West Coast Coot came. It was from Stanley 0. Jacobs, of Los Angeles, California. Mr. Jacobs' edition of Coot is named, Hurricane. The neat little hooker was entered in the Third Annual Newport Harbor to Ensenada International Race in which 133 yachts were checked across the finishing line at Ensenada, Mexico. Hurricane finished first in the Arbitrary Handicap Class winning the President of U. S. A. Trophy. Hurricane was one of the smallest boats in the race. Not bad, Shipmates, for a little auxiliary designed primarily for comfortable cruising. | |
| |
It may be of interest to know that Coot is a development of the centerboard schooner Fairwind which I designed several years before the lines of Coot took form on my drawing table. Then during the war came the design of America Junior. Here are a trio of little skipjack bottom schooners alike in some respects but very different in many. And now appears the fourth of the family, Ensenada (whence came the name is obvious), this one rigged as a jib-head cutter. The latest of the fleet in addition to a different sail plan has a differently modeled stern, this being without crown and much more narrow on deck than its predecessors with two inches greater beam and a lot more freeboard. And then there is a much longer cabin trunk to say nothing of the so-called dog house and turned stanchioned taffrail. The construction of the new one calls for steam bent frames, a lighter iron keel, and various other desirable changes. Ensenada is 27 feet 2 inches over all; 21 feet 6 inches on the water line; 9 feet 10 inches breadth; and 4 feet draft. The freeboard at the bow is 3 feet 3 inches, the least 1 foot 10 3/4 inches, the stern 2 feet 5 inches. The iron keel weighs 1,850 pounds, and inside there will be 600 pounds of ballast. The cutter rig carries a total area of 309 square feet. Be sure to insist that your sail maker provide reefing points, proper cringles, and long nettles. This is not a racing boat. And if you expect to be comfortable in bad weather tuck in a reef or two; don't lug sail! | |
| |
| Looking below the cabin plan shows a galley length of a little over 3 feet 9 inches which provides a lot of room for stove, work table, ice box, dish lockers, and lockers. The headroom under the hatch in the galley is 5 feet 9 inches. This, of course, in the dog house. There are two berths in the main cabin and lockers under these. The headroom in the cabin varies from 5 feet 7 inches in its after end to 4 feet 4 inches in the forward end. The width between the berth fronts is 3 feet which is comfortable room in any boat. The pump water closet is installed forward beneath the forward deck house the latter giving decent headroom in the forecastle. There is also plenty of storage room here and with ingenuity it would be very easy to provide comfortable sleeping quarters for one. Ground tackle has its place forward of the low bulkhead in the ship's eyes. | |
| |
| The motor is installed under the bridge deck -- a single cylinder 5 h.p. Universal Fisherman. A Palmer Baby Huskie of 6 h.p. might also be used or a motor having similar characteristics to these two. | |
 PHOTOS OF ENSENADA 
| |
|
| |
| Plans for Ensenada are $200 MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM SHIPS PLANS STORE https://store.mysticseaport.org/ships-plans/ shipsplanstore@mysticseaport.org
+1 (860) 572 5360 | |
|
| |
| BACK TO PLAN LIST | |