| Merrywing An 18' 3" Square Foot Class Knockabout By William Atkin |
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| An 18-Foot Knockabout | |
| Here, shipmates, is a welcome kind of small sailing boat; something more than a cockle-shell and good for safe day sailing as well as racing. The whole boat is simply done from keel to truck with a view to keeping the cost low -- and to keep the construction within the province of the amateur builder. Merrywing is of V-bottom model. Her overall length is 18 feet 3 inches; load water-line, 17 feet 6 inches; breadth, 5 feet; and draft (without rudder and centerboard) 8 1/2 inches; and to bottom of rudder blade, 2 feet 3 inches. The boat complies in every way with the requirements of the Square Foot Class; and, by the way, this is the fifth design I have made for boats to fit this class. The rules are very simple and give a lot of freedom in designing which is valuable to the art of small boat design. | |
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| The rig is plain and efficient, no expensive frills of any kind. As mentioned above, the sail area is 124.1 square feet; 93.6 square feet in the mainsail, 30.5 square feet in the staysail. The staysail shows moderate overlap and because of this has double sheets. | |
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| The deck arrangement shows a narrow cockpit having its after end semi-circular in form -- a comfortable back rest, thus. The side decks are wide, so wide, in fact, that if the boat is heeled down on her beam ends water will not flow into the cockpit. There are no thwarts; the crew sit either on the foot boards or on the deck. | |
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| The model shows generous flare to the topsides, and wholesome deadrise. The hull will have a lot of reserve stability because of the former and excellent sea-going qualities because of the latter. The sections, both top and bottom, are straight. This makes an easy form to plank. The fore and aft lines show flat curves, and it will be especially noticed that there is a strong suggestion of straightness in the plan view of the deck and chine lines. Boats having the latter characteristic usually sail well -- less likely to bobble into a head sea. | |
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| Plans for Merrywing are $100 MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM SHIPS PLANS STORE https://store.mysticseaport.org/ships-plans/ shipsplanstore@mysticseaport.org
+1 (860) 572 5360 | |
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