| Beldame A 28' V-Bottom Runabout By William Atkin |
| |
| An All-Purpose Runabout | |
| There seems to be a trend toward bigger and more wholesome boats for what might be called afternoon sailing. Boats big enough to stay out and take rough water; and at the same time reasonably dry while under full speed; comfortable; and safe. There is a nice peace of mind in knowing the boat you are in has generous freeboard, strong bottom and sides, water-tight bulkheads forming flotation chambers, and the ability to take a dusting with ease and surety. And there is a wonderful sense of security in having a boat that you sit in well below the deck. And then a boat like Beldame will be ideal for use around a yacht club, or any place where there is boating activity. Good for fishing, taking out parties, and generally useful for many purposes. | |
| |
The general dimensions of Beldame are; length over all, 28 feet; length on the water line, 27 feet; breadth, 8 feet 6 inches; and draft, 2 feet. The freeboard at the bow is 4 feet; and at the stern, 3 feet. So, you will see, there has been no shaving of the freeboard. This is a big boat, not so much in outside dimensions but in depth. The arrangement of Beldame shows a forward deck 7 feet 9 inches long, then forward cockpit nearly 8 feet long. This has a seat extending fully across the cockpit and is therefore wide enough to seat three with plenty of room to spare. The boat is steered from here, using an old fashioned spoke steerer on a pedestal. The windshield is amply high to fully protect people in the cockpits. A second seat is in the forward cockpit, this one being the width of the motor house thus leaving a passageway aft. The motor is installed beneath a house, this having flush hatches for access to the motor. The after cockpit contains wide seat aft. The gasoline tank is installed beneath the middle seat. | |
| |
| Beldame is of V-bottom model having straight sections below the chines; curved sections above. There seems to be very little gained in the matter of speed and performance by concaving the bottom. I have tried boats of similar size and power and the ones with flat sections are equal in every way to those with hollowed sections. There is an advantage in concaving the sections in the after end of the boat from a point about one quarter the half breadth of the bottom; this concave to flow into the keel or skeg. Fewer eddies are formed under the stern with the latter forms. However the additional work of building, especially for the amateur, will take more time than the additional speed is worth. A motor of approximately 200 cubic inch piston displacement turning at around 3,000 will give Beldame a speed of close to 22 miles an hour which is slipping along handsomely. | |
|
| |
| Plans for Beldame are $100 MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM SHIPS PLANS STORE https://store.mysticseaport.org/ships-plans/ shipsplanstore@mysticseaport.org
+1 (860) 572 5360 | |
|
| |
| BACK TO PLAN LIST | |