November at the Studio

Progress on mkII Deer Isle Koster

The new KDI kit in CAD file view

Files and plans are in the last week or two of development for the KDI, mkII. I am taking orders for kits and plans. There are four excited builders waiting for them to arrive. Won't you join them!?

Many want to know the changes from MkI. Mainly, the boat has been brought back up to the original 5'10" beam that Bruce drew on the original KDI's. Another change is that the nearly flat garboards and solid wood keel have been replaced by a piece of 3/8" plywood and the first two planks. The joints are glassed and the bottom sheathed (see hatch markes in picture below). This will make building simpler and alow the builder to make a very durable bottom for beaching. The mk II wll be roomier inside and I expect it to have faster off-wind speeds. The specs for the new KDI are below.

KDI SPECS

LOA 14'

BEAM 5'10"

LWL  12'5"

Beam WL 51 1/4"

draft 5"

Displace. 595 lbs

Sail area 97 SF

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How to Sail the Lug Yawl: REPOSTED

My friend and fellow boatbuilder in the Northwest, James McMullen, created a very useful set of drawings to help people learn how to use our favorite sailing rig, the Lug-Yawl. For sail & oar boats you cannot have a more versatile and fun rig for your boat. Clint draws these rigs into most of his designs, such as the

Calendar Islands Yawl

or the

Goat Island Skiff with a mizzen

. Please look at these drawings and imagine how this rig could fit into your own sailing.

Now that you have seen these diagrams you can also see how useful the mizzen would be for switching from sailing to rowing and vice versa. While the mizzen is hauled in, the boat will keep herself pointing into the wind so the sail can be raised and lowered without filling and causing the boat to fall off one way or the other. I have found the mizzen useful for stopping and taking a break or for restowing gear or for dealing with safety matters. In these cases, it is best to learn to "heave-to" so that your boat doesn't lose too much ground. That is one drawback of lying head-to-wind under mizzen: you need to have plenty of leeway...no boats, rocks or land to get blown down upon. The advantage of heaving-to is that you don't lose too much ground at all. We make light, strong

Birdsmouth masts and spars

and have intimate knowledge of the Lug-Yawl.

Goat Island Skiff Boat Kits Available

Our first kit offering at Clint Chase Boatbuilder is a plywood and timber kit for the Michael Storer designed Goat Island Skiff (GIS). Why buy a kit? Folks are sometimes offended when I suggest this, feeling that it is thought they don't have the skills to make the parts themselves, but that is not it at all. We build all of our boats in the shop from kits!!! Even professionals do it and the reason is that it makes the build process quicker and smoother and the result is more professional. In the case of the GIS, we have made parts and built the hull of the boat, making all the small tweaks that professionals with a good eye make to the lines of the boat to make them look eye-sweet. Any design, no matter how well drawn, will need some eyes on it in 3D to make final tweaks. We also have checked bevels and made some adjustments for a rabbeted gunwale, which covers the end grain exposed at the top of the gunwale. Our kit captures all these professional practices so you can get a better boat. Currently, kits are cut per order, but we may move to CNC when volume increases.

We were attracted to this design initially because of the sail plan, a beautifully proportioned Balanced Lug. Upon further reflection we noticed something was missing for RAID sailors and for others who might use the boat as a sail & oar craft. It needed a mizzen. A small mizzen gives great control of a small boat, allowing one to lie head-to-wind for reefing at sea or for heaving-to. It allows you to back off a beach or a dock, with practice. It is useful for trimming the sail plan, adjusting weather helm to create "feel" in the tiller. A mizzen makes single handing much easier, especially for switching between oars and sail, because the boat will tend itself and stay head-to-wind while you stow oars and fidget with things at the mast. For a useful diagram showing How to Sail a Lug-Yawl, by James McMullen.

We can supply a kit for the GIS as well as the mast and spars. Masts are round, hollow using the Birdsmouth technique. Yard and boom for the GIS are solid, laminated Northern White Spruce. Laminated spars stay straighter over time with changes in moisture content in the wood. We can make custom 9' oars specifically designed for the GIS. Rowing in the Goat Island Skiff is quite enjoyable, whether it is from the dock to a local area with wind, or coming back when the wind has petered out. Products for the Goat Island Skiff can be seen in the GIS Flyer on our website Goat Island Skiff Page.