I Like 'Small' Boats

[Charlie43]

What is 'small' depends on one's viewpoint.  

If you were a marine equipment mechanic --as I was-- and worked oil tankers, aircraft carriers, and cruise ships, then anything less than a couple hundred feet was "a small boat". But in the context of building wooden boats and then transporting them, I consider anything that can be car-topped to be 'a small boat', especially anything that can be cut from standard sheets of ply without scarfing the bottom plank. And although them that sell plans for 'small boats' often assert they are capable of carrying 2-3 adults, such claims are irresponsible. A 'small boat' is really just a 'toy boat' (or --better-- 'a kid's boat') whose proper use is by a single, petite user on ponds and protected water. But I love 'em and have built a lot of 'em, especially for fly-fishing the Burney Creek Cove of Lake Britton, which I consider 'home water'. There, a 'small boat' is a safe and proper tool. On other waters and other sea conditions, it just isn't, no matter the fact that two ubiquitously built small boats --El Toros and Optis-- are often sailed on 'big water'.

Right now, I'm storing a half dozen 'small boats' --plus a plastic, 8' kayak. But winter is coming,  and it's  time to think about building a couple more. So I'm looking at plans for ideas. Below is Applegate's Treefrog Pram, which is really a 'garvey. They describe the boat as 14" (midship) x 50" (beam) x 94" (overall) and a ridiculously heavy 75 pounds. Plans cost $38. But for as simple as its lines are, the boat should be lofted from scratch, and the $38 put toward materials.



Another boat idea I'm considering is 6' 6'" Dingo, whose lines I really like.

[MarkR]

So, this concept of 'small boats' is really interesting.  What does it really mean?  If you are a Coast Guardsman or Navy sailor, a small boat is very different than the boat of the true small boat sailor.  Those of us who deal in vessels that aren't funded by the seemingly unrestricted funding of our government tend to look at it differently.  

"Our small boats" tend to be more manageable craft that we can car top or trailer to our launch points.  They are often what we can afford.  They are the boats that are not fancy or what is viewed as 'beautiful' at the dock.  They are boats that we enjoy, we use and we love.  

These are the boats that are most likely to be used for escape.  Pleasure.  Enjoyment.

Isn't that what we need now?

[Charlie43]

Mark,

Sorry to be so late in responding to you. (I was depending on the forum to notify me that someone had posted a new message.)

To continue trying to define 'small boat', I think that if a boat is too heavy or awkward to be car-topped, it isn't a 'small boat'. Your Shellback --though you preferred to trailer it-- or a 12' foot Salt Bay is a small boat, but Craig's  12' foot Scamp isn't. Thus, 'small' can be quantified.

As for trying to link 'small' to 'enjoyment' --or similar-- I wouldn't want to go there, though I would complicate things by introducing the term 'toy boat' to describe truly small craft, such as "one-sheeters", whose purpose is the fun/challenge/ingenuity of building them than producing a truly usable boat. E.g, most 'one-sheeters' lack enough freeboard to be safe in anything other than a swimming pool. The same for Atkin's 6' Tiny Ripple, though he meant it to be not just a tender, but a lifeboat.

Lastly, a boat that's big enough --and safe enough-- for 5'6", 120 pound me is going to be too small for most adults who invariably overload any boat they use and lack the sea sense to stay ashore in marginal conditions.

Charlie