Some years ago I designed this boat, named
RUFUS, for a guy who lived along the Intercostal waterway in Florida.
I had alot of fun thinking it up, and I mean to own one myself
some day. I've thought of building it way up the Columbia river,
and floating down to Astoria. Or maybe building it at the headwaters
of the Mississippi, and floating down to New Orleans. Of course,
it would be a fine craft for quiet fjords around here.
The idea was a cheap and simple to build floating camp. It would
have a small inboard, or a "power" outboard like a Honda
or British Seagul, and a big sail to loaf along down wind. Since
she was designed smaller outboard technology has exploded and
today, I'd look real close at a single 15 to 25 "Hi-thrust"
four stroke outboard. Of course a small inboard is nice too but
the outboard is much less hassle to install, and gives far better
control under power.
The hull is just a plywood box, covered with 'glas cloth and epoxy, and wouldn't be any trouble to build. And since she is just a box, it's easy to change dimensions and make her narrower if you want to trailer her (you can usually sneak by with 9' beam) or shorter. Or longer!
The house is set well back from the hull to give lots of deck
space. Since I designed it, I've thought I might extend the house
clear out to the side decks and back to the stern, leaving the
foredeck as the helm. One guy said he was going to build it that
way, and attach a diving board to the back of the house roof,
which sounded pretty good to me. This bigger house would open
up the interior considerably, and give room for permanent bunks
rather than the fold down system shown here.
However, as drawn the deck space is nice, and gives holds on each
end for crab pots, fishing gear, and so on. And the interior is
perfectly comfortable for day use. I have an old cabin where I
have to fold down the couch at night to make a double bed, and
it's no great hassle. But looking at this, you can see that if
the house was extended you'd get a hell of a lot better interior
options. Of course the looks would be hurt too; I like the way
she looks now.....
Back to Stock Plans