I have 3 Boston Whalers in my family ( two 17 foot Montauks and a 15
footer) and I'm building a dory because the Boston Whaler might be the
most over-rated boat in history. If your going fishing in a pond with
no waves a whaler is great. If the lake has waves a whaler will drive
you crazy.Forget about rowing a whaler. It's an awsome bayboat with a
shallow draft but I'll take a flat bottomed dory anyday over a whaler.
It's not a dry boat,you can't sail a whaler and it's terrible in
trailing seas. It's actually extremely one dimensional which is it is
good in shallow calm water and that's it.
On Jun 4, 8:33 am, wrote:
On Jun 3, 1:08 pm, KD6EVM wrote:
wrote:
Anybody know of any plans preferably stitch and glue, for a small
13-15 foot sport boat with a similar shape or performance as the 13
foot sport whalers, trihull design? Or any other suggestions for
small, light open fishing boat, preferably not a pointy hull or single
V, but not flat bottomed either, that would fish one person, and fly
with a 25 horse? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
NOTE: I have a lot of experience with resin and cloth/glass and good
wood working capabilities/shop and have done stitch and tape too, so I
can take on a more difficult build without much problem.
You're asking for a lot. The whaler hull is pretty complex. You might
want to check out the Diablo or Diablo Grande:
http://www.instantboats.com/diablog.htm
If you have done stitch and tape you are probably already familiar with
the Payson boats. IMO, performance is not the whaler's strong suit but
rather safety and stability derived from whaler's sandwiched foam core
construction. There may be some buildable designs basrd on the
Livingston hulls that would meet your needs. If anyone knows of a
Livingston tack and tape knock-off I would be interested in seeing it.
Tom
Yes, very familiar with Payson and the skiffs, however that is not the
right boat for the job. I need a fast, shallow boat that can be
powered easily or rowed for steerage in slow current. We would use
this boat for single handed fishing in skinny water or at times to get
out and play on the lake, aaaaaaand, it also needs to be useful as a
crabbing skiff which I think it will. I have designed a whaler type
hull of panels. It is 13 feet long and 5 feet wide. It should handle a
good size motor for speed between fishing grounds, and still can be
rowed around in the low water in crabbing season. Our origional
crabbing skiff was Paysons skimmer, still a very fun boat but a little
small for general fun. A 12 foot version would be ideal so I decided
to go 13 and add a tri hull and some pleasing lines. I may start this
week, I am very excited looking at the lines I have developed
(borrowed from pics of many Whalers I have seen) for my new crabbing
skiff. I am just wondering if I should come down to 4 1/2 feet wide
but that is my only problem at this point. I should also note that I
need a bigger fishing boat and looked at Diablo Grande, but have
decided on a John Gardner 16 foot semi dory instead which I hope to do
this fall or as soon as the runabout is done.