With my de Kerchove 2nd ed. sitting close at hand I found the following:

KNOCKABOUT. 1. A sailing yacht of simple sloop rig consisting of jib and
mainsail. The stay sets up on the stemhead. . . . usually keel boats though
some are centerboarders and could be handled very quickly. The original
knockabout rig was intended for small craft but it has developed and is now,
with some modifiations, used on boats of comparatively largesize, 40 to 100
feet. 2. In the USA applies in a general sense to sailing craft without
bowsprits. thus a fishing schooner so rigged is referred to as a knockabout
schooner.

KNOCKABOUT RIG. A style of rig evolved about 1900 with the object of
abolishing the bowsprit in most small craft. The jib is bent on a stay
which sets up on the stemhead. Used chiefly for yachts and fishing
schooners. Became popular in the New England cod fishing fleet 1905-1910.

No points, I looked it up . . .

M.


"Flying Tadpole" wrote in message
...


DSK wrote:

Jeff Morris wrote:

Sorry, Bart. I think your Dutch friend was yanking your chain!

No, what Bart described would work.



But here's a question: I've heard the term "knockabout" as a type of
small boat
but never saw a formal definition. This morning I was reading a 1943
edition of
Chapman's - how do you think Charles defined them back then?

IIRC a "knockabout" was a boat with no bowsprit, a bit earlier than 1943
though. For
example a number of fishing schooners, without bowsprits, were described
as
"knockabouts." But that was 1920s and earlier, by 1943 then it probably
meant
something else. There were some early (1930s) marconi rigged one-designs
(again, no
bowsprit, but by this time that was the norm rather than the exception)
called
knockabouts.


Chappelle isn't too clear on that IIRC. But here's a direct
reference: Bill DUnne, "The McManuses of Boston" Woodenboat 112
June 1993.

"...The term came from the small racing sailboats built for
yachtsmen during the 1890s for "knocking about" Massachussets
Bay in all kinds of weather". The term was appropriated by Tom
McManus for his first knockabout Banks schooner Helen B. Thomas,
in which the bow was extended to where the bowsprit would have
reached, thus doing away with the widowmaker while still
maintaining the balance of the rig. About 1901.

--
Flying Tadpole

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