Little Egret A Munroe style sharpie nearing completion

After having written recently about the so-called Humber Yawls, my mind turned to another type which may well provide similar character and utility, but in a boat which is vastly more simple to build.

I was brought up on the shores of Moreton Bay in south-east Queensland, Australia. Moreton Bay is a huge expanse of water protected from the open Pacific Ocean by a line of huge barrier islands - the bay itself being 100 kilometres long and 32 kilometres across at its widest point. The waters of this great waterway are open and deep to the north, but large portions of it, particularly in the southern half, are shallow and protected. As a friend once said to me, "There is a lot of water in Moreton Bay, but it is spread out very thin!" This sort of coastal area is, in my opinion, a magnificent location for dinghy cruising.

Pleasant days on Moreton Bay

 As a child, I learned sailing in Sabot pram sailing dinghies at the Cleveland Yacht Club, and I remember my father pointing out the "Sharpie" which sat on a mooring in front of the house next-door to the club. She didnt mean much to me, being a non-descript flat-bottomed boat of about 24 feet LOA fitted with a very basic cuddy-cabin. But Dad obviously thought highly of her, so I did store the image and the "Sharpie" name away in my memory.

One characteristic of this boat which I did appreciate was that the family of the owner could get her underway and put back to bed on her mooring in no time flat, and they never seemed to be stressed by the operation.

It is now more than fifty years since those days, but I have come to love the sharpie form, and marvel at the reported speed and carrying capacity of those used in the fishery, particularly the oyster fishery, on the east coast of the United States in the late ninteenth and early twentieth centuary.

A New Haven Sharpie, much used for oyster tonging in Chesapeake Bay

Some time back I wrote about the design and initial building stages of a sharpie I designed for a customer who wanted a 19 foot boat similar to one designed by Bill Schwicker in the U.S. The design ended up being very much after the style of Ralph Munroes famous Egret, which was a cross between the hull-form of a sharpie and that of a Bank Dory, and which measured about 28 feet LOA.
You can read one of my posts on the design using this link.

An early drawing of my Little Egret design

An early drawing of my Little Egret design

The owner/builder of this boat has made wonderful progress, despite having to work at his normal job and being forced to carry out his building under a tarp over an outdoor deck. His determination, resourcfulness and quality of work should be an inspiration to those of you who procrastinate!
Here are a few photos of the job, including the almost-finished boat. This is just a very small selec tion of the photos, but you can see a very comprehensive presentation of Johns photos, along with much commentary at this address  http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?139737-Little-Egret-an-Egret-style-day-sailer

Johns strongback under construction. Note his inovative a resourceful use of existing backyard structures!

Construction begins - the bottom panel being cut

Scarphed-together panels of marine plywood being marked out using offsets taken directly from the plans.

An example of determination - the project being protected from rain.

Rain protection for scarphed panels

The stitch-and-glue construction method allows one to mark shapes directly onto the plywood panels without lofting, and as long as the developed panel shapes have been correctly designed, a boat will appear without the need for a station mold or other conventional bracing structure.

Johns first glimpse of a three-dimensional hull!

The addition of prefabricated bulkheads and frames gives shape to the boat, and also refines the rocker as the topside panels are held at the correct flare.

Cleats/deckbeams being glued to the bulkheads. This can be done prior to installing the bulkheads

Birds mouth masts being assembled on Johns fence! An excellent example of lateral thinking!

Casting a lead sinking weight into the lower end of the centreboard

Centreboard at a later stage, sheathed in epoxy/glass, and having had the pivot hole drilled oversize and filled with a reinforced epoxy plug which was cast in place. This was subsequently drilled to take the silicon bronze pivot pin

The very shallow, low aspect-ratio rudder was equipped with end-plates to improve efficiency. The excellent stainless steel shaft and head were devised by John

The rudder can be held at differing depths by moving the tiller attachment point up or down on the shaft

Here it is at the deepest setting

Masking for the bottom paint

Tantalising progress! Decks and coamings in place

Very nicely done floorboards

Floorboards in place, and seat-risers being fitted

Spars being fitted out and coated. Lovely homemade cleats

A big day! Moving the boat out of her coccoon

First opportunity to see the hull shape from above. The balanced ends will hopefully make her a good bar-crosser

John has done a superb job of taking this boat from plans to reality

Launching is not too far away now, and I eagerly await test reports. As soon as anything becomes available Ill put up a post. Remember to look at Johns thread on the Woodenboat Magazine Forum at http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?139737-Little-Egret-an-Egret-style-day-sailer??

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Little Egret Construction Progress

Im sorry that it has been a few weeks since I last wrote a post, but Ive been very busy with a whole range of activities - not just boat related - which have prevented me from sitting down to write. In addition I been feeling a bit blocked for things to write about. It isnt that there is a shortage of subject matter - it is just that depending on mood, I sometimes find it difficult to write in a way that I think is interesting to readers. Ive been writing articles for every issue of a print magazine for the last twelve years, and now for this blog, and I can assure you that it isnt easy!

Anyway, here is a bit of what has been going on: -

Back in late October 2011, I mentioned that I was in the process of designing an "Egret-style" sharpie/dory for John Hockings in Brisbane, Australia. In early December 2011, I reported that John had commenced construction. Since then, John has been making very rapid progress and the boat is looking great. The photos have been taken with a relatively wide-angle lens so the boat looks smaller than she really is in the flesh.

Here is the hull viewed from the stern with gunwales, mast partners, mast steps, and centreboard case fitted. Side deck carlings are being sprung into place, with temporary cross-braces to hold them in against the twisting, bending, and edge-setting forces.

A photo from very early in the construction process which gives a good impression of the hull profile - bow is to the right of the picture.

A view of the interior during the application of a thinned epoxy (Norseal). The photo has been taken from the stern and you can see the mizzen mast location at the aft end of the centreboard case.  The floor timbers (transverse frames on the bottom) will carry floor-boards in the finished boat, allowing passengers to sleep above any bilge water, and to give a nicely textured footing during normal sailing and poling. Note the seat risers which allow positioning of thwarts in many locations.

One topside panel cut and material for the second one waiting to be worked on. The panel shapes are precomputed and dimensioned drawings are supplied with the plans, allowing the boat to be built without any sort of mold or strongback.

View from the bow, with the first undercoat applied. Mast step in the foreground is for the third mast location, which will take either the main mast or the mizzen mast, allowing the boat to be sailed with a single sail if desired.

Another photo of the boat being undercoated, this time viewed from the stern with the main mast partner visible in the background.

This boat is an exciting prospect as far as Im concerned. She will be rugged and yet is an easy project for any capable builder. John has been doing an exceptionally good job of building her and I really look forward to seeing how she handles the rough stuff as well as the thin water for which she is very well adapted.

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Little Egret Launching

I am very excited to report that my Little Egret design, built by John Hockings, has been launched.

For those who dont know about this boat, you can read her history here, and here, and here, and here.

John has done a wonderful job of building his boat, showing that a determined first-timer who reads the correct books, and approaches things in a methodical manner can achieve first-class results. You can read about Johns building journey on his Woodenboat Magazine Forum thread here.

Launching day was overcast, rainy, and almost totally free of a sailing breeze. However, we did get a few short-lived breezes off the edges of passing showers, and were able to experience a little bit of resonable sailing - enough for me to form some opinions about stability and hull-balance. At this stage of the game I am very happy indeed with how the boat performed. In particular, I am delighted about the ergonomics of the internal layout. Here are some random photos: -

John just after arrival at the boat ramp. The rudder appears to be small, but it does comply with the rules-of-thumb regarding required area. However, I have given details for an alternative blade in the plans, which is somewhat larger. We had hoped that the use of end-plates would render this small rudder effective, and so far it seems to be very good. John has incorporated the old-time sharpie trick of being able to lower the entire rudder-post about four inches so as to drop the rudder deeper when clear of shoal water.

The hull-form of Little Egret is a cross between a sharpie and a dory, with a bottom panel wider than a pure dory, and with more flare in the topsides than is common in a sharpie.

Although it was early in the day, John and I indulged ourselves in a celebratory shot of rum and coke before the launching. That is John on the left, and a very nervous me on the right!

Moments after launching, sitting high on her lines as she has no load on-board. You will notice that she is very slightly down by the head, which is what we wanted, because the addition of crew weight should get her sitting level if my calculations are correct.

That is John and me on the very first sail. She proved to be very comfortable, with one person sitting beside the centreboard case and leaning against the forward coaming. The helmsman sits with back braced against the side-deck carling and with feet against the opposite side of the boat. This is a secure and effective way to travel. You can see in this photo that the fore-and-aft trim is just about perfect.

In from the first sail. The wind has dropped out, but we had encountered enough to discover that she sails nicely. That is me giving the thumbs up to my wife who took the photo.

This boat is very lean, and has fine entry lines

With two people aboard, the boat trims with the top of the rudder just below the surface.

John with his wife on launching day. His face tells a story about he feels...

Building plans for Little Egret are complete, but I wont be releasing them until a basic assembly guide has been written.

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