Scoop! - 13' Raidboat named 'Saturday Night Special'

[jwboatdesigns]

I've been asked for a "Raidboat". A single-hander to be built very cheaply from construction ply and alloy pipe in no more than 4 days then sailed in the Texas 200 next year. The crew are Kiwis who want to fly over with full sized patterns, a life-jacket, and a sail each, and build them outside their motels with materials from the local hardware store and fittings from Chuck Lienweber of Duckworks Magazine.

Attached, draft study for "Saturday Night Special". She's 4m long, 1.6m wide, 7.1 sq m sail, about 75 kg dry, no ballast, and good rowing.

I'm not too sure how many of you Brits are keen on Raids but I will be putting the plans on the market when they are finished. Stay tuned here on BBB for more news.



2 May 2010

Here's an update on the way SNS has been shaping up. Please note that I've had some of these pics for a while now but the whole thing was hush hush, so I didn' post 'em. Here they are at last:

Blair, owner and builder of the prototype - that's him in the piccies above, will be taking the unfinished shell of Saturday Night Special home in a week or so, and I figured that seeing as there are no formal plans to guide him I'd cut and fit half the decks to show him what I had in mind. The centercase goes in this afternoon, it fits on the after side of the center frame that you can see.

Remember that this is a quick and dirty boat, designed to be built in a matter of days not weeks, months or years, and Blair is using the cheapest possible plywood and every shortcut that I can show him so she will never be a showpiece. But, she will be light, quite roomy and on some points of sail extremely fast.

Watch this space!


Tuesday, 25 May 2010

Here are some more progress pics on the prototype build by Blair of my Saturday Night Special. Coming along nicely, is she not?

JohnW