Drake 19 Design Work Continues

Drake 19 Rowboat Project

Oar-and-Sail Tandem Rowboat and Cruiser with downwind sail

Drake 19 Rowboat with "squgsail" for off-the-wind sailing. Drake is primarily a rowboat (no board; rudder not shown above)

The 19 is essentially a stretched Drake 17 with the hull lines tweaked to support tandem rowing and fast, camp-cruising. The boat is being modeled currently and the hull lines tested next with a quarter scale model. Once the hull form is all set, the interior will be modeled and strongback prepared for kit-building. Im excited about this boat and look forward to setitng up the first builder. I always offer an intro discount for the first builder as they are providing me with the help of documenting the build and providing feedback. If interested in being the first builder, please let me know. You can be experienced or a beginner, but one project of experience is helpful as is some good ole problem solving abilities. The discount is generally 25-30% and the plans are free to the first builder.

Preparing the quarter scale model for the Drake 19. 

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Glass Work Keel Bolts and Sheer

The pictures sort of jump around at this point. Work on the tanks and the interior of the hull alternate and overlay during October and November.



The top of the access stairs became a staging area for all things glass and epoxy.


During drying periods while glassing the integral tanks, Richard worked on securing the existing bulkheads/ frames to the hull. They were currently only being held by the epoxy applied during the strip planking.

In the above picture you can see the fillet in the far bulkhead joint. It is beige in color, due to the wood flour and fumed silica added to the epoxy to thicken and create structural filler. The fillet gives the joint a radius and strength. The glass fabric can not make sharp corners.


The strips of biaxial fiberglass were cut with Janes fabric rotary cutter. Cutting with scissors causes lots of fraying and frustration.

Epoxy was mixed by the small batch and applied with cheap disposable 1" paint brushes.

The glass was applied in 3 layers.

First layer was positioned mostly on the hull, barely onto the bulkhead. The second mostly on the bulkhead, and the third equally across the filleted joint.

On close inspection you can see the fillet with the fabric wetted over it.

The frames were only filleted.


This shows the glassing and filleting and epoxy work while it is drying in the head area.

The cedar is pretty wetted out with a couple coats of epoxy and fillets at the frames.

View of the stem, glassed, wetted, and filleted.

Structural taping was used at places that will be covered by veneers, paint or trim.

The engine supports were reshaped to fit the chosen Beta Marine, and glassed into space. The glass on the hull is sanded smooth. The blue tape is covering and protecting the bronze rod/bolts that are drilled through the rear deadwood.

A bit of head scratching went into design and construction of the quarter berth.

Lots of fitting and scribing....

In and out the bunk goes....

This shows the final quarter berth with access holes in place.

Epoxy work in the engine compartment is completed. This will be partially under the cockpit. Side walls will frame out the remainder of the compartment.

Don Goodspeed came over to assist with drilling the keel bolt holes. They will hold the lead keel in place and it is important to get them as straight as possible.

The extra long bit is very intimidating.

There was worry about it being strong enough to penetrate through the floor frames and the dense deadwood. They were created with many layers of wood and epoxy.

A jig was created at each keel bolt site to help keep the shaft plumb during the drill.

Fingers hold the bit evenly spaced from the jig.

Not much error fore or aft would mean coming out the side of the floor frame.

The bit had to removed and cleaned several times for each hole.

There were a total of twelve holes drilled through the hull of the boat. Every one was a success!

We started playing around with cabinetry placement. This is looking forward into the head compartment. The cardboard cutout will be a bench covering the toilet in the forward storage/workshop/head area.

The starboard settee needs to be adjusted to cover the frame in the middle....

Placement and dimensions being critiqued.....poor Richard. The first-mate is particular!

To shape the sheer from the designed offsets, the sheer needed to be marked at the appropriate height above the DWL (designed waterline) at each station. The mark showing DWL remained visible under the epoxy on the main bulkhead. A ruler was clamped in place and a water level was used to find the correct placement of the sheer on the outside of the hull. The clear tubing (on left) was run out through a keel bolt hole and filled with water.

Here it is hanging out the bottom. The water height at the interior end was held at the right height on the ruler, and the far end was held against the outside of the hull at the correct station, and a pencil mark applied.

A thin batten painted flat black was clamped in place along the pencil marks.

This helped us in visualizing the sheer of the deck, and fairing any humps or dips.

The sheer clamp was then trimmed and the top angled to accommodate the slope of the deck.

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More Interesting Work from the Workshop circa 2004

Around 2004 we were building at least six boats at one time in the old workshop - with only three-and-a-half people on the job. It was a hectic time, and looking back on it, we did some creative stuff. At one point a customer decided that his outboard-powered boat (a Phil Bolger Hope which we were building with a lapstrake hull and a small cuddy cabin) would be better as a diesel in-board, even though she was nearly finished in the outboard configuration.. I quickly designed an inovative skeg arrangement, and we carried out substantial structural modifications to accept the Yanmar 1GM10 deisel.

The nature of the retro-fitted keel/skeg was such that I thought it needed extra support against side loads and so I made a pattern for a cast bronze propeller shaft strut which had an inverted "V" on the upper side of the bearing. Not an original thought, but my first attempt at pattern making, which had been made necessary by the extreme urgency of the situation. The foundryman was a marine specialist (Marine Castings and Manufacturing - still in business) and was (to my surprise) happy with the pattern. Not only did he cast the prop strut, but he cast and machined the propeller, and the water-injected dripless-seal. Everything worked!

Propeller and strut, loose fitted without the proper pads etc - but still looking good

12" x 10" propeller from memory.

Custom-made dripless-seal

Boat on launching night - secret launching before the official one to come the next day!

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Me, looking very relieved after the owner had gone home from the secret launching. Now I could get back to business on the details (and have a quiet beer, I think)

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Launching Day (Official) for the in-board boat

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The outboard boat awaiting the owners arrival for the final inspection.

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on hard work smart sailing and how the two dont belong in the same sentence

How mystery meat just became a whole lot more mysterious, a quick primer on inequality, and nope no problem here...

Theres an opinion held by a great many that sailing is really hard work and judging by the way some people talk and outfit their boats you might even begin to believe it.

I dont.

The thing is, Im the first to admit that Im a pretty lazy guy. Its not so much that Im against hard work in a good cause but hard work for the sake of hard work when its not needful just isnt smart. Or to be a little bit clearer... Seriously dumb.

A well-designed boat should not involve a lot of hard work to sail it and, if youre having a hard time, there is a goodly chance that you have simply set the boat up badly, not sailing the boat correctly, or just doing something stupid.

By all means call me opinionated...

There is an excellent little video over at Off Center Harbor (you really do need to subscribe) showing a guy single handing his schooner in a no-muss-no-fuss-trauma-free fashion that shows just how easy sailing could be when you let the boat do most of the donkey work and keep things simple.

Listening to some Americana raga

So it goes...

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