Designs - Dogsbody

This is my stab at drawing a general purpose boat of a kind that I see everywhere. In fact, I have the impression more small outboard boats are in use than any other kind - they're used for fishing, general dockside work, safety boat duties and for just getting out on the water. I imagine this boat will work well with an outboard rated at 7.5-15hp and will have sufficient space and displacement to carry 2-3 people in comfort.

At the time of writing (December 2001), this boat has not been built or tested but I think it will be stable and handy, and rigid when complete. I propose that it should be built in 1/4in marine ply, but 3/8in might be chosen for a boat that expects to have a hard life.

With safety in mind, I have included bouyancy tanks fore and aft under side benches, with storage space in side benches amidships. The rectangular area on the foredeck is intended for the fuel tank.

I propose a build that's a little unusual. The principle is an eggbox construction that starts with a kind of form that ultimately becomes part of the boat. It starts with cutting out the inner sides of the bouyancy tanks, and attaching and gluing an internal batten, and then assembling these together with the in-cockpit frames. Then the flat bottom section, transom and bows are fitted, attached and glued. If the construction sits flat on a flat floor, and the square-cornered flat bottom sits straight on its supports, the builder can be sure of a straight boat.

This is an experimental design by an amateur designer. No claims are made for its performance. The designer accepts no responsibility for any accident or loss that may take place during building or in use. No more than one boat may be built to these drawings without the permission of the designer.

The zip file includes dxf files (these are standard-format CAD drawings), and a .hul file, which can be opened using Gregg Carlson's Chine Hull Developer, which may be downloaded at https://www.carlsondesign.com/ . There is enough material in these drawings to allow a boat to be completed. However, if any genuine builder requires additional detail, they should please contact [email protected] .

Drawings and text copyright Gavin Atkin, Tunbridge Wells, England, December 2001.