Thread: MIK's dayboat launch and scow sailboard

Hello MIK,

I hope you don’t mind: two very interesting boats I came across on your (excellent) Flickr pages:

* Your 23 ft dayboat launch (with pinstriped deck?) – first time I see pictures of this smaller motor cruiser in your range (for sure with this deckhouse)
* Sailfish (1970's design) - scow sailboard with fully battened sail

The first boat I find interesting because it is (relatively) easy to build and extremely low cost (both in terms of building and running) for what it offers. Perfect if you can accept to travel at a moderate pace. In my eyes an extremely sophisticated design because of the very elegant way (i.e. great looks for its simplicity!) it offers much practical use at very low cost. It is a boat that I believe would be most suitable for the rivers, canals and small lakes that we have here in the Netherlands for day trips or weekend outings with a small party to just enjoy the water and the views. I cannot remember this boat ever having been discussed here on your forum.

The second boat strikes me as a the most perfect take-with-you-on-holiday-sailboat for warm summer holiday destinations (in Europe that may mean a nice French or Italian lake!). It is just a sit on top surfboard type of a boat. Because of that I imagine (especially with today’s glues, materials and knowledge) that it can be built very lightly and due to this, combined with its slight width, it must be extremely cartoppable (no trailer necessary at all for such a boat, perhaps just a small take apart beach trolley). Extremely suited to young teens (and middle aged parents who used to windsurf at the same lakes a couple of decades earlier)...

Why has no one ventured in this direction after the seventies?
Is sailing nowadays just focused on either very expensive racing or rather heavy plastic boats that require a trailer for transportation?
In the past people seemed to just want an easy to transport-rig-sail sailboat (or sailboard) for the sheer fun it offered when on holiday or during weekends at the waterfront...

So, could you share with me (us!) your thoughts about these boats (I understand that the first one is your design and that you have raced against the second one as a child)?

Joost