Chebacco thoughts

[Dyf Nurgler]

For a number of years now I've had more than a passing interest in the Phil Bolger designed Chebacco cat yawl.
The Chebacco website seems to be one of the best around and I've certainly lost count of the number of times I've stopped off there for a look. For those not in the know it's at;

http://www.chebacco.com

Have also devoured everything else I can find on the subject including Phil Bolger's book, "Boats With an Open Mind". I also have the sheet ply version plans from HH Payson.
To my mind it's a nice looking boat that seems well designed, the unstayed rig seems well thought out, it's not to difficult to build and very suitable for my needs. But I only seem to read stuff from people who are over the moon about it already. So, before I start making sawdust;

Am I missing something?
What's going to be bad about this boat?
For the record I'm admiring the 25ft lapstrake version.


Dyf Nurgler
(Not my real name)

[Wild Dingo]

Well... "Not your real name" :; ... Ive been wandering around both on the net and in life for some time now and over the years have heard much ado over the chebbaco along with other boats from the design board of Phil Bolger and mate NOT ONCE have I heard a bad thing about that particular design... every report Ive head has been positive :2tsup:

Now on the other hand I have heard bad reports of my other two favorite Bolger designs...
St Valery...(A trailerable water ballasted lugger design) a basturd to build a lot more difficult that even Bolger though, and Ive also heard its a tad sluggish to windward
Birdwatcher... (a long narrow sail/row boat with the decks separated down the centre and windows all along its length) is apparently a buggar to row and hopeless in deeper water than knee deep

Now the above two reports dont in anyway detract from the design themselves but probably reflect more on the person using it...other than St Valery and her build issues which as I understand it even surprised Mr Bolger given the expertize of the initial builder... St Valery still remains firmly at my number 1 got to build list (just gotta rip the wallet out of her highness's hands is all :roll: )

But those comments only reflect a very small minority of owners of the designs and Im sure if you ask at the various forums you will find at least a small few with issues with the Chebacco as well... although I cant recall having seen any for all intents and purposes shes a bloody little ripper of a boat :2tsup:

[Boatmik]

I've seen a number of Chebaccos built over the years - in both ply and lapstrake versions.

I really like the ply version! :-)

It works well in terms of building and works well on the water too.

And dingo - what do you mean that birdwatcher doesn't work in more than knee deep water? Problem with waves? or what? If sluggish upwind and touch in waves I'd be pretty sure that it is a pure stability problem - so more ballast - maybe some water ballast would work well for her? Just talking conceptually here. But I hadn 't heard about the probs.

If you want me to have a look at St Valery (my mum's name BTW) and see if the construction probs can be sorted - just ask man - it might be simple enough.

MIK

[Wild Dingo]

I've seen a number of Chebaccos built over the years - in both ply and lapstrake versions.

I really like the ply version! :-)

It works well in terms of building and works well on the water too.

And dingo - what do you mean that birdwatcher doesn't work in more than knee deep water? Problem with waves? or what? If sluggish upwind and touch in waves I'd be pretty sure that it is a pure stability problem - so more ballast - maybe some water ballast would work well for her? Just talking conceptually here. But I hadn 't heard about the probs.

If you want me to have a look at St Valery (my mum's name BTW) and see if the construction probs can be sorted - just ask man - it might be simple enough.

MIK

Hey there Mik Ive been speaking with some yanks again :roll: and you know how those fellas love to make things harder than they need to be :doh: :D anyway a couple of them reckoned "The thing cant sail for nuts and if it gets into waves its in trouble" its just what these blokes reckoned... hearsay for sure and most times I dont take a lot of notice until I can prove something but it sorta stuck in my mind and when asked it was what came to mind Ive not seen one over here... but my understanding from Bolger is that its for inshore use anyway creeks streams calm lakes not where there are waves or the need for lots of sailing which is why initially it wasnt designed with a sail just the oars... someone tried a sail and it worked so Bolger redrew it with one

As to St Valery... damn I love that boat!! :cool: See me being a romantic sorta knob it just looks friggin stunning and hell rather than having or building a bloody great 50ft Pearl Luggar and have all the extra costs of a mooring etc I could trailer this anywhere!! :2tsup: Im unsure what problems the builder had building it but its in the commentary of the article Ive got it appeared that it was harder than he expected and that he upped the price to the owner accordingly :o ...sectionally it looks easy enough flat bottom slight raising at the stem double bottom for the water ballast maybe Im wrong but the a BLOODY great centreboard WAY up the front could have been a problem but well a centreboard is a centreboard isnt it gentle curves to the sides of the hulls bloody great balwarks the small sail and larger look easy enough... looks a right treat mate... personally if its a bit sluggish then so friggin what? She aint meant to be a speed demon now is she?!.

You mean you want me to copy and send you a copy of the construction plans??? mmm or are you planning a visit? :q Ahem... I gotta buy the things first!! :doh:

See most yanks I talk to have this issue with makin things harder than needs be... or being really pedantic about things to the nnth degree... great people and they do have a hell of a lot of great designers and designs :2tsup: but whew sometimes :roll: you know? :doh:

Anyway Im planning on faxing Phil shortly with a few questions... and hopefully I can convince her highness to just hand over the readies for St Valery without the usual discussion and crisis :roll:

Actually you know I dont read many books... you know like boats with an open mind never seen it nor those 10 20 30 40 50 and 100 woodenboats ones again never seen any of them... I simply look for what I like spending hours realing through masses of designers sites and asking questions on certain boards... Chebacco is a nice wee boat for sure :; personally its just right ACTUALLY!! without the double cat sails the actual hull looks remarkably similar to Iain Ougthreds Prairie Islander! Which I think is a real sweet looking boat :2tsup:

[Dyf Nurgler]

I have to agree with you Mr Dingo, the St Vals is a beautiful boat. Had to reread the magazine article about five times when I first saw it.
It will be a while before any sawdust is created in honour of the Chebacco since I just started work on a Tirrik. I wonder if it's a coincidence that the two boats I like the most seems to have the two best websites on the topic. I could be mistaken on this but the Chebacco website and the crazybird forum website by that Melbourne chap seem about the best around.
Probably wouldn't have the confidence to start on either if it wasn't for these comprehensive sites (including this one) filling in the gaps (ok chasms) in my knowledge. But it got to the point where after reading all the books and checking out various confusing aspects of construction I was confident I could give it a go.

[Boatmik]

Dear Mr Nurgler,

If you are planning to head in the epoxy direction with the glued lap construction it might be worthwhile to have a browse through this material.

http://www.storerboatplans.com/Faq/faqindex.html

MIK

[Dyf Nurgler]

Thanks BoatMik I have extensively consulted your website and found it very interesting and informative. The main reason I prefer the lapstrake Chebacco is that the large chine seems to leap out and poke you in the eye even with the beautiful sheer.
When building model boats it was no problem to stretch or squash or add or remove chines but when spending much larger sums of money it is more prudent to follow the designers directions.
I did read your article in AAB about someone's redesign of the GIS and have to agree he should have consulted. Then the other side is Iain Oughtred who says you can stretch his designs by 10% so I think about doing that to the Chebacco even though I know I shouldn't.

Dyf

[Boatmik]

Howdy Dyf,

My post was a bit ambigious.

I meant that I have seen several built using the ply and the clinker construction.

And both go well.

It sounds like I'm saying the ply version is better.

Not so - it is a great boat however it is built - though I like it best - which is personal of course.

MIK

[Dyf Nurgler]

Have started to appreciate the ply Chebacco more since lofting the lines and noticed that the chine isn't flat but has a bit of a curve in it.
BoatMik, I also read your website articles on scaling up and down boats and realised that I was mistaken to think I could get away with something like that. The strange thing is I remember wondering what to do about things like lengthening the centreboard without thinking the whole thing through. If I had I might have noticed that the number of variables was getting out of control and perhaps there was more to it then meets the eye.
And that's one of the reasons I get other people to design my boats for me.

Dyf