Points of view respectfully sought.

I am about to embark on a new project but have a minor dilemma. I have a great deal of respect for some of the designers who take the trouble to reply to questions and help us all with a better understanding.
I have been sailing for about 40 years now and I have a good idea of what I want. My question is... I would like to build a 15/16 foot sailboat with a balanced lug rig and probably a little mizzen to use to keep my head up when I want to fish, or simply drift, and have a cup of coffee.

I live in Mackay, Central Queensland, where there is a lot of relatively sheltered shoal water. I am torn between a fifteen-foot vee shaped hull for which I have the plans...Or a Jim Michalak Mayfly 16, for which I have the plans.

Would anyone like to weigh in with an opinion?
I suppose it comes down to the relative merits of a flat bottom versus a V bottom.
I would be grateful for any opinions...and the reasons for those opinions.
Thank you
Bobbo...

Hey Bobbo,

Thought I'd chime in with my 2c worth to pass the time until the more knowledgeable folks weigh in. I'm quite interested in other opinions on this topic.

In choosing a first boat to build I've done a lot of reading and have seriously considered flat bottomed skiffs as they seem slightly easier options. E.g. designs which I really like include: Bryan's Daisy, Redmond's Flapjack or Bluegill, Atkins' Maude and Eveline, Hylan's crab skiff, Wes Farmer's Badger, Oughtred's (S)pike.

In the end I decided to go for a glued lap with conventional rounded hull. Reasons are:

My understanding is that the flat bottom is poor in chop. In looking at videos of powered skiffs they all look great on mirror calm water but I've seen a few that look unnervingly unstable in what seems very small chop to my eye. Admittedly at low planing speeds. And all seem to agree that the thumping can be unpleasant. The importance of this obviously depends on the typical locations and conditions you boat in.

Somewhere I read Oughtred basically saying that a flat botttom gives 80% of the functionality of a rounded hull at some saving in building effort.

For me a key data point is the lack of flat bottomed boats in the Sydney area - you might look at how many flat bottomed boats you see around your area?

My understanding is that flat bottoms are initially more stable than rounded hulls, but at the last are more unstable so actually more likely to capsize. I.e. to beginner boaties (family and friends etc) they feel less wobbly around the dock, but in tough weather they are not the weapon of choice. I suppose that initial stability would be beneficial sitting at anchor fishing; in that situation I'd be curious how it declines as powerboat wakes and wind chop come into play.

There's various stuff about flat bottom boats becoming more stable loaded up (cod in the Grand Banks dories etc), probably varies across individual designs. I do get the sense that for a given footprint flat bottoms can carry a lot of cargo, hence their use as workhorses around harbours. Not relevant to me, I'm not building a dock and my fish rarely crack the kilo mark ��

Obviously the low draft is a good feature, but I'd have thought there are many round bottomed boats in this size bracket with drafts under 30cm. Depends how shallow your intended water gets I guess ...

Easy planing is one good feature of flat bottoms, indeed most planing powerboats are pretty flat near the transom.

Anyhow those are some of the thoughts that have influenced me. I've put my money where my mouth is - have ordered plans for David Payne's Yellowtail.

Let us know which you go for!

Cheers, Andy

"Mayfly" is easy to look up & guess at its behaviour on the water. There's quite a bit of info on the web on sailing them too.

"a fifteen-foot vee shaped hull" could mean almost anything from a 3ft wide sailing canoe to a 7ft wide cruiser.
More info needed! A scan of layout, profile & sections would be a big help to those here with an eye for these things. :-)

Mackay waters are usually pretty flat. I have spent some time around, is it Imeo ? beach, and it is spectacularly beautiful. My cousin lives there and I was born in Home Hill.

I of course would build a catamaran, or possibly one of Gary Dierking's outriggers for what you want. The outriggers like waapa are incredibly easy and cheap to build and can be as fast or slow as you like, paddle easily, but the big advantage is no heeling. You have essentially a sophisticated raft, stable, spacious, perfect spot for a nap. GD's book sailing outrigger canoes is one of the best boating books I've ever read and I regularly sit up re reading sections just for the fun of it. He is a proper gentleman and very knowledgeable, and not at all fussy when people want to change his designs.

I was also recently made aware of selway fishers hawke which IMO is a properly beautiful little boat.

Gary's blog:

Outrigger Sailing Canoes

The book has offset tables so you can build from it, or you can pay extra for full size plans.

Hawke:

Small Catamaran Dayboats

IMO crying out for a crabclaw rig...