A Playboat
A playboat
A Playboat
I made this boat for my wife Joan who wanted a light weight boat that she could carry herself. I decided to do a Robert Morris inspired play boat which in turn was inspired by Arctic retrieval kayaks. Overall length of the boat is ten feet, beam is 24 inches and weight is 24 pounds.
At 24 pounds, the average paddler can lift this boat with one hand.
Construction
Construction is typical skin on frame starting with the deck followed by ribs and stringers. I spaced the ribs 4 inches on center, overkill no doubt. Spacing them 6 inches on center would have been fine and saved some weight.
Top view of the frame. The number of deck beams forward is probably excessive and could be reduced by at least one for some weight savings. For one thing, I put in two beams for foot rests, one spaced for Joan, and one for myself.
Bottom view of the frame. Ribs are spaced 4 inches on center though 6 would be adequate.
Performance
The boat reaches hull speed very quickly, but on the other hand, it doesn't take much to get it there. Because of the light weight, the boat drives very easily. Lean back and the boat spins on a dime. Tracking is not good obviously but on the other hand, paddling this boat straight is not a problem either. Joan however, did not like having to work on keeping the boat going straight. A little more keel would probably improve tracking for those that would be willing to give up maneuberability.For someone my size, the hull could also be a little deeper aft for conventional paddling where you would want the back deck to be above water.
The short boat quickly reaches hull speed as can be seen here with the boat sitting in the trough of its own bow wave.
At 190 pounds, I am a little heavy for this boat. Even with a little layback, the stern goes under water.