Skin on Frame Shearwater build, Day 3, 4hrs
Today we laminated the two intermediate frames, which is a process you’ve already seen, so I figured why not use this space today to show you what the Shearwater looks like built as designed out of glue lap plywood. This particular Shearwater was built by Bill Wessinger of @wessinger_woodworks, a local artist and craftsman who is definitely worth following.
Bill built this boat quite a few years ago and has since sold it, but he tells me that it was lovely to row, and could carry two people and camping gear in protected waters (without the sail rig) but the free board and the windward sailing abilities left much to be desired in choppy water.
As far as the original intention for this boat, my understanding is that Joel White designed it using a small Viking faering for inspiration, dropping the sheer a bit and adding a touch of modern hull dynamics. If you smooth out the facets, it has an almost parabolic shape underwater, and a fairly short waterline, both of which help to minimize wetted surface, resulting in an easily driven boat.
The Shearwater has a reputation as a nice rowing boat that would probably be better without the slot drag of a dagger board trunk. It’s not really a shape that’s designed to sail, although in ideal conditions it’s quite fast. (I have built a larger one of these before so I can attest to that fact).
The design weight is 150 pounds and Bill told me his version weighed just a little bit more than that. I’m expecting mine will be around 100 to 120 and if I changed the plank on edge, inner and outer keel and stems to a horizontal plank keel I could probably get it down to 90.
It’s a lovely little boat and I’m looking forward to having one, at least for a few months until I sell it. The slightly swedeform shape, extreme flare, short waterline, and generous reserve buoyancy above the waterline is actually the exact same recipe that I used to build my kayaks.
Thank you, Bill for sharing pictures of this boat , and definitely go check out his work @wessinger_woodworks
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