by Edson I. Schock
LOA 11', BEAM 4' 6" SAIL AREA 85 SQ. FT.
Every youngster deserves the chance to skipper his own vessel. This one is perfect for a junior sailing program—but you’ll find it hard to keep your hand off the tiller of this easy sailing catboat.
This boat was designed as a beginning sailboat for the younger sailors, or for a simple, easy-tobuild cat for those who want something to knock about in. The hull is a type the author has used in many designs, and has found very satisfactory. These boats are reasonably fast, unusually stable, and handle and balance beautifully. Compared with most boats of their size, they are very hard to upset. The construction has been kept simple but no essential parts have been left out. The sides and bottom are portions of cylinders, and so may be planked with plywood or sheet metal without twisting the material. This makes for easy planking. The side and bottom frames are tied together with proper gussets and there are floor timbers on all frames. Small boats not having these floors and gussets are weak where they should be strong, and have been observed to go to pieces when washed ashore in hurricanes or other bad storms. The boats properly put together stood up to the beating. A cheaper and lighter boat can be built by leaving out some of the structural members but she will not last as long or be as watertight as a well-constructed boat. Using rollers, two people can put one of these boats on a trailer. With a small winch mounted on the front of the trailer, as many are now built, one man can do it alone. This boat would be suitable for a one-design class at a yacht club for its junior sailing program
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