A question was asked
about Hartley Designs. The answer applies to the general
discussion about what has changed in plans and designs over the last 50
years and some of the advantages of modern plans.
Richard
Hartley's work as an example of older plans
Hartley was one of the great designers of his time. Many of his boats
are perhaps not great masterpieces, but they are workmanlike (work as
advertised) and his plans set a benchmark for many years.
My feeling too is that his TS16 (the first really popular
trailer sailer) is the transition point for the
performance of modern yachts. It was one of the very first cabin yachts
with a hull drawn more from sailing dinghies, so it had sensational
performance for the time and made a lot of boats that were to come
later possible (Farr, Young, Davidson, Whiting). All these New Zealand
Designers come from the same tradition, but Hartley was the first one
to get commercial success for the concept
However that was 45 years ago.
David
Payne's work as an example of modern plans.
I agree with much of the thread about David Payne's designs. He is a
great designer - nearly all his boats have a "rightness" about their
appearance. and because he has a long small boat racing background they
all work very well. He knows how to get performance without making the
boats hard to sail. His boats will end up being modern
classics, as I hope will some of my own.
The
Construction Differences - lighter/stronger
It is an interesting point to contrast designs from each designer - it
shows some of the changes in technology over the intervening years.
The Hartley hulls are largely self supporting - there are
enough ribs, floors and deckbeams to hold the boat's skin rigidly.
However with David's boats (and many modern designers -
Kirby, Bolger,
Oughtred, Holt and others) much of this additional timber; ribs,
floors,
deckbeams, stringers are eliminated with large savings in cost. The
loads are
carried by the interior fitout of the boat. There is a gridwork of
support from all the furniture bonded directly to the hull.
For example the seat tops support the sides of the hull, the
seat
fronts support the bottom of the hull. The galley structure and berths
all have these stiffening and strengthening effects providing a hugely
strong network of parts.
In a Hartley the furniture can be left out almost entirely
and the
boats will still be strong enough - the furniture is not expected to
make much of a contribution.
The difference is largely in the effectiveness of modern
adhesives -
notably epoxy. It allows any part of the boat to be effectively
mechanically connected to adjacent parts in a structural way.
Reliable Glues - little need for
nails and screws
Hartley relied on his current technology of glues that were not
particularly gap filling which were backed up by lots of screws and
nails.
The modern designers don't use many screws and nails - the
glues are
much more effective than fastenings by a long chalk - many of the
modern boats may use fasteners to hold parts together while the glue
sets up, but then are often removed.
For example fibreglass boats don't use nails and screws -
even where
they use timber for bulkheads or furniture - it is simply fibreglass
taped in place - and the modern epoxy timber boats are put together in
the same way.
Plan Choice:
So what to build?
Hartley has a huge range of plans with few gaps in sizing -
if you want
a 17ft half cabin outboard or inboard - Hartley has a plan for it or
something very close.
It may be hard to find a more modern design with modern
construction that fits in the same gap.
But wherever you can find a modern boat plan that is from one
of the
better of the modern designers (like the names above) it will have
significant savings in timber cost and labour and also be much easier
to build (eg you don't need to notch everything in the interior to fit
over all those ribs, floors and stringers for example).