Ply keel stub construction. Turning a slow boat into a quick raceboat by optimising keel rig and hull. The Orange Boat Project: storerboatplans.com

The Fallen Keel – An adventure in keel design.

“My keel has fallen off” – Ray’s voice on the phone. So he dropped his sails and motored home. He asked me to design a new keel that he could build himself. This article goes through the process of turning a deep keeled boat into a competitive shoal shallow draft boat in a way one builder working by themselves can do.

Turning a slow boat into a quick raceboat by optimising keel rig and hull. The Orange Boat Project: storerboatplans.com

From Slug into a quick Swan – The Orange Boat modded keel, rig and hull

The “Orange Boat” was unbelievably heavy and just about fell over if anyone stepped aboard and it is a keeboat! The vendor couldn’t sell it. So Ted bought it cheap and asked me what he could do. So we simplified and modded everything to state of the art but constrained to using “normal” materials to keep the cost down. Would it be competitive with quick trailer sailors, sports boats and the classic Restricted 22 class with their big sails. Seems small, light and simple can be very fast.

Mundoo 3 large solar electric cruising boat.

Example of Solar Electric Real World Use – Liveaboard Boat and Cartop Canoe

How useful are Solar and Electric boats anyhow? The large Solar Electric Mundoo 3 was one of the more interesting projects I’ve been involved in. It was the brainchild of Robert Ayliffe, then at Duck Flat Wooden Boats and Ted Dexter. This liveaboard boat was featured on the cover of WoodenBoat magazine at the time and was a tremendous success for the owners who found it fitted their needs perfectly.

OZ Racer Plans – family sailboats – Two versions and one kit

There are two versions of the OzRacer and one Kit for family sailing, learning to sail or club racing. The Kit by J.O. Woodworks fits the PDRacer rules but carries just about all the OzRacer advantages of Performance, Lightness, Ease of building and that you can build the boat very cheaply and still get first class performance. The plans even show you how to make a proper sail from polytarp at home. All for $20!

Goat Island Skiff - Armstrong Family Sailing San Diego - storerboatplans.com

Goat Island Skiff Boat Plan, Beautiful, Fast, LIght

The finally famous Goat Island Skiff is the lightest and simplest 16ft sailing boat I could come up with. Simple to Build with Modern Performance. She will sail well and handle impeccably at all times with 4 adults and is fastest with one or two aboard. Plans are extremely detailed and there is an active community of builders on Facebook.

Paulownia framed Goat Island Skiff for massive weight savings. Hull around 100lbs. storerboatplans.com

FAQ – Paulownia or Kirri – the “newest” lightweight timber for Boatbuilding.

We first started to see Paulownia becoming available from Plantations in Australia around 2004. Well before the current boom in its use for framing and hulls of dinghies, yachts and other boats. Paulownia is a very lightweight timber from China that provides one way of building lightweight boards and boats. How to overcome its weaknesses and make use of its strengths.