New 10' Outboard: The Compass Skiff

9 1/2' LOA | 4'2" beam | 3.5-6hp

We have been prototyping a new boat kit by Clint Chase of Chase Small Craft. It is a beautiful skiff that can be built in 2 days! We will feature the skiff at the March 19-20 Maine Boat Builders Show. The boat assembles using a tab-and-lock feature between bulkheads and the side panels. The results are quick and accurate. Seats are being made this week and we look forward to a launch in min-March.

New Website in Development

Stay tuned for the release of my new website for my kits and plans business

www.Chase-Small-Craft.com

Some Articles on My Boats

Recently two came out, one in Small Boats Monthly and the other on the brand new, UK-based Barnacle Bill. Small Boats covered the Calendar Islands Yawl and Barnacle Bill had a piece by a customer in the UK who has built and avidly rows a Drake 17.

http://smallboatsmonthly.com/article/calendar-islands-yawl/

A Calendar Islands Yawl based in Duluth, MN

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http://www.joomag.com/mag/0021558001447415734

The orogonal Drake 17 rowed by me in one of the Small Reach Regattas

Sorry these may not show much unless you have a subscription. Believe it or not I don't read much boats stuff....but these are very well worth he money. Both rags will require good contact and readership. So far the writing is excellent!

November at the Studio

Progress on mkII Deer Isle Koster

The new KDI kit in CAD file view

Files and plans are in the last week or two of development for the KDI, mkII. I am taking orders for kits and plans. There are four excited builders waiting for them to arrive. Won't you join them!?

Many want to know the changes from MkI. Mainly, the boat has been brought back up to the original 5'10" beam that Bruce drew on the original KDI's. Another change is that the nearly flat garboards and solid wood keel have been replaced by a piece of 3/8" plywood and the first two planks. The joints are glassed and the bottom sheathed (see hatch markes in picture below). This will make building simpler and alow the builder to make a very durable bottom for beaching. The mk II wll be roomier inside and I expect it to have faster off-wind speeds. The specs for the new KDI are below.

KDI SPECS

LOA 14'

BEAM 5'10"

LWL  12'5"

Beam WL 51 1/4"

draft 5"

Displace. 595 lbs

Sail area 97 SF

KDI Design Project

KDI Update

Hull & Deck Built

KDI Mk2: Looks the same for the most part from this perspective. 

You can see different color planks. That foot wide strip will be stitch-and-glue style so that it can be fiberglassed.

Narrow entry makes her fast.

She is just over 5'10" wide not including the rubrails.

Happy September!

Late Summer Update and Announcement

The KDI project is fully funded thanks to a group of enthusiastic sponsors. Thank you! I now have a lot of work to do through October!

Drake Raceboat in perspective (more screenshots below)

In November and December I hope to have funding to further develop the Drake Raceboat. A campaign to get this crowdfunded begins. Three sponsors at $600 each (or six at $300) will get the project funded and you will get a full suite of plans, and preferred status for first kit cutting with a 10% discount. Please contact me at boatkits@gmail.com if interested. The final design brief for the DRB is as follows:

• A fast rowboat in the Drake spirit optimized for single, fixed- or sliding-seat rowing
• Ideal for fitness rowing and the open water racing curcuit 
• 18'3" LOA (kit) stretchable up to 20' by spacing out molds (plans)
• Waterline length almost 17', 27 1/2" waterline beam
• Max beam is set at 4' so boat can be rowed in fixed seat class with 8 1/2' oars
• Sliding seat is an equal option in this boat, the Poseidon rig being the ideal, using sculling length oars
• Oarlocks for sliding seat can be mounted using Shaw and Tenney oarlock brackets or a custom made outrigger that fastens to gunwales (TBD)
• 5 kts speed potential race pace with 6kts in sprints
• Flotation tanks optional in sides or ends, but more likely flotation bags will be used and canvas decks to shed water
• Glued lapstrake construction, 4 strakes per side (4mm), no fiberglass 
• Estimated weight below 75 lbs at kit length
• Numbers from computer model"

Cp = 0.58
Volume Displacement = 306 lbs
Center of Buoyancy = 53.9% aft
Wetted Surface Area = 27.74 sf
Waterline Length = 16' 11 1/2"
Maximum Waterline Beam = 27.6781"
Water Plane Area = 24.5 sf
Center of Floatation = 53% aft
MSA 70.1711896 (+/- 1e-08) square inches

More screenshots from the computer model of the DRB

Design Projects

Sponsorship and Commission Opportunities

2015-16

A new approach to getting projects funded and delivered is through a model sort of like crowdfunding. A design project is any boat design that is either started from scratch or a project where an existing design (that has been built) is reworked or it may be a boat that has been design but not built which needs further development.

The KDI has been crowdfunded for this Fall...a number of sponsors pay into the project and receive the plans for free and a discounted kit. I benefit from having paying work, We all benefit by having the work get done! 

The hull lines for the new KDI sketched out.

Another design project is the Drake Raceboat. It has never been built, but needs sponsorship or a commission to finish the speculative work that I have started...a 3D hull model. Further work to do is to build a hull model,  finish designing the interior, create cutting files and draft the plans. The Drake Race is all about speed and efficiency but retains the seaworthy faering-esque hull.

The Drake Raceboat has been modeled in the computer but that is it until sponsorship comes along.

Another design project is the Caravelle Skiff. It has been built a few times now, but soon a sailing model will be launched and from those sea trials a set of revisions will me made (I will call it a mk2 model) and the plans and kits will be delivered to those who preorder kits. I am looking for a few more preorders. A gent in NYC will cartop his skiff to all sorts of places around LI Sound for sailing and rowing.

Lastly, an example of a scratch design project is my brief detailing what I will likely call the Calendar Daysailer, which is actually the precursor for the sail-and-oar boat the Calendar Islands Yawl. This new boat model will be 90% daysailer with water ballast and a motor well and a lot of space for 4 people to go out sailing. 

Contact me at boatkits@gmail.com