Re: [bolger] Wooden Boat #167 - Bolger stuff
wmrpage@...writes:
should to got to a step-sharpie shape.
Howard
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> planing with minimal wake on perhaps the aft 3/8 of its length. It isI think he has indicated that if you want a hull fatter than Sneakeasy, you
> the flat-bottomed version. The re-designer/builder has added a
> shallow skeg down the center-line.
>
> I wonder what Bolger would make of this.
>
should to got to a step-sharpie shape.
Howard
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I just received WB #167. It has some Bolger stuff of interest:
1) pp. 58-71, "Britt Brothers, The Pinnacle of Boatbuilding as Art",
by Andrew Britt, is a rather hagiographic article about the author's
forebearers. However, the Britt brothers built a number of
L.F.Herreshoff's designs and the author has corresponded with Bolger
about them. (Bolger worked for a time for L.F.H., if memory serves.)
The author scatters quotations from correspondence with Bolger about
his text. The most intriguing, to my mind, and highly enigmatic,
appears at p. 61 as a caption to a construction photo of the 1927
launch "Dispatch". The caption or side-bar quotes Bolger as writing:
"Quite unlike SIVA and other long and narrow Herreshoff power hull
forms, (Dispatch) was extremely fast and apparently well-behaved for
her type. But she is the very type that Herreshoff categorically
condemned in later life, claiming he had designed DISPATCH 'before he
knew any better'."
No context is provided for the communication. Bolger seems to choose
his words very carefully in his published prose. The quotation seems
to raise a host of issues regarding long and narrow boats, a category
that Bolger has certainly contributed many designs to.
Was SIVA slow and badly-behaved? At 91' L.O.A., it must have been an
expensive disappointment, if true! If DISPATCH was so nice, why did
Herreshoff subsequently repudiate the design?
2) The "Designs" feature in this issue features "Heart of Gold II", "
A Sharpie for River Cruising". The blurb makes no mention of
Bolger's "State" class power sharpies, but it seems clearly derived
from them. (I believe that the designer/builder/owner/live-aboard may
have acknowledged his debt on a web-page). This is a 38'9" X 9' power
sharpie designed to live aboard. The designer, in an attempt to avoid
building a "box" added a very, very small amount of flair forward and
a modest amount of tumblehome aft. The idea has occurred to me before
while on regarding some of Bolger's plans, but I think that Bolger
would regard such added detail as an affectation. In looking at the
small, not very good, photo of the boat, I'm inclined to think that
the additional "shapeliness" tends to unhappily contrast with
the "boxiness" of the cabin and the whole would be more aesthetically
unified if he had stuck to straight sides.
On the other hand, had the hull been configured as a launch, I think
that the added bend in the sides would indeed be an aesthetic
improvement over a right-angle "box".
The boat seems to have a very straight-forward and practical lay out.
I think that you would need to be young, hardy and a bit of a
romantic to live aboard in Fort Myers without A/C and a shower,
however.
3)Finally, in the "Launchings" section, there is a photo of a
shortened (26'6" to 22') and widened (4'3" to 5')"SNEAKEASY", powered
by a 50 HP O/B. Its a nice looking boat, to judge by the picture,
complete with the "silk purse turtle-deck". In the photo it is
planing with minimal wake on perhaps the aft 3/8 of its length. It is
the flat-bottomed version. The re-designer/builder has added a
shallow skeg down the center-line.
I wonder what Bolger would make of this. The original SNEAKEASY was
designed as a low-powered, low-wake boat. However, I believe that he
originally published the cartoon in the old SBJ in response to an
inquiry to a reader who wanted a poor man's "BABY BOOTLEGGER". The
caption to the photo states that the boat "cruises comfortably at 15-
20 knots". WIth so much power on hand, one has to wonder what it does
below 15 knots, and what its top speed is.
Ciao for Niao,
Bill in MN
1) pp. 58-71, "Britt Brothers, The Pinnacle of Boatbuilding as Art",
by Andrew Britt, is a rather hagiographic article about the author's
forebearers. However, the Britt brothers built a number of
L.F.Herreshoff's designs and the author has corresponded with Bolger
about them. (Bolger worked for a time for L.F.H., if memory serves.)
The author scatters quotations from correspondence with Bolger about
his text. The most intriguing, to my mind, and highly enigmatic,
appears at p. 61 as a caption to a construction photo of the 1927
launch "Dispatch". The caption or side-bar quotes Bolger as writing:
"Quite unlike SIVA and other long and narrow Herreshoff power hull
forms, (Dispatch) was extremely fast and apparently well-behaved for
her type. But she is the very type that Herreshoff categorically
condemned in later life, claiming he had designed DISPATCH 'before he
knew any better'."
No context is provided for the communication. Bolger seems to choose
his words very carefully in his published prose. The quotation seems
to raise a host of issues regarding long and narrow boats, a category
that Bolger has certainly contributed many designs to.
Was SIVA slow and badly-behaved? At 91' L.O.A., it must have been an
expensive disappointment, if true! If DISPATCH was so nice, why did
Herreshoff subsequently repudiate the design?
2) The "Designs" feature in this issue features "Heart of Gold II", "
A Sharpie for River Cruising". The blurb makes no mention of
Bolger's "State" class power sharpies, but it seems clearly derived
from them. (I believe that the designer/builder/owner/live-aboard may
have acknowledged his debt on a web-page). This is a 38'9" X 9' power
sharpie designed to live aboard. The designer, in an attempt to avoid
building a "box" added a very, very small amount of flair forward and
a modest amount of tumblehome aft. The idea has occurred to me before
while on regarding some of Bolger's plans, but I think that Bolger
would regard such added detail as an affectation. In looking at the
small, not very good, photo of the boat, I'm inclined to think that
the additional "shapeliness" tends to unhappily contrast with
the "boxiness" of the cabin and the whole would be more aesthetically
unified if he had stuck to straight sides.
On the other hand, had the hull been configured as a launch, I think
that the added bend in the sides would indeed be an aesthetic
improvement over a right-angle "box".
The boat seems to have a very straight-forward and practical lay out.
I think that you would need to be young, hardy and a bit of a
romantic to live aboard in Fort Myers without A/C and a shower,
however.
3)Finally, in the "Launchings" section, there is a photo of a
shortened (26'6" to 22') and widened (4'3" to 5')"SNEAKEASY", powered
by a 50 HP O/B. Its a nice looking boat, to judge by the picture,
complete with the "silk purse turtle-deck". In the photo it is
planing with minimal wake on perhaps the aft 3/8 of its length. It is
the flat-bottomed version. The re-designer/builder has added a
shallow skeg down the center-line.
I wonder what Bolger would make of this. The original SNEAKEASY was
designed as a low-powered, low-wake boat. However, I believe that he
originally published the cartoon in the old SBJ in response to an
inquiry to a reader who wanted a poor man's "BABY BOOTLEGGER". The
caption to the photo states that the boat "cruises comfortably at 15-
20 knots". WIth so much power on hand, one has to wonder what it does
below 15 knots, and what its top speed is.
Ciao for Niao,
Bill in MN