Pirate Ship

Hi Chuck,

As we near completion of our first home-built boat (our little two-sheet skiff), my son and I pondered our next project. It is between Michalak’s AF3 (with purchased plans through Duckworks) or my son’s choice – a real-life pirate ship. We designed the ship to be about 11’-6” long so we could get 2 sides out of 3 sheets of ¼” plywood. We’re thinking of 3/8” plywood for the bottom. We used the Hulls program to get a sense of the displacement capability of the hull and we used AutoCAD to design the shear. The craft will easily take 3 medium sized pirates.


our two sheet skiff

Features include a cut-out transom for an electric trolling motor - we’ll need to be able to overtake and plunder the unsuspecting sailors on the small, protected lake my father lives on. We designed a built-in plank off the bow for walking off prisoners – of course it could be used as a jumping board for swimming when the plundering is done. We’ll need to add a side ladder for boarding. For strength, we designed in a few bulkheads – the forward bulkhead would frame a storage treasure locker which would also double as a step to the “plank”. We added a ‘horizontal’ bulkhead around the stern of the ship to strengthen and reduce racking – it also doubles as a mounting surface for a decorative rail system. We’ve planned for an 8’ mast with crows nest and a jolly-roger. As much as I’m itching to start on the AF3, I think the “Barbary Winds” is our next project.

I’ve attached the AutoCAD (Pirate.dwg) and “Hulls” (pirate.hul) datafiles. Any suggestions or questions from your readers are welcome.

Rick Malagodi
Hollis, NH


(click this image only to enlarge)