3 Models
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designs by Warren D. Messer - Seattle, Washington - USA
 
If you like to build paper models of boats, you will be glad to know that Mr. Messer has made available a series of PDF files which can be printed and cut out to make scale models. Here are three new ones.

The 9.5 Laura Bay

The Laura Bay is the first of a series of multi-chine boats that I will be posting at Duckworks in my section of the Designers Group. The design came about as the result of work I had spent developing a plywood based boat that could compete with the Lazer, and a hell of a lot cheaper. My Plyzer will be out at the end of summer if all goes well.

I am currently building a Laura now, and will be posting comments and photos of the construction in Duckworks on a bi-weekly basis. The construction has gone very well and I only had to make slight adjustments to three corner points in the plans from constructing the full sized boat. Cutting out the panels only took me about 6 hours with my hand saw and another 8 hours to wire up the hull. I am currently laying out, and fitting the interior components, and recording all the locations and measurements for the final set of plans. I will take the extra time with this hull to fit it out with the sailing option, including laying out and making NACA foil sections for the centerboard and rudder.

Download this file and make the model to follow along as I describe the building of the Laura Bay in the coming weeks.

Nuthatch 10 & 12

Earlier I posted Models for my Nuthatch 8 and Hudson Springs designs. Now in addition to those, I am making the Nuthatch 10 and 12 models available. Click the icons below to download the PDF files.

Nuthatch 10
Nuthatch 12
Laura Bay

Warren D. Messer

I have been around small boats most of my adult life, with a hitch in the Coast Guard, and racing sailboats in the ½ and ¾ ton IOR classes in Puget Sound. I also had a Coronado 15 for several years that I used for trailer sailing in and around the Northwest.

I then got into white water kayaking for about 20 years, with lots of different boats, plus owning a few canoes and sea kayaks along the way. This was followed by the armchair, over the bounding seas, sailor period, which I am currently in. All that reading lead to the debate over hard shell or inflatable for the ship's tender. After seeing the prices and life spans of an inflatable, I woke up in the world of owner built small wooden boats. Then to the question of which side do I stand on, modern or traditional? I went with quick and easy.

The first design was for me, and I wanted something that could be easily repaired or replaced anywhere in the world. So I started searching online, and in lots and lots of books for the perfect design. Seek and you'll wish you hadn't. I wanted a boat that had the lines of the old classics, but not all the work to build just the jig, and then still have to make the boat; or to have the excessive boat weight of traditional plank construction. I wanted simple, light, and strong; and that's stitch and glue. Like Queen Victoria, I was not amused with what I saw being offered and decided to clear my own path through the forest. My degree is in Forest Engineering from the University of Washington and I wanted to apply some of my wood structures education to the process of designing a boat. Light and strong and pleasing to the eye; stitch and glue, and stylish too.

I have a fleet of boats on the drawing boards and coming down the ways, and will be posting them at DuckWorks as soon as they launch.

Thank you
Warren D. Messer

Plans for Warren Messer's plans are available from Duckworksbbs.com

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