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NINI |
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| By Herb McLeod - Ottawa, Ontario
- Canada |
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NINI
(click
images to enlarge) |
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It has been many years since I have
had the time or place build a boat. I had been living
in an urban apartment but with the purchase of a cottage
50 km away I am, as they say, back in business. What
we wanted for a new boat was a small motor boat in
which to celebrate the still mornings and evenings
with a cup of coffee or to go for a picnic on the
water.
| What we wanted
for a new boat was a small motor boat in
which to celebrate the still mornings and
evenings with a cup of coffee or to go for
a picnic on the water. |
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Years ago in Messing
About In BOATS (June 15, 1995) there
was a design by Phil Bolger for a duded up flat iron
skiff that he called Lake Launch. This boat was a
planing hull and he specified a 6hp motor. I liked
the ambiance of the boat but was thinking of powering
it with my 2hp Yamaha outboard or with an electric
trolling motor. Thus I used Mr. Bolger’s styling
but drew my own hull lines for a displacement type
hull. I placed 4 inches of rocker into the hull using
the classic Howard Chapelle skiff profile recommendations.
When I view the images of the boat I seem to have
nailed the amount of rocker I wanted for the intended
load in the boat. The photo with Liz and me in the
hull (above) shows the bow just clearing the water.
I know if the bow is buried in a wave it can be associated
with handling problems but our lake is well protected
by 100 meter high hills and is only a kilometre and
a half long. I was looking for a very quiet boat and
my experience with my AF3
sharpie is that when the bow is high above the water
and the boat level, there can be considerable noise
generated by wave slap. If I was to go with the electric
trolling motor and the weight of a couple of batteries
I should probably have had 6 inches of rocker in the
hull.
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The boat
is named Nini after my mother’s
cousin who celebrated her 100 birthday
this summer (2006) in Nice France.
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The stern is not entirely pleasing to
my eye as I find it a bit boxy. If I was to build
this boat again I would place a convex curve in the
surface on the stern decks curving downwards and ending
the deck at a sharp angle with the bottom.
The boat is named Nini after my mother’s cousin
who celebrated her 100 birthday this summer (2006)
in Nice France.
The wicker basket is an interesting idea from a friend
and it works very well. My dog Daisy loves being aboard
the boat and the basket provides a safe perch beside
me that she really seems to enjoy. It also keeps her
secure and out of my way. I have the basket secured
to the boat with a shock cord.
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