Motorsailerr

This is a very interesting design prepared for a Seattle client who wanted an aluminum motorsailer built as simply as possible. Ivan chose to use a single chine with flat plate conically developed so that there are no compound curves. This makes fabrication easier and cheaper but puts pressure on the designer to not let the geometry take over too much of the job of shaping the hull. This, however, is a great looking hull. The ends are short and this gives it a bit of a pugnacious look, accented by the flattish sheerline. The chine runs right above the DWL, and there is about 10 degrees of deadrise amidships fairing out to around 8 degrees at stern. The topsides are pretty slabby, but that's what you would expect with a single-chine shape. The D/L is a low and probably optimistic 67.7. The prismatic coefficient is a textbook 54.8. This means the volume in the ends of the boat is neither full nor fine. Beam is narrow with an L/B of 4.4.

You have the choice with this design of going with port and starboard daggerboards or a single, centerline daggerboard. The keel is stubby with a board-up draft of only 4 feet. The rudder appears to be a work in progress. It will have to retract too. The rig drawing shows a ketch rig with short, deck-stepped masts and lots of roach on the main and mizzen. The masts are independently stayed and there is provision for a mizzen staysail to be tacked to the aft end of the house. Off the wind this rig will work well but upwind you have the problem of a catboat chasing a sloop. Can you hear that wheezing? That's the sound of the mizzen gasping for clean air. Still, considering that this boat is a motorsailer, it will spend very little time on the wind under sail, anyway, and upwind work will be done with the "iron genny."

The jib will be self-tacking and once again I would not have stopped that track short of the rail especially for a reaching boat. I'd carry it as far outboard as physically possible. The on-deck bowsprit can be angled 20 degrees to weather to help the asymmetrical chute. The SA/D is 21.

The layout is a bit unusual in that there are two staterooms but enough berths to sleep six without even using the saloon settee and dinette. The heads are roomy and have generous shower stalls. There is an inside steering position to starboard in the saloon. Note the handy wet locker next to the companionway. Ivan has given plenty of volume to the engine room, with room to walk around the engine, although headroom will be compromised by the cockpit well.

The deck plan shows minimal side decks and a large cockpit. The deck is raised aft into a quarterdeck, which provides headroom in the aft cabin. (You can call it the poop deck if that makes you happy.) I know Ivan was not too keen on the long line of rectangular windows in the house, preferring something sexier I suspect. But I find the windows as drawn just fine. In a utilitarian way, this is a very good looking boat.

The engine is a Perkins Sabre 215-horsepower diesel. Cruising speed under power will be about 10 knots. Performance under power is important in the Pacific Northwest where we have strong tides and light winds.

Ivan has done a beautiful job preparing these plans. Everything was done on the computer, but that didn't stop the artist in Ivan from coming through loud and clear. This unusual, shoal-draft motorsailer will make a very interesting cruising boat.