Nutmeg and Madrigal
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Nutmeg is designed as an 8ft tender to be used primarily under oars with occasional help from an outboard; Madrigal has the same lines apart from a deeper transom with flatter buttocks for more frequent outboard use, at the expense of ease of rowing; neither is a pure power boat, nor a planing boat. Both are very flat floored with a hard turn to the bilge for stability, but the moderate beam and rounded sections, as well as the strongly raked bow, ensure that they are easily driven. Planking is from a wide keel plank with an additional 7 planks each side, carvel fashion, stitched seam, with the planks carefully lined off to be aesthetically pleasing - the measurements for the outline of each plank are given as well as for the stations; full -size half section templates for the main stations and bow and stern transom are available as well if required. Limited built-in buoyancy is provided under the fore and aft fore thwart and in the stern sheets. Glued clinker construction could be used following the lined off stations, and the measurements for the expanded internal bow board framing are given on one of the sheets. The plank layout for Nutmeg is detailed for setting out on two 8 x 4 sheets of 6 mm ply - or 5 mm if glassing rather than taping the outside - as well as the thwart and tank layout; a keyed construction sheet is supplied for ease of use. Only the offsets and expanded plank dimensions are given for the Madrigal as the other details are the same. Offsets and plank expansions for 9, 11 and 13 foot versions are also available. Have a look at the Wren praam for an insight into the general appearance of these designs. |
Below is the 11 foot version of Nutmeg, now renamed Spice 11 to avoid confusion. The plans are on 2 A1 sheets.
Keyed construction notes and offsets are on 6 A4 sheets with an outline building procedure covering an additional 8 sheets. Full size half mould sections on an AO sheet.
As can be seen, the Spice has straight, flat floors, a firm rounded bilge with gently flaring sides which, combined with the very moderate beam and long waterline, ensure an easily driven, dry, stable dinghy. The width is carried towards the bow but the bow transom is a narrow ''u' shape low down to provide buoyancy without bringing her up short in waves. Too many praam dinghies seem to be reverting to bad characteristics in design simply to provide an easier build, but at what cost: crank dinghies with cut-away bilges, weak bows with little bouyancy for any reasonably sized adult - or with so much cartoonish freeboard to regain some measure of buoyancy that the bow will catch the wind and blow off in any decent breeze - and sterns more suitable for larger fine-lined rowing skiffs than small burdensome pulling craft. To compound the folly, these characteristics are even presented as the ideal to be imitated.
The idea that a praam dinghy does not have to be narrow bowed with weak sections to perform well is a lesson repeatedly forgotten. Even the 'racing tender' sketch in one of L F Herreshoff books shows a wide bow with good reserve buoyancy - and this English design particularly impressed him with its abiliy in rough water. In around the late 1950's or early 1960's, the British yachting magazine 'Yachting World' sponsored 7ft 8 and 9 ft praam dinghy designs in part at least because of the poor characteristics of many of the then current designs, the 9 footer in particular though no charmer being designed to allow real work as a tender rather than as a pretty toy piece to be admired in a protected anchorage. Of course, the merit of ultra full bows in rather small rowing/sailing craft other than praams was illustrated even earlier by the Fairy built Duckling designed by Uffa Fox in the UK and the 'Merron' dinghy by Arthur C Robb in the USA in the Forties.
The Spice is an attractive and straight-forward design to build, with good performance and stability on the water, as well as having built-in buoyancy as standard. A sailing rig is to be added to the plans package.
Pdf plan detail is here.
td@campionboats.co.uk
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