Te Build


My shantyboat borrows a lot from the Lisa B Good. I saw Duane Hedley’s write-up in an old online edition of Duckworks Magazine (plans fee at Duckworks.com) and realized how much fun a boat like this could be. It doesn’t follow the plans too much. Te hull is a little deeper


and the framing schedule is increased, though our boat used the same amount of lumber since the floor is lower. (I wanted to drop the weight down lower to handle choppy lake waters and act as a bit of ballasting.) Going off of rough displacement estimates, it weighs somewhere under 6000 lbs. with a little less than 8 inches of draſt. If I did it again I would give it more freeboard, but I do like the heavy hull. (I’m sometimes foolish about going out in waves and wind, getting the front deck washed when the chop builds, but the shantyboat doesn’t get pushed around.) I stretched the hull to 20 feet which gives me a 4.5-foot front


deck, 12-foot cabin, and 3.5-foot rear deck. Te hull has two layers of 14-oz. biaxial cloth. As mentioned, the floor is dropped, giving me 7 feet of headroom. (I tell myself that if I ever get swamped, the extra water in the hull will just add stability. Please don’t correct my thinking error.) Te bathroom is on the starboard side of the rear deck which makes it a pain to get to the back cleat, but keeps things private when you need privacy. I use a 5-gallon bucket composting toilet with a urine diverter, and love it. I cannot remember the spacing on the wall framing—about 24


inches—but it is also heavier than it needs to be so that the siding would have enough attachment to handle freeway winds. The siding is cedar. To keep the walls light despite the framing I used 1.5-inch XPS and only 1/8th-inch ply on the interior. Te roof has 2-inch XPS. Originally I put light fiberglass fabric (about 3.5- oz.) on the outside but I ended up with so many bubbles trying to hang it vertically that I gave up and just put roofing ice and water shield over it to keep rain out on the freeway. (Maybe overkill.) Te roof has 14-oz. cloth covering it. Windows are double-pane house frames. It makes for a well insulated cabin, cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I have two 325-watt residential solar panels on top, to keep a


small fridge going. I have a 20-gallon freshwater tank for the galley. A Cubic Cub woodstove keeps it toasty in the winter. I stitched up some tent canvas that attaches to the front porch area to make up our guestroom. We can keep the whole thing pretty warm even when the temps dip below freezing. If everyone drinks enough beer or tea before bed then there is enough waking in the night to keep the fire stoked—a constant chore because the stove is so small. It’s powered by a 10-hp Suzuki with a high-thrust prop. I can


cruise at 6 mph on flat water, but 5 mph is a more practical speed. At this speed I am getting between 8-10 mpg! Recently I upgraded the intake and ECU to get 20-hp. I don’t notice any difference. I guess displacement speed doesn’t care if you throw more power at it, but I thought the power boost might be helpful in high winds. I expected it to be a nightmare in wind and waves and had been


planning on installing leeboards at some point. Honestly, I’m sur- prised at how well it tracks. Te only time it struggles is when I’m trying to troll at 1.5 mph. At that speed the wind can have it’s way with the steering. But any more speed and it tracks just fine. I’ve been using the shantyboat for two years now and I can honestly say that it has been the most bang for the buck of any boat I’ve ever built. Of course, there are things I’d do differently now, but that’s why we keep building boats. —MK


28 SMALL CRAFT ADVISOR


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