Pirate Ship
Hi Chuck,
As we near completion of our first home-built
boat (our little two-sheet skiff), my son and I pondered our
next project. It is between Michalak’s AF3
(with purchased plans through Duckworks) or my son’s choice
– a real-life pirate ship. We designed the ship to be
about 11’-6” long so we could get 2 sides out of
3 sheets of ¼” plywood. We’re thinking of
3/8” plywood for the bottom. We used the Hulls program
to get a sense of the displacement capability of the hull and
we used AutoCAD to design the shear. The craft will easily take
3 medium sized pirates.
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our two sheet skiff
Features include a cut-out transom for an electric
trolling motor - we’ll need to be able to overtake and
plunder the unsuspecting sailors on the small, protected lake
my father lives on. We designed a built-in plank off the bow
for walking off prisoners – of course it could be used
as a jumping board for swimming when the plundering is done.
We’ll need to add a side ladder for boarding. For strength,
we designed in a few bulkheads – the forward bulkhead
would frame a storage treasure locker which would also double
as a step to the “plank”. We added a ‘horizontal’
bulkhead around the stern of the ship to strengthen and reduce
racking – it also doubles as a mounting surface for a
decorative rail system. We’ve planned for an 8’
mast with crows nest and a jolly-roger. As much as I’m
itching to start on the AF3, I think the “Barbary Winds”
is our next project.
I’ve attached the AutoCAD (Pirate.dwg)
and “Hulls” (pirate.hul)
datafiles. Any suggestions or questions from your readers are
welcome.
Rick Malagodi
Hollis, NH
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