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Camp Cruiser
design by Paul Butler
www.butlerprojects.com/
This boat began as a prototype for my annual Outdoor Life magazine boat project, but after discussion we decided it was too fat and complex for what we had in mind, and the boat was sold to a friend, with the stipulation that I fit it out as a custom camp cruiser before it came out of the shop. The hull shape is a downsized version of some big river dories I did for commercial service, and the buyer wanted a minimal size hull that would handle some open water and could be dragged or winched up on a beach by one
person. He wanted a lightweight hull, and enclosed six foot long "sleeping
pod" that could be heated in cold weather.
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(click images to enlarge) |
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This boat started out as a primarily rowing craft, then the buyer added a small sprit sail rig and finally a motor well. The hull weighed less than 200 pounds before we added the motor well, which included liberal use of epoxy and fiberglass cloth on exterior surfaces, watertight storage and flotation compartments throughout, and two eight foot long twin keels for directional stability. The result of difficult choices and compromise in small boats such as this is obvious, as the efficiency of either sailing or motoring in a dory hull form may be questionable and it may do none of these things markedly well. However, the boat has packed a lot into a package less than 14 feet long, and promises to be lots of fun for overnighting and short trips on the water. Detailed building plans will soon be available from butlerprojects.com
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