Dockyard Projects, or, Anything is Possible

It's true - the Good Idea Fairy is making the rounds.

Tawk amongst yawselfs.  Here, I'll give you a tawpic:

1.  Ship's Boats

Monomoy No. 1 is safe in the hands of the Youth Virginia Regiment and we'll be helping to make her seaworthy this year.  [Throws gauntlet]

That said, the new and rapidly re-forming Dockyard nucleus is also brainstorming the ways and means to produce cutters and/or launches.  I use plural here because we still remember that one boat under oars ain't as cool as two, and the coolness factor increases a whole order of magnitude with each added.  Besides, if we have to go to all the trouble of lofting and making frames for a boat, they might as well get used a few times.

We have a good base to dream and build from.  One of the most prized books on my shelf, an original copy of Standard Designs for Boats of the United States Navy, details the design and construction of boats but detailed drawings, specifications, measurements etc.  I've scanned many pertinent chapters and uploaded them here.  Much of the old Dockyard library is still intact (sadly not all) , along with several crates of rolled drawings.

I have officially entered the obsession phase with the 28-foot cutter.  Behold:

2.  Ships in Scale

Inspired by the old Mini-Hornet, I've been dreaming of these for at least a dozen years.  In quarter scale, a large brig or sloop would be about 25-26 feet long on deck.  Small frigates, about 35 to 40 feet.  Crew seated inside would only be really visible from the neck up, and frankly at normal distances on the water would very much resemble their real life counterparts at a tiny fraction of the cost, complexity, and difficulty.  The guns would ostensibly be breech-loading and utilize shotgun blanks, like signal cannons.  For ease of movement they'd probably be fitted with auxiliary engines, like most sailboats.

Six months ago I sat down and started working numbers. They are possible.  Safe? Not really - they'll have to be sailed by highly trained crews and restricted to very sheltered waters.  But the sailing characteristics are pretty good - at least in the computer and on paper.  It would be a pretty steep learning curve, but the possibility of two of these duking it out at HarborFest is undeniably thrilling.

3.  A Jeffersonian Gunboat

Probably not at full-scale, but even at 3/4 scale a gunboat would be eminently impressive, but also practical for our output capabilities.  With her bulk she'd need an auxiliary engine to get her in and out of tight spots on demand.  And because we'd be approximating a real vessel (albeit a Lilliputian one) she could mount some seriously heavy artillery - 18 pdrs anyone?  She'd have to live in the water full-time, but her shoal draft means we would have plenty of regular storage options, like Scott's Creek.

Okay, enough for now.  Go discuss.

NNNN