Plywood microcruiser for rivers and lakes – cabin and cockpit fitted into a tiny 8 foot sailboat which sails pretty well – see the video below!
Owning “yacht” – you don´t have to be rich – only little playfully attitude.
Perrtu Korhonen
This is the story of an actual three day trip of Perttu and his nephew in Finland.
Plans $40 from Duckworks and is complete with all details from making the hull to making the sail from a polytarp. I wonder if it qualifies as a tiny house. Maybe a tiny house … boat.
Perttu in Finland built one of my OZ PDRacers (now OZRacer) last year as well as building a Quick Canoe that he built in the snow during the last winter and used for camping and daytrips.
He is an adventurin’ sort of guy.
During this last winter he had a secret project. Most of the Duck community fell over with surprise when he introduced his really nicely resolved Ocean Explorer – an 8ft long cabin boat.
It uses the sail, foils and spars from his OzRacer/OZPDRacer.
It makes a lot of sense for colder climates where it can be hard to find a warm and windless place to sleep.
He’s had it away on a couple of trips – he made this neat video of one of the trips.
I couldn’t decide if it was the most crazy thing or most wonderful thing I had ever seen – but was sure it was great!
Ocean Explorer
Video image can take a moment to load.
Ocean Explorer.
He used the spars, sail and foils from my OzRacer.
So we got together via the net and worked it all out to produce a really good set of plans.
About 80 pages. It includes all the methods to build the hull, centreboard and rudder, make the polytarp sail (though you can use regular sailcloth if you like) and make the spars.
A low cost professionally made dacron/polyester sail designed by Michael Storer is available from Duckworks. It is labelled as the Oz Sail.
Perttu spent hours doing really cool perspective drawings of the construction, I fiddled through my Oz stuff to grab what was needed for his plan. He made some suggestions for the Oz stuff and I made some suggestions for his hull – it is really very simply constructed for a boat with so much surface area.
A nice collaboration despite being about 10,000miles apart. The new shape of the world – or size – or something.
Perttu headed off on the boat for several days with a compact crewmember.
Looking aft in the cabin – adult legs go under the cockpit seats.
There are two very important things with this boat.
One is that the boat is designed to be sailed with the hatch SHUT in all but the best weathers.
Also to make progress upwind in choppy water it is important to the weight of loose gear next to the centrecase in the middle of the boat to help keep the boat on its lines.
Perttu on the building
Last winter was quite busy for me. I lost my sense of realism when my girlfriend was going to Africa for four weeks. I had bought plans for two kayaks and I was focused of building them for both of us. Then Mik´s Quick canoe came on marked and I could not resist buying plans and building one. And then I get the idea of Ocean Explorer and I started to draw sketch of it. I liked it immediately and when Hanna left to Africa I started to build it in our living room – ( I forgot to tell her – now we are repairing our living room… ). oh1 | Flickr – Photo Sharing!
Idea was to make small, cheap and light “yacht looking boat” with good performance. It´s cheap to build, light and sails good – the look of boat is little odd on front view, but I still like it. loma3 | Flickr – Photo Sharing!
In end of last summer I made three days exploring trip with it. Maybe I have lively imagination, but I felt like real sailor- sleeping inside cabin – on boat which I have build by myself – feeling how waves moves the boat… loma2 | Flickr – Photo Sharing!
Yes a real multiday cruise in a tiny and cheap boat. I Launched my boat in Porosalmi Harbour.
I had three days to explore Linnansaari National Park in lake Saimaa Finland. The harbour was in sheltered bay and the wind was behind me. When I sailed on a reach, open lake area winds picked me up and I reefed the sail one step down. It was fun sailing.
I was moving windward and the waves started to grow bigger and bigger. My boat name is iSo (big), but she started to feel small. It was a little scary and exiting at the same time. I started to look for shelter behind the islands and soon I reached a sheltered bay on one small island. I was so focused on sailing and taking photos, that I wasn´t sure in which island it was. I don’t have GPS– with maps there is always possibility to get lost!
In the evening the winds are usually gentler. I had time to make coffee and refit the wind indicator, which had dropped into the cockpit. The bay was only 50m wide and it was a little battle to sail out to open lake.
In the evening the winds were nicer and the sun was shining – not a trouble in the whole world.On one island there were 15 canoes and a group of young germans singing Kumbaya my Lord – I thought I must sailed too far south.
The first night inside the cabin. The boat moves little with waves. I was reading a book and listening to the radio. Nice feeling – dawn comes and I fall into sleep. 12.8. 07:00 – Holiday – Why wake up at 7 o’clock?
09:30 – Stuck in calm. I miss yesterday´s winds and surfs. History knows greater sailors and explorers than me, maybe we still share something common – moments like this? That spirits up my mind and I start reading and let the sail up.
11:00 – Water supply showing alarming low. Sun is burning hot. In these latitudes the sun can be an enemy – am I gonna survive?My boat carries Michael Storer’s lugsail and it picks up even the littlest whisper of wind. I am actually moving slowly. My destination is Linnansaari Island´s north edge. The map says it has a dock for small boats. My boat has berth´s for two – is that dock going to be too small?
11:50 – A bird. Sign of land, binoculars! coconuts – whiskey for all!
12:00 – Back to reality (at least half of reality) – no whiskey for sailors! – Maybe a little in the evening? It´s time for lunch break. Tuna and pasta. (I caught the tuna earlier this morning.) When I moored, the winds started to blow. Luckily they died as soon as they appeared – I had time to eat in peace and take a small nap.
14:15 – In Linnansaari Island small boat’s dock.
My fear was unnecessary. The boat just fit the dock.
I hiked to a cliff which gave a great view of the lake.
17:00 – Moored to rocky island. Coffee break and swimming – feeling free. You don’t have to be rich, (with money) to complete your dreams!16:00 – Nice steady winds – not big, but keeps us moving.
20:45 – Found nice place between two small islands. I took a couple of photos, set up the boom tent and slid into my sleeping bag. Later I watched the sunset through the cabin window.
13:08 – Friday the 13th. Beautiful morning, no clouds and the sun warms nicely. After breakfast I headed back to the harbour where I started. This trip is going to end soon. It´s time to start planning the next one.
Any questions or comments: Plans are $40 and include Perttu’s hull and Michael Storer´s Lug rig, spars, sail design for home sailmaking, and foil shapes.Plans for this baby are available from Duckworks or BoatCraft Pacific and soon all storerboats agents.
