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The Melonseed Skiff - Small Boats Magazine 42 rows�� Melonseed Skiff Melonheads Group. The Melonseed Skiff by Rob Thompson. . At Crawford Boat Building we've been building more than a limited number of beautiful boats each year. Since we've been building a reputation for customer satisfaction and quality workmanship. Along with the owner of each boat, we share an enormous amount of pride in the construction and appearance of his or her Melonseed Skiff. We originally introduced the Melonseed as a pure rowboat after studying its historical design, which is a derivative of the famous Jersey Beach Skiff. The Jersey version, being used for a mixture of Rowing Skiff Plans Free Number rowing and sailing as a workboat, has a higher freeboard for dryness under sail and greater load carrying capacity.
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as well as won the category inside of a Rhode Island dory races in 2006.

The boat that caught his eye was a melonseed skiff. The type was developed in the s for waterfowl hunting in the bays of New Jersey. It was an improvement over its predecessor, the sneakbox, and could extend the hunting grounds from the marshes and mud flats to open water where the vertical bow could slip through the chop without taking water over the foredeck as the spoon-bowed sneakbox did.

The drier ride makes the melonseed well suited to sailing for pleasure. With the skiff in its finishing stages, Gus left and Noah set it in the alley, across from the garage shop. Chapelle notes that the melonseeds built for hunting were carvel-planked, believing that lapstrake hulls were too noisy for approaching skittish waterfowl.

The plans for the Barto melonseed include full-sized patterns, often an indication of a project suitable for a beginner, but the build is an intermediate to advanced challenge. Fitting the boatbuilding in between work and home life, he could work only a couple of hours at a time on evenings and weekends. While his progress was slow, it was steady and he found the work engaging. The boat looks as good up close as it does from a distance.

Making good speed in light air with a grown-up Isabel and Noah aboard, the melonseed shows the profile that draws me in no matter how far away I am when I spot it. I think the melonseed would make Melonseed Skiff Plans Free 10 a fine rowing boat. I built a sneakbox to follow the route Nathaniel Bishop followed from to and wrote about in his book, Four Months in a Sneak-Box. My sneakbox rowed well on the Ohio and Lower Mississippi rivers, but on the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico it made for some miserable pulls to windward with the bow slapping against the chop.

I got the molds set up but then stalled and abandoned the project. A loose-footed sail, or lug rig might better accommodate a rowing station. I suspect the early melonseeds had a similar arrangement, with easily removed seating. As for the boom, a topping lift would get it out of the way for rowing while the rig is up. Christopher Cunningham is the editor of Small Boats Magazine.

Do you have a boat with an interesting story? Please email us. We welcome your comments about this article. The melonseed is a beautiful design and was long a contender for my own first build, until a slightly larger design caught my Melonseed Skiff Plans Free Linkedin eye.

That is a lovely article about a beautiful boat. The last photo shows her off to her very best,just breathtaking. Well done Noah she is a delight and thanks to Chris for bringing her to our attention. Having grown up in southern New Jersey, it is a shame that these lovely boats are rarely seen on our skinny waters. While I can see the wish for oars from the author, I can also see why a Melonseed has no need, they are simply the perfect little boat.

Lovely, Noah. A treasure! The lines are beautiful; clean and simple with a sleek profile, low to waterline, and bow and stern that slice gently through the cradling sea. Very, very similar to melonseeds. They had oarlocks and a small bench to sit on. Because the sail used a sprit, it was easy to just roll the sail, sprit and boom up around the mast and start rowing. They still are the best boats to teach kids on and let them sail and play in them for hours.

Great job, Noah. Reefing can be done, but it requires rigging a halyard and longer snotters which complicates the simple setup. In those early years, Crawford decided that the reefpoints were superfluous because the boat is so capable in such a wide range of wind speeds. No one was using them anyway. Scandalizing the sail by dropping the sprit and letting the peak of the sail fold over is useful in a hard chance, but pointing ability will be compromised. The 62 sq ft sail has enough area to provide pleasant sailing in light air.

The spars are Douglas-fir and the trim, tiller, and rudder are all teak. A 10�mph breeze is magic, but the Melonseed will ghost in a whisper and tromp happily to windward throwing spray in I have sailed in mid- to highs with gusts over 30 and the boat took it in stride. The small clam cleat on the tiller can be used to relieve your grip on the sheet, but the sheet should stay in hand in all but the mildest breeze, cleated or not. The full bilges do a good job of resisting heeling once submerged, and the peak of the sail tends to depower as it twists off Melonseed Skiff Plans Free 49 a bit in the bigger puffs.

Solid water creaming alongside the coaming is your cue to ease off. But there is a point of no return, when solid water over the coaming fills the cockpit and you wish you had eased the sheet.

The boat has flotation under the decks and will float upright when swamped. You can leave the sheet unclipped to allow the sail to luff without the chance of it wrapping around the tiller. Be prepared for the foot of the sail to take a swipe at your hat. The boom and the sprit are set on opposite sides to even out their effect on port and starboard tacks. There is no thwart�sitting on a couple of cushions puts me at the right height. Crawford has an optional foot brace that bolts to the floorboards with wing nuts and can be positioned specifically to suit the rower.

Since I keep the boat in the garage and haul it to the water for each sail, ease of trailering is an important consideration. With the spars stowed in the boat alongside the centerboard trunk, the Melonseed makes a neat, streamlined package for towing. Roger Rodibaugh, despite living in landlocked central Indiana, has been sailing for 50 years. He credits the sailboat on top of his first birthday cake with starting it all.

Have you built one that you think other Small Boats Magazine readers would enjoy? Please email us! We welcome your comments about this article. For one of the very best of all the Melonseed videos open this link. Turn up the volume as the music is wonderful, pour a glass of your favorite beverage and watch some beautiful sailing.

Perhaps the best of the small traditional craft for recreation. Few have survived and I suspect that most of the Jersey gunners used the cheaper sneakboxes. The Seaford skiffs of Great South Bay on Long Island seem to have been more common, are shaped about the same but have a built down keel and are centerboarders, instead of the sprung keel and daggerboards of Melonseeds and sneakboxes.

It is truly a blast and we look forward to it every summer � well except this past one. RJR will shy away from this designation, but I believe he has done more to celebrate and promote this wonderful sailing craft than any other, short of Roger Crawford himself. Try one and you may do the same! Great article, RJR! Informative with a beautiful layout. Your wonderful article on the Crawford Melonseed was a cruel reminder that it is still March in New England and still a bit early to get back on the water in my Melonseed!

Instead I went out to the garage to give it an admiring look and a pat on the gunnel. My Melonseed lives in the garage and the daily view has gotten me through many, many winters and fanned the flames of anticipation for the new season. Wishing you an early and long season on the water. Your email address will not be published. Despite its location in the tropics, Palau had its own season of darkness in the fall of The Japanese held the archipelago and had fortified the islands with artillery�.

He described the design as a double wedge, the�. Even if Jon and I were to stop rowing and drift, the 3-mph current would still have us in Albany by sundown, well before our rendezvous to pick up our�. Creating a model of a boat before building it is a common procedure, and one I find very useful.

Spur grommets can be put under loads that would tear out plain grommets and can be set in sailcloth, canvas, leather, webbing, and many other materials. They have two parts:�. The stove is made of aluminum and stainless steel, weighs Atkin had designed the Rescue Minor for plywood construction and a hard-chined hull; White strip-built his version with complex curves instead, and incorporated a distinctive tumblehome stern.

The plywood version�. Rowed solo the boat pulls and accelerates quickly. A second rower�. The Pinguino is a stitch-and-glue plywood sea kayak that comes as a kit from Pygmy Boats in Port Townsend, Washington. An alternate version, the 4PD it has a�. Paul designed a modified version�. Search for:. Courtesy of Crawford Boat Building The spaces under the decks provide ample room for storing gear. Courtesy of Crawford Boat Building The PVC centerboard will lower itself with its own weight; a cord and a clam cleat will control its depth and allow it to retract upon striking an underwater obstruction.

Courtesy of Crawford Boat Building The sheet is lead forward from a block on the rudderhead so the sailor can steer and hold the sheet with one hand. Courtesy of Crawford Boat Building The Melonseed resists heeling well and often allows the sailor to sit on the downwind side in moderate breezes. Bruce Gordon The 62 sq ft sail has enough area to provide pleasant sailing in light air.

Roger Rodibaugh The boom and the sprit are set on opposite sides to even out their effect on port and starboard tacks. Share this article. Join The Conversation We welcome your comments about this article.

Comments 6 For one of the very best of all the Melonseed videos open this link. This is the Way. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. From The Editor Palau Despite its location in the tropics, Palau had its own season of darkness in the fall of Adventures A River Row Even if Jon and I were to stop rowing and drift, the 3-mph current would still have us in Albany by sundown, well before our rendezvous to pick up our�.

Technique Making a Mock-Up Creating a model of a boat before building it is a common procedure, and one I find very useful. Product Reviews Spur Grommets Spur grommets can be put under loads that would tear out plain grommets and can be set in sailcloth, canvas, leather, webbing, and many other materials.

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