another design in the same vein...

Yann Quenet's Skrowl 900 is something of a TARDIS when it comes to the most livability and comfort in a minimal envelope (just under 30-feet) shoal draft world cruiser.

Pretty much everything I want in my next boat.
 

Small & simple...

Yann Quenet shows us how it's done...

Kinda makes all sorts of sense.

and because simple really is simple...

Over at TriloBoat Talk, Dave Z has a must read post that anyone contemplating building or rehabbing a cruising boat should read...

I'll wait.

I'll go against the prevailing wisdom and point out that it's really pretty easy to build or rehab a boat and well within the abilities of anyone who can chew gum and walk at the same time. Really it's all simple DIY kind of stuff. Just a whole lot of it.

The problems most people run into are self-induced of the making-a-simple-thing-complicated sort.

Take this boat for example...

Tad Robert's Laura Cove 28

Or, this one...

Yann Quenet's SKROWL 900

And then there's this one...

Dave Z's TriloBoat

They are all pretty cool boats and should not cost you any more than $15K to build or take any longer than six months of fairly simple but industrious work. All you have to do is follow the plans and simple directions.

The only reason it would cost you more or take longer would be self-inflicted and has nothing to do with the designs, boatbuilding, or the relative weight of air in your chosen location.

A simple boat, simple skill set, and the ability to complete simple tasks in a timely manner is all you need.

The only thing holding you back is, well, you...

Big Frelling Skrowl...

Yes, a thirty foot Skrowl...

"Un bateau de 9m pour l’habitabilité d’un 11m, les performances d’un 10m, le coût d’un 8m et le temps de construction d’un 7m..."--- Yann Quenet

Some good news...

Did you know you can now buy plans for the Skrowl and other neat designs from the Yann Quenet stable?

You still here?

So, what about that Tad Robert's scow cat schooner?

Here's a glimpse of the interior accommodation...

What Tad has to say about it...

From the transom, four feet of cockpit with outboard well in the sole. Storage lockers port and starboard under the seats, each one is 24 cubic feet. A large locker under the forward cockpit sole, for gas cans, spare outboard, crab trap, other messy crap.

Through the hatch, down three steps, first section is 4' fore and aft. Head to starboard, navigation table/office over huge ice box to port. Next section is 3.33', galley counter port and starboard, storage under. Heater set into/under the counter on starboard side. Next section 6.67', seat/berth port and starboard, table between, shelves behind. Next forward, 5' fore and aft, full width of the boat, double berth. Watertight bulkhead with 120 cubic feet of storage in the bow.

Daggerboards will be vertical outboard of the settees. Centerboards can be a larger one forward of the mainmast under the table and a small trim board in the cockpit sole. Or a larger board aft the mainmast (in the way) with a small one forward under the berth.

Hopefully more on this boat sooner rather than later.

and somewhere progress is being made...

Like a lot of folks I've been keeping a weather eye on the progress being made on the Skrowl 4.34...

For instance, I know for a fact Dave Z has had something of a eureka moment when he came across the design and, I expect, it's going to be an influence on future Trilo boats...

As for me, I'm less interested in the construction and design of the hull and just waiting for how the continued evolution and refinement of  Yann Quenet's take on the balanced lug goes. It's pretty obvious to me that at last someone is on the right track on bringing the balanced lug into the current century. About time too...

if it was simple everybody would be doing it...

Here's a simple boat. It's a scow and it makes quite a bit of sense...

Designed by Reuel Parker it's a lot of bang for the buck and a very comfortable floating home... What's not to like?

Everything is simple, it's easily put together, and as boats go, is not going to break the bank doing it. Parker has spec'd out mostly cheap lumberyard materials (form-ply and construction grade lumber), a simple affordable rig, and auxiliary power is provided by a simple outboard motor.

Someone with enough budget to buy the materials in one lump and two or three months to build full time would have a very nice boat when the dust settled..

Simple.

For more info on how you'd actually build such a beast Reuel Parker's "The New Cold-Molded Boatbuilding" will tell you everything you need to know...

SCOW just may be the new black...

Speaking of scows...

Dave Z has some thoughts on the subject and a friend in France seems to have a cunning plan!

Two scows to keep an eye on...

For those who don't think a boat can be built quickly, you might want to check out the small cruising scow currently being built by Yann Quenet and his ongoing photo coverage of the process...

Of course, for our purposes Yann's SKROWL is too small for our VolksCruiser purpose but it would certainly scale up nicely and an 8 meter version would not take very much longer to build all things considered.

Speaking of scaled up scows we're all waiting on some new glimpses of Tad Roberts upscaled Harry or H38...

Cool stuff...

there goes the neighborhood...

As everyone knows (I do go on don't I), I want to build a shoal draft modern scow of the VolksCruiser sort of easily built, adaptable, and affordable to folks of the blue collar sort...

You know the sort of people who actually work for a living!

The sort of thing that rich yachty type would turn their noses up in outrage and lock their daughters up because anyone in a scow, schooner or otherwise, would threaten the status quo.

Of course, now that the Mini was slam dunked by a scow and a rich dude is currently building a TransPac-beater scow, all of a sudden scows are starting to get hip...

You might want to check out the thinking behind these babies! The good news is that all of the uber-rich scow penciling I'm seeing are not shoal draft so there is still hope for the VolkCruiser scow concept... But, some more about that later!