skerry sailboat

Small Craft Advisor

Boat Review: CLC Skerry

This 15-footer is fun, functional, and easy to build.

Small, simple-to-build boat designs—the type most likely to be tackled by a beginner—rarely end up offering the on-the-water performance and virtues necessary to actually satisfy their builders. While there’s potential for these rudimentary boats to be a gateway to more building and sailing, many don’t serve any realistic waterborne need and end up being used once or twice and unceremoniously decommissioned. The “family skiffs,” once so full of promise, end up as garden art, full of sand.

The trick then—and it’s much harder than it looks—is to design a small, simple boat that offers some of the advantages, performance, and versatility of larger, more complex designs. The goal is a “big” little boat. And if it can somehow be a handsome-looking craft, so much the better.

One of the rare boats we’ve seen that appears to tick these boxes is the Skerry , designed by John C. Harris at Chesapeake Light Craft. Sold both as plans and in kit form, the Skerry has proven immensely popular since its release in 2002.

“About 600 have been built from kits,” Harris says. “The number built from plans is harder to pin down, but there must be a bunch. These aren’t kayak-kit numbers, but for a small sailboat that’s not a white fiberglass sloop, it’s an impressive tally.”

What first caught our attention was her pleasant appearance which, while not reminiscent of a particular traditional boat, seemed somehow rooted to history. Harris says Skerry combines elements of traditional working craft of the British Isles and Scandinavia, with a little bit of American Swampscott Dory thrown in.

“The starting point for the design was in fact a peapod,” Harris says, “and the early prototypes had more burdensome lines. But I realized at once that the essential character of a true peapod is, above all, its enormous weight. Which of course isn’t consonant with a mail-order boat kit.” Knowing a stitch-and-glue Okoume plywood boat built to these lines was going to be light, Harris went the opposite direction, looking more closely at Scandinavian small craft for inspiration.

As for the final product, the designer is delighted. “I was startled by how well the boat handled both as a sailboat and as a rowboat.” Harris says. “It’s tricky and rare to combine those qualities.” He’s quick to acknowledge, though, that none of the individual design elements were particularly original. “I wish I could credit my genius as a boat designer,” he says, “but all I really did was collect a grab-bag of features long known to work well: a narrow waterline to make her easily-driven, flaring sharply to a broad beam up at the rail for solid secondary stability. The boat can be driven fast without much sail area, and you rarely hear of these being capsized. The flare makes her dry in chop. It’s a very forgiving sailboat but fast enough to keep the dinghy-racers happy. And of course you can row it all day.”

We asked Harris if there was anything he’d do differently or anything that came to surprise him about Skerry.

“Among the critiques of the boat is that it has a rather spare fit-out. The interior, for example, is simple bordering on austere. Serious builders who look forward to laminating frames, fitting thwart knees and assembling spacered inwales are apt to be disappointed. But the modest parts-count was a deliberate design choice, and in fact probably explains the boat’s success.”

The current base Skerry kit—which includes computer-cut hull parts in Okoume, Spanish cedar rubrails, Sapele breast hooks, the daggerboard trunk assembly, an epoxy kit, fiberglass for the hull, one pair of bronze oarlocks and sockets, and a spiral-bound assembly manual—sells for $1,425. A sailing kit is an additional $1,269.

“More importantly,” Harris says, “the Skerry is quick and easy to build, so amateurs are likely to make it all the way through to completion.” And whether it’s the French fleet of 50 Skerries gathering for their own messabouts or Skerries entering the Watertribe races, these boats are getting out on the water for serious use. All the more impressive when you consider that at 95 pounds, Skerry, as John Harris points out, weighs less than some German Shepherds.

We were pleased to get a chance to row, sail and review a well-built Skerry with owner Jonathan Patton.

PERFORMANCE:

“Moves nicely even in light air.” Jimmy Vitale , Victory

“The Skerry is a fun boat to sail. It gets me where I want to go. That said, it does not point into the wind well.... it goes back to that sprit sail. I suspect the other rigs offered would perform better.” Steven Roberts

“Fast enough! It reaches hull speed, then maxes out. Fine for my needs, as a recreational cruiser. Points well, not as well as a main-and-jib rig, but does well. It sails like a large boat. To tack, you have to maintain forward speed. The rudder is totally effective, but not to ‘horse’ the boat around if you run out of speed tacking, like in a Laser or small dinghy.” Dave Barton, 2014 Tritone Substitution

“It rows easily and, being 72 years old, I have no problem maintaining a steady pace. Under sail the boat moves in very light air.” Henry Wing

We met Jonathan here in Washington, at Marrowstone Island’s Mystery Bay, where he’d already offloaded his Skerry and set it down on a portable dolly-cart trailer. He wanted us to have the “complete experience,” so we walked the boat down the ramp ourselves, launched it, removed the strapped-on dolly trailer, and pulled the boat over to the adjacent beach. Simple.

Next we grabbed the oars, slid the oarlocks into the center sockets (Skerry is designed with two rowing stations) and headed toward open water. The svelte Skerry slipped along effortlessly. Movement was so smooth and it carried so well we decided she’s a boat you might actually choose to take for a row, as opposed to merely acting as a secondary propulsion option. We weren’t surprised to discover later that owners laud her rowing prowess—with a few mentioning even having performed well in rowing races.

After returning to shore it was time to rig Skerry for sailing. We stabbed the lightweight mast into the mast partners and attached and hoisted the cream-colored lugsail Jonathan had ordered from Duckworks. There’s a single halyard to raise sail, a downhaul, and one sheet—this simple and effective rig is forgiving both in terms of setup and handling under sail.

Pushing away from shore with our foot—you can do this sort of thing on a small boat—we sheeted in and sailed from the shallow channel until it was deep enough to drop the daggerboard.

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Skerry by Chesapeake Light Craft

15-foot double-ender - fast rowing and sailing dinghy.

URL: http://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/boat-plans/sailboat-plans/skerry-rowing-sailing-dinghy-kit.html

Description:

Easy to build, easy to row, and easy to sail – the Skerry is a truly versatile boat, and a pretty one, too.

The Skerry design combines elements of traditional working craft of the British Isles and Scandinavia, with a little bit of American Swampscott Dory thrown in. The blend of historical antecedents yields excellent performance under sail or oar, along with good looks and ease of construction in plywood. This John C. Harris design fuses excellent rowing and sailing qualities into one attractive craft. Sail when there's wind, row when there's not. You'll cover the miles either way.

It’s an ideal first boatbuilding project, and a good boat in which to learn to sail or row. The Skerry will take you for a relaxing afternoon sail, or it has the capacity and performance to go "beachcruising" - sailing or rowing by day and pulling up on a secluded beach each evening to camp. The Skerry ’s feather-light weight and shallow draft mean that you can poke into quiet waters, pull the boat over a sandbar, and explore that hidden cove.

"This Skerry is a beautiful boat... There is not an ugly line on this boat. The sheer is beautiful and accented by the lines of the chines. The chines add interest and eye candy to an already appealing boat." - Sailing, June 2003

The flaring sides make the Skerry stable and dry under sail. The stock sprit rig was chosen because it's easy to set up and handle, powerful for its size, and stows inside the hull for transport. Windward performance is excellent. The boom is out of the way of the crew—no bonked heads—and the boat can be rowed with the sail up. This is such an important and practical feature for small boat handling that it’s bizarre not to find it in more smallcraft. Under oars, the Skerry has a long, easy glide and excellent tracking. Two rowing positions permit the Skerry to be rowed with one, two, or three adults on board.

Ultralight weight - about a hundred pounds - also means the Skerry is easy to handle ashore. Given a heavier car, good quality roof racks, and two average adults, the Skerry can be cartopped with ease. Or, if you use the boat by yourself most of the time, the lightest, simplest boat trailer or dolly will work.

The Skerry is a plywood-epoxy composite boat, assembled using Chesapeake Light Craft’s exclusive LapStitch technique. The sides are 6mm Okoume, while the bottom is 9mm, sheathed with fiberglass for those hard beach landings. The interior includes 9mm okoume frames and sealed air tanks at the bow and stern for buoyancy. The matrix of high-quality plywood and marine epoxy allows great strength and a glossy finish. To build a Skerry , all you need is a pair of sawhorses and a warm place for a shop. No mold, no lofting, and no odd tools beyond a couple of sharp planes, a drill, a bucket of C-clamps, and a sander.

The daggerboard trunk is included in, and integral to, the "base model" rowing kit. Thus all builders can add the sailing rig from the start, or at some point in the future.

An option that is gaining in popularity is a larger gunter-sloop rig. The rig is that of the well-tested Passagemaker dinghy, comprising a 58 square foot mainsail and a 19 square foot jib. This will be a fast and weatherly option and is intended for sailors for whom speed is of paramount importance. The mast is aluminum, supported by three stainless steel shrouds, while the boom and yard are wooden. The sloop rig can be added at any time or retrofitted to an existing Skerry . A balanced lug rig is also popular and works with the sprit's stock mast step.

The Skerry measures 15'0" overall and 4'6" wide. Draft is 5", or with the daggerboard down, 30". The rudder kicks up easily for beach landings and has the traditional Scandinavian push-pull control rather than the more typical tiller. Everyone who has ever spent time in a Skerry has lauded the push-pull tiller as it opens up the interior for flexible seating, whereas a traditional tiller severely limits the seating positions.

Boats about same size as Skerry

Questions? Suggestions? Contact us at: [email protected]

March / April Issue No. 297  Preview Now

Sailboats - Daysailers

 The Skerry design combines elements of traditional working craft of the British Isles and Scandinavia, with a little bit of American Swampscott Dory thrown in. The blend of historical antecedents yields excellent performance under sail or oar, along with good looks and ease of construction in plywood. This John C. Harris design fuses excellent rowing and sailing qualities into one attractive craft. Sail when there’s wind, row when there’s not. You’ll cover the miles either way.The flaring sides make the Skerry stable and dry under sail. The stock sprit rig was chosen because it’s easy to set up and handle, powerful for its size, and stows inside the hull for transport. Under oars, the Skerry has a long, easy glide and excellent tracking. Two rowing positions permit the Skerry to be rowed with one, two, or three adults on board.Ultralight weight—about a hundred pounds—also means the Skerry is easy to handle ashore. 

Design Specifications

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Modifying A CLC Skerry For Overnight Cruising

This project was a bit of a mad whirlwind of activity, with a ridiculously short, self-imposed deadline. Only two years ago I fully refurbished my CLC Skerry, and it was my only functional boat. The plan was to use it all summer, working on my PT day trips project. Instead, I ended up rebuilding it from the hull up, working nearly every day for two and a half months. So much for getting out on the water.

Why the about-face? With the pandemic, I figured there was no way that the Salish 100 or many of the other fun group small boat events would be happening, that I would normally want to attend. But things started to open up, and events were happening. And there was no way I was going to miss the Salish 100 for a third time (but I did). For the first Salish 100, in 2019, I had just returned from Indonesia and came down with a travel bug. We all know what happened in 2020. So I needed a boat to cruise on for a week in 2021. I could have got my Lavro dory going, but would way rather do the trip in a little sail/oar boat.

I considered buying a larger sailboat. In fact I did buy a boat for the 2020 Salish 100, a 20′ Wilce Yawl, which I sold after the event was canceled. Too many boats. If an Iain Oughtred double ender , or a Ross Lillistone Phoenix III , popped up on the market, I might have bought one. But then again, I have been designing a boat that I want to build, as a future small sailboat cruiser. So no more buying boats!

That leaves the boat I own, the CLC Skerry. Great day boat, not a great cruising boat if you need to sleep on board, which was a requirement for this year’s Salish 100, and a very useful feature for other little cruises. For a long time I have thought about what it would take to convert it into a micro cruiser, and finally came up with a plan I liked. I tested some of the ideas on the water, with clamped in boards and blocks, and it seemed like it would work. So what the hell. I quickly finished building my workshop and got to it. The goal was to get it all done in six weeks, which would leave me a month to do some shakedown cruises before the Salish 100. Predictably that did not happen. I slaved away until nearly the last minute, and nearly made it. But I would have had to show up with a completely unwetted new design, other than the wet paint. And I would have started the event completely exhausted. So I bailed out on the event, again.

No matter. Just a week later there is another event I will use the boat on, the three day Palooza Crooza, and many other events in the future.

Note: These modifications are all my own design, not approved beforehand by John at CLC, the designer of the boat, and completely unnecessary for the fun use of a Skerry for what it was designed for. The stock Skerry design is a work of art, doing what it needs to do well, with the least amount of materials and weight, in a very attractive way. It is a bloody shame to mess with it (sorry John). So I was not trying to fix any issues with its intended purpose. I was adapting it to do something it was not designed for, for my specific uses and personal quirks, and even my specific body.

But I am also proud to note that John really likes my modifications:

“I endorse your thoughtful design mods without reservation. I’ve seen a lot of modified Skerries, including some that made my eyes roll, but your retrofits are practical and well executed.” – John C. Harris

What I Did & Why

I had lots of experience in the stock boat with a balanced lug rig, often covering a good bit of distance, spending up to eight hours in the boat at a time. And that experience gave me a list of things I wanted to change to make it more comfortable for my 50 year old body, and possibly safer for multi-day cruising in our very cold waters.

Skerry Mod #1 – Sleeping Aboard As mentioned, the Skerry is a fantastic design, just about perfect as it is. But it is not a boat designed to sleep on. The initial stability is very tender. If you throw some boards between the thwarts to try and sleep across them at anchor, and a good sized wake comes along and rolls you over to the side, you will likely dunk a rail, and are going to get wet real fast. It could be a life threatening situation if you are stuck in your sleeping bag, under a boom tent. I was going to do it on the first Salish 100, but I had a plan to make it safer by strapping beach rollers on each side of my sleeping platform, which prevented me from rolling to the side. It would have worked in a pinch, and the rollers were strapped in forward as added buoyancy when sailing.

Skerry Sleeping Solution The ideal place to sleep on a Skerry at anchor would be on the floor, so your weight is low in the boat, both for comfort and safety. But you can’t, because the daggerboard and main thwart is in the way. The inspiration for my solution was John Welsford’s Walkabout , which has the daggerboard off center, with a removable rowing thwart. Then the entire center of the boat is open. The new SCA Scout dinghy uses a similar idea, as well as the CLC Jimmy Skiff II . So that is what I decided to do, and I made a new NACA profiled daggerboard to match, since I had to make a new case.

I was tempted to build full length side benches that were sealed, with access hatches, like the boats above, but after careful thought decided not. As mentioned, the Skerry is very tender initially. Only when under sail, in a good bit of wind, can you sit with your back against the hull side. All other times your weight needs to remain in the center of the boat. So most of the time, sitting on side benches will not work. Plus they would have been so small to be nearly worthless for storage, with tiny hatches. Strapping in larger dry bags works better for gear.

Instead I decided to build two relatively small sealed boxes on each side of the boat, that support the daggerboard box, and a removable thwart rowing seat between. The boxes also provide necessary structural support for the hull. Additionally they add buoyancy in case of a capsize, and very accessible dry storage. Although they look like side benches, they would rarely be used that way.

Removing the central bulkhead in the boat was unnerving. It is pretty essential, structurally. But my new side boxes serve a similar role, and I added some more fiberglass to the floor between to stiffen it. The big full height bulkheads are closer together than the original seats, the mini-bulkhead adds structural stiffness to the hull, and the side decks, coamings, and hanging knees really stiffen up the structure. So feel like I have not weakened the boat.

Skerry Mod #2 – Tenting A Small Tender Boat If you are sleeping on the floor, you really can’t have rain dumping into the boat. Raised floorboards are not really an option on this lightweight boat. So to keep dry you would have to tent the entire hull, which for a couple of reasons is not realistic. To even attach a tent up over the bow while at anchor would be precarious. When the mast is up, you can’t get past it to go forward, or you will end up in the drink. There is just not enough waterline beam up in the forward sections of the hull to support that much off centered weight. And yes, you want the mast up, and the daggerboard down at anchor, to help keep the boat from rolling quickly. If you mange to tent the entire boat you might end up with something that presents too much windage for this little tender boat. The idea of a big tent on this boat freaks me out.

Skerry Tent Solution In my mind, the only safe tent for a Skerry will be very small, very low, and with the tallest area in the aft, to keep the boat pointed into the wind at anchor.

To achieve that you have to reduce how much area of the boat needs to be tented, by adding end decks. Combine that with narrow side decks, and a cockpit coaming and your tent only needs to be a bit longer than your bed length.

The tent design I have come up with is essentially a one person bivy, that allows me to sit upright in the stern, but is otherwise as low as possible. I am actually a little proud of this design because it uses the boom/yard/sail, in its normal position, with all lines left attached. The sail and yard is wrapped up tight with the boom. The halyard is moved to the back of the boom, and lifted up to the desired rear tent height. The front of the boom sits on the deck, with a neoprene boot to protect the deck, secured to the forward cleat. The tent is hung under the boom, and attached to the outside of the coaming. The oars stay on the outside of the cockpit coaming and tent in their oarlocks, always ready to go.

I did finally get the tent done, and managed to test it out in the San Juan Islands for a couple of nights. It worked great. It is made of a single walled Weathermax LT fabric (similar to Sunbrealla, but lighter weight). It is all quick to setup and quicker to strike, and I can be manning the oars or raising sail fast.

The design changed a little in the stern. And I ended up adding a 22″ batten inside at the top, made out of G10 fiberglass, to give a little more headroom.

Why not throw it over the boom? I am not fond of wet sails dripping on my sleeping area, and it is more difficult to build a weather resistant tent over the boom.

Skerry Mod #3 – Room For Everything If you have seen a Skerry that is used for camping, they are packed to the gills with junk. Sure, you can put stuff in dry bags, and strap it all down. But it is cramped, and lots of stuff needs to go up on the front and rear seats, which is not an ideal place for weight.

Skerry Gear Storage Solution To use this boat for cruising you need to develop a backpacking/kayaking mentality. Go very lightweight and minimal with your gear. That is the first solution.

The second solution is already mostly solved. The new raised decks have big waterproof access hatches on the vertical bulkheads, that can be accessed inside the boat. The rear bulkhead was moved forward about a foot from its original position, to increase storage area, and to reduce open hull volume. Those big bow and stern tanks can now be used to stow big dry bags of lightweight items, like sleeping bags, sleeping pad, drysuit, boat tent, clothing bags, etc. There are strap points inside the tanks to prevent the gear from rolling around when sailing or in a capsize.

That frees up a lot of space in the boat, and all the heavy stuff can be kept toward the center of the boat, like water, and food, and safety gear. Some items will be in the waterproof thwart side boxes. Others will be strapped in forward of those on each side in dry bags, keeping the center free to move forward, and for sleeping.

Note : I later made another modification to improve my gear storage that you can read about here .

Skerry Mod #4 – Capsize Recovery The Skerry is a very good little boat that can handle some fairly choppy waters. It has a lot of reserve buoyancy in its highly flared hull and overhangs. But if it were to capsize, with a bit of gear weight in it, in rough water, I feel the chances of self-recovery are not great. I have never capsized it, so this is mostly speculation. I did have beach rollers strapped in for increased buoyancy before. My local waters are dang cold though, so I wanted the boat to have a better chance of recovery if it happens.

Skerry Capsize Recovery Solution Most of this is improved by the end decks that are sealed tanks. Volume up high in end tanks is generally considered the best place for buoyancy in a boat like this. Narrow side decks and the cockpit coaming will also effectively increase the boat’s freeboard. The watertight thwart boxes will also add buoyancy in case of capsize. As tempting as it seems to enclose more of the space with watertight benches, it is better not to have the boat floating too high on its side in a capsize. If it floats high it can very quickly be blown away from you. And a high floating boat is more prone to turning completely upside down (turtle). The amount of buoyancy I incorporated is my best guess at what is needed to float it on her side, with the mast at the water level. My carbon spars are also sealed so that they float, decreasing the chance of the boat going turtle. Only capsize testing will tell how all of this works out, which I plan to do later this summer.

Skerry Mod #5 – Comfortable Seating As mentioned, unless there is a bit of wind, your weight stays in the center of the boat. Winds in my area are fickle and often light. That means a lot of the time sailing you can’t lean your weight fully against the hull side, even though I have a bigger rig than the stock one. And I have not found that when alone I am happy sitting on the back seat, because it throws the boat out of balance. So I ended up doing a lot of kneeling on the floor of the boat, which kills the knees after more than a few hours. I considered and tried all seating options. Even with a full head of wind this is not a boat I ever feel comfortable hiking out on, with my butt up on a rail. One lapse in judgment, a lull in the wind, and it would capsize. I feel you need to stay inside the hull, preferably with your butt on the floor.

I installed some low side sailing seats, for when there is wind, to get my butt off the floor some, which helps my knees and back. They are as narrow as possible, so that when I am sitting opposite, I can still brace my feet against the hull.

And my removable rowing thwart is also a stool that doubles as seating in the rear center of the boat, for sailing in lighter winds. The coaming is angled for nice back support, and the rear bulkhead is also comfortable to lean against. Finally, in light winds, going downwind or at anchor, I can sit up on the center of the rear deck.

To put all of this seating in the right spot, and to reduce un-decked area to a minimum, the rear bulkhead position was moved forward about a foot. It is also placed perfectly for foot support when rowing, at least for my height.

Other Necessary Mods

Kick-up Rudder The stock Skerry has a kick-up rudder, with a push pull tiller. When I rebuilt the boat I ditched it, and built a fixed rudder with a standard tiller. But that would not work with the long end decks. I will not be able to easily get at the stern for removing the rudder on the water, and for longer cruises I want the security of the rudder automatically kicking up if I hit something.

So I converted my rudder back into a kick-up rudder, and I went back to a push pull tiller handle. I have also realized that since you spend most of your time in the center of the boat, a standard tiller is not as functional as the push pull style. As part of the new rudder I integrated an auto-releasing downhaul cleat, in case of impact. Although the daggerboard would likely hit first, and it does not kick up.

Lengthening The Mast & Stiffening It When I refurbished the boat two years ago I built a really nice rig for the boat, with all carbon spars, and a balanced lug sail, with design help from Michael Storer , and his company Really Simple Sails . We kept the rig nice and low, for sitting on the floor of the boat when sailing. That works fine for day sailing. But as mentioned, for longer cruises, I need to get my butt and knees off the floor a bit. Which means the sail is then too low to see under very easily. And when anyone else is sitting forward in the boat while sailing, it was much too low for them.

It needed to be raised up 6-8″. Most Skerrys have their booms much higher than mine, so the slightly raised center of effort will not make a dramatic difference. The mast was also a bit too flexible. Fortunately the raised decks give an additional 10″ of holding leverage on the mast, which will help with the flexibility issues somewhat.

That presents the challenge of how to lengthen my carbon fiber mast. And while I am at it, why not try and make it stiffer. It is made from one of the stiffest sailboard masts, cut down to 11′. After considering all options, and talking to a couple of composite expert friends, I purchased a slightly larger diameter carbon tube, that was four feet long. The existing tapered mast fits nearly perfectly down into the new un-tapered tube, with an 8″ overlap. It is epoxied together, with more carbon fiber wrapping the top, and some fairing to make it look decent. I then cut off a number of feet from the smaller diameter top, glued in a loop of dyneema for a halyard attachment, and put a cap on it. It appears on the first sail tests to work perfectly, and the rig seems stiffer.

Anchor & Line Storage Mini Bulkhead I copied a featured found on Ross Lillitstone’s Phoneix III boat, which is a low mini-bulkhead, just behind the forward deck, that helps contain anchor gear. Between it and the rear bulkhead I have exactly the right amount of room to lay down on the floor for my height. I realized later it also may help when in the tent in the rain. It will be nearly impossible to get a water tight seal around the mast and lines. But that water will collect in the mini bulkhead area. So if I plug the drain holes in the bulkhead, it should keep me dry until morning.

How Does It Compare To The Skerry “Raid” Expedition?

It is not lost to me that all of these changes make the boat similar to a Skerry Expedition , which is not surprising given that John Harris at CLC designed the Expedition for John Guider’s long journey in it.

There are some differences though. The Expedition is not just a decked Skerry. It is a completely different design, with 6″ more beam. That extra beam would be very nice to have. It also has a centerboard.

The biggest difference is the off-center daggerboard in my boat, allowing comfortable sleeping on the center floor of the boat, and easier movement within the boat. I know John Guider spent many nights sleeping aboard his Expedition. But I think the original design was not really focused on that, as he had planned on sleeping on shore most nights.

The other big difference, at least in my mind, is the access hatches to the bow and stern tanks. Mine are accessible from within the boat. Although I have to open up the bow hatch before raising the tent, because it requires pulling the mast away first. On my boat, having a bow hatch on the deck like the Expedition would not be fun to access with the mast up, or with a tent up.

My boat uses a cockpit coaming, angled for back support, that the Expedition does not have. Mostly I wanted that to wrap a tent around. The coaming is more difficult to build. And the side tanks add a little more buoyancy and dry storage.

Also, the mast step is within the cockpit, making it so you don’t have to lift the mast and reach forward with it to put it in its hole, like on the Expedition. That was already sometimes challenging on my Skerry when on the water, and with the top support being 10 inches higher, this seemed easier. I much prefer to row with my mast down, so I often take it down on the water, which is very easy, with its low weight.

What Is Lost

Boats are all compromises. And my changes made it so that you really can’t have three people in the boat while rowing, which works well on the stock boat. Not a big deal to me personally, as I mostly am solo, and only occasionally have another person aboard. I have a second rowing position for rowing with another person aboard that I think will work fine.

Two years ago I had carefully designed the rig so that it could fully lay down on the seats beside me when rowing. That was great. It would not be possible with the new decks and longer mast.

Taking the sail down is easier in an open boat when there is wind, because it all drops down into the boat and is somewhat contained. Controlling the sail in wind is more difficult up on the decks. For when it is taken down for rowing now, the rig has to be stuck in low at the stern, and the rest sticks up forward above the deck. It works fine, but does present windage forward.

You may think that moving the daggerboard 10″ off center would hurt its performance, but that is not the case. There is no noticeable sailing performance loss. And in fact, I built a slightly higher aspect blade (longer and narrower), with a NACA profile, which seems to have improved performance.

Am I Happy With It? A Completely Open Center Is A Revelation!

Before deciding on these modifications, I spent a lot of time sailing and rowing the boat, and evaluating how it performed, and the space I occupied. And in this boat, the center is home base. When alone, you really cannot and do not use the ends of the boat. A 7 foot long by 20 inch wide area, from the mast base, back to about a foot from the rear thwart, is where you live. Even being a little off center lists the boat enough that it makes you want to center yourself. So when at anchor, or rowing, or sleeping, or preparing food, you are in the center. In that sense, moving the daggerboard to the side is, I humbly suggest, a brilliant modification to this design. It greatly frees up the space you have to live in, and also allows you to keep nice and low when you have to move forward with sail up. And decking in all of that area that you don’t live in also makes sense for my purpose.

You might think sailing with two people would not be as good with the new modifications. But I think it will actually be improved a good bit. With the daggerboard moved over, a guest can sit in a camp chair on the center line, facing forward, which is more comfortable than the stock option which was cramped and difficult to switch sides in when tacking, at least at our age.

You may also think I added a lot of weight to the boat, but I think it only gained around 20 pounds. My wife and I can still easily lift it. The hatches add a bit of weight, but the decks are thinner plywood than the previous seats, and I kept the other structures minimal. So it is still a very lightweight boat that can use some ballast when sailed alone.

Read about my first three day cruise in the boat here . And check back for an article about that details the build process and materials used.

Comments or questions? Click here.

Please do share this webpage URL anywhere you like. Do not copy any pictures or content though, unless you enjoy copyright lawsuits.

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Skerry rowing kit £1920

Wood only £1230

Broken inwales option £360

Plans and manual £130

Study manual £25

PDF study manual £18

PDF study plans £3

Sailing Options

Sprit rig sailing upgrade with white sail £1605

Sprit rig sailing upgrade with cream sail £1765

Sprit rig sailing upgrade with tan sail £1765

Sprit rig rope package £53

Lug rig sailing upgrade with white sail £1640

Lug rig sailing upgrade with cream sail £1840

Lug rig sailing upgrade with tan sail £1840

Lug rig rope package £64

Eco epoxy upgrade +£20

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Product Description

The Skerry combines excellent rowing and sailing qualities. The perfect boat for sheltered water: sailing when the wind blows and rowing when it does not.

This Skerry is a beautiful boat... There is not an ugly line on this boat. The sheer is beautiful and accented by the lines of the chines. The chines add interest and eye candy to an already appealing boat.

Sailing, June 2003

The hull is stable and buoyant, whether you're running in choppy water or lifting over motorboat wakes. The flaring sides make the Skerry stable and dry under sail.

With a long, easy glide and excellent tracking a cruise under oars alone can be contemplated, averaging 3.5 knots for hours at a time. Two rowing positions permit the Skerry to be rowed with one, two, or three adults on board.

It's an ideal first boatbuilding project and a good boat in which to learn to sail or row. The Skerry will take you for a relaxing afternoon sail or it has the capacity and performance to go ‘beachcruising’ – sailing or rowing by day and pulling up on a secluded beach each evening to camp. The Skerry's feather-light weight and shallow draft mean that you can poke into quiet waters, pull the boat over a sandbar, and explore that hidden cove.

Although designed to be rowed or sailed, the Skerry can also be powered by an outboard motor. A motor mount will be needed because the boat has no transom.

The Skerry is designed in a clinker style which produces a beautiful boat that achieves maximum strength with a minimum of weight, using CLC's patented LapStitch™ technique.

The sides are 6mm Okoume, while the bottom is 9mm, sheathed with glass fabric for those hard beach landings – the rudder kicks up easily for landings. The interior includes 9mm Okoume frames and sealed air tanks at the bow and stern for integral buoyancy – as with most of our boats, there is no need for buoyancy bags.

On our forum you can read a detailed build log of the Skerry, with lots of photos of the process.

We recommend 2.4 m (8 ft) oars for this boat.

The rowing hull kit includes:

• Pre-cut wooden panels with pre-cut joints
• Pre-cut solid wood components with pre-cut joints
• Epoxy resin and activator
• Epoxy fillers
• Copper ties
• Woven glass fabric
• Woven glass tape
• A pair of silicon bronze rowlocks and sockets
• Daggerboard case, built-in for future sailing upgrade
• Comprehensive building manual and plans
• Free technical support from a competent builder

Note that, if you intend to use the second rowing position, you will need an additional pair of bronze side sockets .

What else do I need?

This option contains only the pre-cut plywood and solid wood components plus the necessary plans and building manual.

Broken inwales option

Broken inwales add elegance to any boat by mimicking the ends of the ribs in traditional frame-built boats. This option includes everything you need to install broken inwales in the Skerry:

• Pre-cut breasthooks
• Rowlock riser blocks
• Spacer block material

Some trimming and fitting will be necessary. Broken inwales take longer to install because each block has to be carefully positioned and glued in place. Sanding and varnishing are also made more complex. We recommend reading the installation instructions before deciding to install broken inwales.

Plans and manual

This describes all of the techniques used during the building and also a step by step guide to construction. Scale drawings are used throughout as well as photographs of critical jobs.

This contains the plans of the panels with the cutting instructions so it is possible to build the boat from scratch using these plans and manual.

Study manual

This is intended for pre-build study or to help with the decision to purchase. Reading this manual will help you decide whether or not you can build the boat. It is the manual that accompanies the kits. It describes all of the techniques that will be used during the building and also a step by step guide to construction. Scale drawings are used throughout as well as photographs of critical jobs.

If, later, you decide to purchase the kit the cost of this printed manual will be deducted from the kit price.

This manual does not contain the plans of the panels with the cutting instructions so it is not possible to build the boat from scratch using only this manual.

PDF study manual

The construction manual for the boat is also available as a PDF download. After credit card authorisation a download link will be sent to the email address put on the order form.

PDF study plans

These study plans are intended to give you an overview of the construction of the boat. They are in PDF format that can be viewed using Adobe Reader. There are two pages and they measure 279 × 216 mm (11″ × 8½″). They can be printed for carrying around.

After credit card authorisation the plans will be sent to the email address put on the order form.

When you have studied the plans, your next step might be to order the printed instruction manual, which will walk you through the project step-by-step.

Sailing upgrades

A sailing upgrade can be retrospectively fitted and it turns the Skerry hull into an able sailing boat. There is a sprit rig sailing upgrade and an alternative lug rig. Either sailing rig can be added to the boat at any time, even years after the rowing version is complete. Both rigs are easy to set up and handle and stow inside the hull when not in use. Please note that the base kit (or a completed hull) is needed in addition to the sailing upgrade.

The sprit rig is powerful for its size and windward performance is excellent. The boom is out of the way of the crew and the boat can be rowed with the sail up. This is such an important and practical feature for small boat handling that it's bizarre not to find it in more smallcraft.

The balanced lug rig is very nicely matched to the weight, balance and style of the Skerry. Balanced lug sails offer self-vanging geometry for offwind performance.

The sailing upgrades include:

• Sprit sail or lug sail
• Wooden mast blank
• Wooden boom blank
• Wooden sprit (sprit rig) or yard (lug rig) blank
• Daggerboard blank
• Rudder blank
• Tiller blank
• Blocks and cleats

The sailing upgrades do not include the warp – it is in the rope packages.

Sailing rope packages

The rope packages contain the warp. The sprit rig rope package includes sail lacing, main sheet, downhaul and snotter. The lug rig rope package includes sail lacing, main sheet and halyard.

European Manufacturers for Chesapeake Light Craft

This boat is also available ready-built .

Recommended Products

5-day Boat Building Course

Five day boat building course. Spend a week in the Lake District learning boatbuilding and take home your own beautiful wooden boat.

Boatbuilding DVD

How to build a lightweight boat (not just a kayak).

Wooden Horn Cleats

Handmade wooden horn cleats to add a traditional finishing touch to any wooden boat.

Bronze Open-Topped Rowlocks and Sockets

Open-topped polished silicon bronze rowlocks and matching side sockets or top sockets.

SeaGrade Oars

Elegant, flat-bladed wooden oars with tapered looms for balance and a smooth rowing stroke.

Skerry sail

Sprit sail for a Skerry.

The Working Guide to Traditional Small-Boat Sails

Make your modern sailing boat look (and work) like a salty classic.

Skerry Scale Model Kit

An accurate scale model of the Skerry, constructed much like the full-size boat.

Canvas Boat Covers

Custom-made fitted weather covers to protect home-built wooden boats.

• Fyne Boat Kits — Old Cooperage Yard, Gatebeck, Kendal, Cumbria LA8 0HW
• Telephone: +44 (0)1539 567 148
• Email: info [at] fyneboatkits.co.uk

Copyright © Fyne Boat Kits

Make and Mend

Clc skerry 'luna' build 2022-23.

The Skerry was designed by John Harris of Chesapeake Light Craft. You can read the background story here on the  CLC Skerry web page . 

The Skerry is a 4.6m (15ft) rowing and sailing boat built using marine plywood, epoxy and woven glass fibre cloth. Designed for use in sheltered waters with a maximum payload of 200kg (450lbs). She has a reputation as being both good to row and sail, and at around 45kg (95lbs).  

I chose to alter the internal layout of the Skerry after reading comments about her fore and aft balance. We shall see if those changes work for the way I expect to use her or not. After the alterations, additions (inhales etc), painting and varnishing, Luna’s hull weighs 55kg and I’m happy with that. 

I have no doubt that many will say that I’ve spoilt the simple internal layout. 

Post scope and acknowledgements

In this post I’ll limit the detail to the design and build of the alterations and additions I made rather than a step by step record of the build.

I joined the FaceBook “ CLC Skerry Owners, Builders, and Fans ” group which provided access to heaps of experience with the Skerry from all round the world. In addition to the CLC web site there was also Christine Marchant’s  Skerry build pages, and Galen Piehl’s Inside Waters  site.  These pages and forums answered many of the questions I came up with and I thank all of those who offered responses, affirmations and alternative views. I really appreciate your support and wisdom.

My boatbuilding experience and motivation

I’ve been around boats all my life and maintained motorboats, yachts, trailer sailers and done a wide range of modifications and fitting out. The Skerry is my first complete build and it has been a great experience allowing me to put my years of engineering and woodworking experience to use. I rarely have much spare time as I’m often making or mending things for other people so this project was a bit of self indulgence. 

One significant motivation was the need to sell my 115HP powered boat that I used for fishing. Reducing our use of fossil fuels was something my partner and I had resolved to do with her taking the lead by buying an all electric car (BEV) in 2015. Add to that the cost of fuel cost and the need to divest myself of the powerboat and my petrol car that I kept primarily to tow the boat with. Both are now sold and I now have an oar and sail powered boat and an ex-Singapore BYD E6 all electric taxi. After investing in 24 solar panels on the roof our boating, motoring and house fuel bills are approaching zero. 

Why the Skerry?

I was looking for a boat that I could use both off the beach and in a shallow harbour. Being able to move the boat with ease was essential as was a good balance between rowing and sailing efficiency. I have four grandchildren so I wanted a boat that is unlikely to capsize providing she is sailed conservatively. A stable fishing platform to use off the beach would be a bonus. 

Why the Skerry? – well look at her shape – she’s a stunner! The double ended style, super light weight, excellent rowing and sailing characteristics made the Skerry an easy choice for me. I did consider many other designs but I found many to lack the traditional styling I find attractive in a boat, even though they may have been an easier build. The light weight build means the Skerry can be handled easily by one person, will float in a few inches of water, has a good reserve of buoyancy, and looks good.

Buying a kit and having it shipped to New Zealand was cost prohibitive and besides, I have a well equiped workshop with a large format CNC router that could, with a bit of adaptation, handle a full sheet of plywood. So I decided to build her from scratch. After machining the kit of parts, transferring  them from flat pieces  of ply into this beautiful shape was a real pleasure. Cutting the kit myself also gave me the opportunity to make some modifications.

The reasons I made some alterations

It seems that no boat design every meets all the individual needs of its owner. John Harris, from CLC Boats, has a vast experience in the design of boats and I believe the current stock design of the Skerry is the second version and the design has spawned the Skerry Raid. I certainly don’t have the experience of John and his team but that didn’t stop me dipping my toes into the whirlpool of design customisation – what could go wrong? I like to think I have sound judgement (as all customisers probably do) so I decided to take the risk and give it a go. Worst case scenario I will end up with a pretty and expensive garden flower tub. Best case a boat I’ll enjoy two-fold and have lots of fun building and using.

1. Balance and aft seat relocation I read many accounts of the Skerry being a little too light at the bow when there’s a single occupant seated on the aft bench. Work-arounds quoted ranged from adding  two full 20 litre water water containers close to the mast, to kneeling/sitting on the floor in front of the aft seat. Neither option appealed to me. After studying the plans and building a model I decided to move the aft seat forward to be equivalent to the moment generated by the water bottles. Keeping the math simple and ignoring gravity as it is the same for each moment, I needed to move the 80kg person (me) forward by about 0.35m to eliminate the need for the water bottles.

So that is what I did. If I had just made the rear seat larger it would have looked a mess so I decided to move the aft frame forward by 10cm, extend it to the gunnels and cover the void with a curved deck. This would increase the buoyancy in the event of a capsize. I created a small hatch to allow stowage of my beach trailer and or the mast end, but not big enough to tempt me to use it as a storage space. And then I added lightweight seating. 

This is how it looks in the finished boat.

2.  Dagger board position and rowing seat.

As a consequence of the daggerboard being mounted as part of the central thwart, moving between the bow and stern meant clambering over the seat and daggerboard. As both very young and old would be using the boat I wanted to make movement around the boat as easy as possible. Some research found a number of examples of an offset daggerboard including some boats designed by John Harris. In every account I read the sailors noticed very little difference in performance as a consequence of offsetting the daggerboard. Structurally the designed arrangement did add considerable stiffness to the hull so I decided to add another frame position and close in both sides to create two lockers. The top of the daggerboard case was raised by about 30mm to reduce the chance of water entering a swamped boat  through the daggerboard casing.

These lockers will add to the buoyancy although, being low in the boat there is the chance they may increase the possibility that the hull will turn upside down after a capsize. As a capsize is more likely when sailing, I decided to compensate by using sealed, hollow spars which, hopefully, will result in Luna resting on her side. We shall see. The extra frames and lockers provided a good increase in stiffness to the hull (apparent during the build) which was then supplemented by the addition of inwales.  The rowing seat between the lockers is removable and adjustable. 

This is what the central portion of the boat looks like.

A bit of impromptu static load testing occurred during a visit of extended family. Luna was sitting on two saw horses. No flexing, cracks or unexpected noises detected!

3. Forward section

Not much of a change here. I did open the seat to create a sealed locker that I could put a battery in should I decide to add a bilge pump or fish finder. I have both of these from previous boats so adding these gadgets will just require adding a battery and switch panel. I added sealed conduit to route the wires should they be needed.

Under the breasthook I added a small anchor locker leaving a gap at the top of the door for both ventilation and so I can use the breasthook as a handle and lifting point. The anchor locker hatch can be locked shut to stop the anchor falling out in the event of a capsize. The locker self drains into the cockpit.

Although I allowed additional width when cutting the front seat I found it was not a good fit. Rather than cut a new one I used scraps of ply to create a shelf on both sides that the seat could rest on. As it turns out this has added a gutter between the seat and hull which has been designed to self drain.

The mast step had to be modified from square to round as I decided to buy a carbon fibre mast. The mast step, partner and forward frame have been strengthened above design specifications.

4, Rig, Spars and Oars – currently under construction

I chose to rig Luna with a balanced lug sail. After communicating with  Galen Piehl , I contacted Mike Storer at Really Simple Sails . Mike designed a sail based on the one he made for Galen but with some minor changes to the reefing points presumably based on feedback received. The sail is 64.5 sq ft so a little bigger than the CLC version. Mike and his team gave an accurate forecast of the lead time and the sail arrived from the wherever it was made – the Philippines I think. Mike’s web site gives a huge amount of information on setting up and tuning lug sails. A great resource, thankyou Mike and the community of Storer boat enthusiasts.

A rowing friend of mine suggested I should see if I could track down some sculling oars rather than opt for conventional oars. After introductions to the local rowing club I was able to source six oars that had been retired from racing. I chose two of these for rowing and used three of the remaining oars to make the boom and yard. The oars are tapered and have an eccentric profile so they are light in weight but will need to be mounted so the strongest part of the profile is aligned with the forces on the  sail.

Having gone down the carbon fibre route for the mast it seemed sensible to use a carbon fibre mast. I did research timber options but finding a local source of a suitable timber proved too difficult so I purchased a custom carbon fibre mast that was made to order in less than a week by Killwell FibreLabs  in Rotorua. The mast is 4.66m long and 50mm diameter.

I have created Paulownia plugs for the ends of the mast and spars because it is so light (and I happened to have a piece in the workshop).

More on this when I have finished rigging the boat and tested her out.

5. Seats, daggerboard and rudder.

Although I was advised that the Skerry didn’t have the beam for side seats, after some experimentation I decided to fit them anyway. The side seats are made of 9mm ply which have been strengthened by gluing the waste material from the slots to the underside of the slats. The seats are supported at the ends by battens on the frames and lightweight plywood frames in between. 

I added theses to give me more options when I take the grand children out into the harbour. There is also room for our dogs should they want to be on the water rather than in the water. Being clear on the underside there is plenty of room for feet and legs and for rowing there is no need for foot rests as there are plenty of options for hooking the feet under the seats. The rowing seat is a simple bit of 9mm ply that is removable and adjustable fore and aft. 

Work in progress

As of the 19 June 2023, I have taken Luna out for a couple of sea trials under oar. Although it is winter her in New Zealand, the weather was perfect for launching from the beach. Almost no waves, no wind and bright blue skies. My custom rowlocks worked fine and now probably need to be tidied up from their prototype state. The first priority will be completing the spars and rigging her so I can take her for a test sail in the harbour. I’ll update this page when I have more to report.

Discussion and comments

Please use my post on the Facebook CLC Skerry Owners page for any public comments –  Post on FB CLC Skerry owners page – 22 Jun 2023

You can also send me a message via my contact page .

Add Your Heading Text Here

• My Boat Articles
• Skerry build
• Choosing the Skerry
• Stitch & Glue Boatbuilding
• Bird Mouth Mast
• Building a SCAMP

Continuing on the Skerry Hull construction

Part 1 of the Skerry Hull Construction here. Part 3 of the Skerry Hull Construction here.

I finally put a second coat of resin on the bottom and on the first panel (garboard), and a first coat on rest of the boat interior. Looks pretty rough but I'm happy. Long day but lots to show for it.

The breasthooks are the triangular pieces at the bow and sterns of my Skerry. They have to be strong because that's what you hang on to when you carry the boat.

I used a big old rasp I've had for years, then sanded with coarse sandpaper.

Stern breasthook just fell in place perfectly without even a whimper. The boat is starting to look like an oversize fat canoe with the front and back breasthooks in place and no seats yet.

I was expecting a fight to get the breasthooks in and only had a small argument from the bow. The stern practically jumped into place by itself.

Had to fiddle the bow breasthook some. Eventually it fit reasonably and I got it in.

Outside of the boat gets a good sanding and any hole filled. I rounded the front and back and the bottom. Very nerve-wracking! It feel very nice to the hand.

Cut the fiberglass about an inch larger than required and taped the edge of the second panel. I'm ready for resin. I've also cut and put aside the fiberglass strips for the front and back.

I'm much smarter than I was when I did the inside of the boat. That's what you call experience. This time I worked a small area at a time applying resin as I go. When I run out I just measure another batch. I like this slow set feature.

I found a fabulous mahogany board and cut it in 1 inch strips. Then I was able to sand a scarf and glue the pieces together to make 16 feet lengths. The annoying thing is that they had a 16 feet long board but I simply could not handle the length. My table saw lives in the basement and that's a 10 feet limit to bring it upstairs. Plus I don't have that much room to feed to the table saw. Never mind.

I managed a nice joint using a belt sander first then a sanding block. Glued everything alongside a straight board and let it set for a couple of days.

After cleaning up the joints with my sanding block I reinforced the joints with clamps and started bending the boards.

The wood is exceptionally rigid and I was afraid the gunwales would break or fail at the joint if I just tried to install them on the hull without pre-bending.

I've been wetting the boards and adding weight. It seems to be working. I will let it bend for a couple of days increasing the weight gradually. Every one is making fun of my poor living room but no permanent damage yet!

Note: I was right to be concerned about the gunwales. One failed a couple of days after I launched the boat. I was lucky because only the outside thickness gave way. The inner thickness stayed good and solid. It had been a scorching hot day and I suppose the epoxy gave way under the tension.

The wood was very stiff and I think that my joint had sucked out the epoxy to the point where the joint was glue starved. I eventually re-glued AND added a layer of cloth top and side. It has held perfectly.

After pre-bending the gunwales for 3 days I started installing them. I dry assembled the first 2. One scarf joint failed while I was adjusting the other side and since it was perfectly clamped in place with only a partial de-laminate I just re-glued it in place. The other side went on relatively easily. The shape was improved slightly. Side curves are more smooth. You see pretty much my entire clamp collection! Only one side is glued the other just clamped to keep the shape of the boat from distorting if only one side was clamped. I will take my time and allow things to set properly. Meanwhile I am working on the mast step and the daggerboard well . Also I am adding epoxy to the birds mouth mast and sprit. I've also been putting paint on the rudder pieces and the daggerboard.

Speaking of paranoia, I have not removed the clamps that hold the gunnels at the point where the scarf joints are. I'm hoping the wood will settle in its new shape and not stress the joints too much if I wait. I think that once I have a couple layers of resin on the whole gunnel wood, they will be quite solid.

NOTE: I had good reason to be worried. After launch I came back to my boat after it sat overnight and was warming up in the sun under its cover, and one of the joints had come undone. In hindsight I think I clamped too tight and starved the joint of glue. I re-glued with more epoxy, clamped it in place with a little band of fiberglass on the underside and it's been fine for several years.

Best of all I sanded and sanded and sanded. The inside is vaguely coming together.

Read about other parts of my Skerry being constructed

Links to: [  back to Skerry page ] [ Making a birds mouth mast, ] [ rudder and daggerboard, ] [ sail, ] [ oars, ] [ cleats, ] [ daggerboard well and mast step, ] [ my boats ] [ Mihai builds a Skerry

emails: Christine

This web site reflects my personal ideas and doesn't represent anyone else's point of view.

Boat Profile

A capable and comfortable camp-cruiser

From Issue   October 2020

T he Guider, a new 18′ 7″ expedition boat from Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC), has been a development project for CLC’s designer, John Harris, and John Guider, a professional photographer and small-boat adventurer based in Nashville, Tennessee. The two have known each other now for 10 years and had previously collaborated on the Skerry Raid, a slightly beamier and partially decked version of CLC’s 15′ Skerry sail-and-oar boat. John G. used the prototype to travel the 6,500-mile “Great Loop” of the eastern United States. The Guider was designed and built for John Guider’s solo of the 2019 Race to Alaska (R2AK), a 750-mile human- and wind-powered race from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska. Compared with the Skerry Raid, the Guider design features more storage space and comfortable sleeping accommodations, and has the seakeeping ability to push harder in rough and windy conditions.

For approaching the beach, the centerboard is retracted and the rudder is lifted from its trunk.

To prepare for his summer 2020 expedition on Lake Superior, John G. brought his Guider to the CLC shop in Annapolis, Maryland, to be outfitted with a new cockpit tent arrangement. While the boat was in Annapolis, I was given the opportunity to sail it. A longtime beach cruiser and an aficionado of shallow-draft boats suitable for camp-cruising and sleeping aboard, I was delighted.

The Guider’s hull has fine ends and a relatively narrow waterline for easy rowing. The topside planks flare amidships to provide buoyancy and power under sail. The wherry-style plank keel is narrow but likely just wide enough to keep the boat upright on a beach or mudflat. The centerboard is a slightly profiled piece of 1/4″ aluminum plate, simple and tough. All spars are hollow and shorter than the boat for more compact trailering. The single balanced lugsail is 125 sq ft, about as big as a singlehander would want, providing plenty of oomph. Lazyjacks make sail handling manageable; the sail goes up and, more importantly, comes down in an instant. When lowered, the sail bundle is already mostly out of the way for rowing, and the lazyjacks can be snugged up to brail it completely out of the way, safely above head height. Two deep reefs are each set up with single-line reefing. All reefing lines and cleats are right where they should be on the starboard side of the boom, easy to use from a safe position amidships.

The Guider has decks fore and aft and side decks, making the boat significantly more seaworthy than a fully open boat. The side decks may look wide enough to hike out on, but with oars stored along the side decks in their locks and some purpose-made chocks, the decks are not available for sitting. This is an acceptable trade-off, as The Guider’s hull shape, beam, and intended stores and ballast should preclude the need to hike out. And the ready availability of the oars is the best I have seen on any sail-and-oar boat.

The interior has room on either side of the centerboard trunk for two to sleep comfortably. The aft end of the trunk supports a racing-style rowing seat. The boat has a dozen storage compartments and as many hatches for access to gear.

T he defining design feature of The Guider, though, is its interior layout, optimized with 12 waterproof buoyancy compartments, most of which double as stowage for expedition stores with large, easy-to-operate plywood hatches. (The foredeck hatch has a large oval rubber kayak hatch cover.) The cockpit area is mostly a level space with just a small footwell set under the tiller. This makes for a quick transition to camp/sleep mode. I have slept, and attempted to sleep, in a lot of different small boats, and for an open boat, The Guider is as good as it gets. There are two spacious 6′ 6″-long sleeping flats, separated by the centerboard trunk and footwell. Nothing needs to be moved or reconfigured for sleeping. It can be as simple as rolling out a pad and climbing into a bivy bag in under a minute. In a few minutes more, you could rig a cockpit tent or sun shade.

The rudder is housed inboard so it can be accessed more safely than a rudder mounted on the stern. The rudder is retracted here and the cassette that occupies the trunk when it is in use is visible.

The Guider’s rudder and tiller assembly is an elegant solution to an old problem. Traditional rudders on double-enders use either an overly long tiller or a long steering stick loosely coupled to a yoke mounted on the rudderhead. In either case, these stern-mounted rudders are difficult to retract or deploy (a potentially unsafe exercise in any kind of sea), and the tillers always seem to be in the way when you want to move around in the boat. The Guider’s rugged, retractable rudder slips through a dedicated trunk aft of the footwell. Above the rudder blade, the cassette, which the rudderpost pivots in, fills the well when the rudder is extended beyond the hull. It’s easy to deploy and remove the rudder from the safety of the cockpit. The rudder can be set halfway, with half the blade projecting, and left fixed as a skeg, for rowing. And the tiller pops up out of the way and clear of the boom with a simple bungee cord loop. Very slick!

After completing the design, crew at CLC built John G.’s boat, Guider #1, in 22 days. Yes, it will take you longer to build one. CLC sells Guider kits and components under a new group of designs called ProKits, intended for more experienced builders who don’t require step-by-step instructions. The construction manual, developed by CLC designer Dillon Majoros, consists of 38 full-color, richly detailed, 11″ x 17″ sheets and assumes the builder already has the skills required for stitch-and-glue construction, working with epoxy, filleting, and fiberglass sheathing. This project is a lot more complex than a plywood kayak, and while it could be built in a one-car garage, it wouldn’t be any fun. I would consider a two-car garage or similarly sized shop space a minimum workspace.

Currently the only way to build The Guider is from one of CLC’s kits. A full plan set will be available soon and will include a roll of full-sized paper templates for every wood part, so you cut them out from plywood sheets. Having built plywood boats from both kits and patterns, the precut kits are a no-brainer choice. As much as I love my high-end jigsaw, there are a lot of wood parts in this design. Let the computer and CNC cutter do what they can truly do better, more accurately, and much faster than you can.

L aunching The Guider from a standard galvanized two-bunk trailer was a cinch at a ramp on the Severn River near Annapolis, although the trailer wheels were completely submerged to float the boat off. Prior to launching I had stepped the 30-ish-lb mast myself without difficulty and set up the running rigging and sail in its lazyjacks. For cruising, I think The Guider could be beach-launched with inflatable beach rollers; a strong crew would be an asset.

The Guider has a single rowing station, so the second crew member can rest or attend to chores during lulls in the wind.

In a word, my overall impression of the boat’s performance under way was: “Easy.” With 300 lbs of crew (my daughter and myself) and 200 lbs of foam-wrapped lead ballast (called for in the plans) in the amidships storage compartments, the boat had an easy motion and became even more stable with the centerboard down. The Guider is easy to row, easy to sail, easy to switch between the two, easy to reef, and easy to beach. And easy is what I would want in an expedition boat, where conserving one’s energy is an important consideration.

The 125-sq-ft balanced-lug sail has two lines of reef points. Under sail, with the board down, The Guider draws 36″.

Easy does not mean slow. The Guider could hold a GPS-measured 5-plus knots on any point of sail in moderate 10-knot breezes. It is a fun boat to sail, nicely balanced and responsive. The 3:1 mainsheet tackle is essential but enough to handle the big lugsail. There is something special about the way that sail pulls the boat on anything higher than a beam reach in a good breeze, like being lifted by a hot-air balloon. I have felt this before in catboats occasionally, at least until the weather helm made me aware how much I was fighting the laws of physics. But The Guider’s helm has a balanced “on-rails” feeling I normally associate with keelboats. I could control the boat with one finger on the tiller.

This is a “sit-in” or rather a “sprawl-in” boat. Without the need to hike out, I always felt secure at the helm in the roomy, deep cockpit with my feet in the footwell. With my daughter at the helm, the cleverly designed removable rowing seat, held in place with a single bolt and hand-friendly knob, was my preferred seat for serving as crew under sail. I could sit facing forward and tend the mainsheet. The racing-shell-style seat provides a comfortable rowing perch, with the footwell’s aft bulkhead providing rock solid foot bracing. I’d consider bringing along one or two small, inexpensive vinyl beanbag chairs, a secret comfort weapon for many small-boat cruisers.

Beaching The Guider and getting under way again was a piece of cake. The boat is easy to move under oars from the rowing position, whether rowing forward or backward, another benefit of the double-ended hull design. Under sail again, the 1/4″ aluminum-plate centerboard is an effective depthsounder and takes care of itself in the shoals.

Brian Forsyth learned to sail as a kid at Navy sailing clubs in the U.S. and overseas. After his own 20-year Navy career as an aviation maintenance officer and a second career as an information technology consultant, he is now free to mess about in boats as much as he wants. A former coastal-kayaking instructor and keelboat racer, he now sails, paddles, and builds small boats in Solomons, Maryland. He enjoys camp-cruising Chesapeake Bay with his sailing buddies, the Shallow Water Sailors, and is a member of the Patuxent Small Craft Guild, a group of volunteers who work in the boatshop at the Calvert Marine Museum.

The Guider Particulars

Length/18′ 7″

Dry Weight/600 lbs

Ballast/200 lbs

Max payload/900 lbs

Rowing draft/9″

Sailing draft /36″

Sail area/125 sq ft

The base kit for The Guider is available from Chesapeake Light Craft for $4,897.

Is there a boat you’d like to know more about? Have you built one that you think other Small Boats Magazine readers would enjoy? Please email us!

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Comments (9)

Really appreciate this review. I’ve been wanting to hear details about this boat. Thanks

Having grown up in Duluth, MN, on the shores of Lake Superior, and having sailed the Great Lakes in the Merchant Marine, I have the deepest respect (pun intended) for the incredible power of Lake Superior. I would love to hear more of the adventures of John G. on Lake Superior. What a great looking boat. I have to shift gears to think of cruising on Gichi-Gami, the “Great Sea”, in a small boat.

Love that interior!

Any info on the bilge pump setup?

Guider #1 has a manual bilge pump mounted on the aft bulkhead that can be operated while at the helm. The discharge is plumbed to a thru-hull fitting aft on the port side far above the waterline. The long intake hose can reach any place in the cockpit or cockpit compartments.

Brian, your Shallow Water Sailor website is very cool. Thanks for all the interesting sailing articles on the site. Brad

Thanks for this. I have been wanting to build either this boat or the French Ilur. Tough choice.

Are there any pictures of this boat with the cockpit tent set up? It would be nice to see how that set up works.

I too would like to see the inside with the cockpit tent set up. This is a really nice boat.

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