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Emma
Here's my new boat "Emma" in the water. She's still not finished,
but she floats and right-side-up no less. She performs about as expected.
She planes at a very low speed w/ her narrow beam (5'9") and light weight
(~550 lbs) at about 8.5 mph. She motors at displacement speed (5.5 mph)
and semi-displacement speed (~7mph) with only a modest wake. And, best of
all, she stays virtually level at all speeds.
While covering 50 miles on Idaho's Pend Oreille Lake, she burned 4 gallons
of gas (12.5 mpg) with her 15 hp Honda.
When heading downwind, she will "wallow" a bit, but nowhere near as bad as
my 16' Gardner Dory does, and doesn't take much attention to the wheel.
The dock crowd generally loved her. One gentleman asked if "she was a
restoration." I guess that's a compliment!
The full-standing-headroom wheelhouse, looks frankly, a little too "cutesy
or tugboatish", but hey, for windy, wet fiords in coastal BC, I think I
can live with that. The wheelhouse is removable (6 bolts w/ wing nuts) and
rides in the cockpit while trailering. The port side of the wheelhouse
opens to provide unobstructed access to the cuddy.
Will send some close-ups of the finished boat next spring!
Mike Hillis |
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