The following letter is a brief description of my ultralight rowing/sailing skiff, The American Pie. It measures 14’ x 3’6” x 14” and weighs, including sailing rig, oars, etc. 140 lbs. In design, concept and size this boat rather closely resembles the light canoe yawls of the 1880’s, as described by Eric Coleman in Dinghies for all Waters. However, it is constructed with state-of-the-art technology and is therefore considerably lighter and more portable than its counterparts of almost a century ago. Also, it incorporates what I feel is an important design innovation; a bracket that gives sturdy support to a single, pivoting leeboard. This leeboard probably improves the windward performance over the older boats, and certainly increases overall usefulness of the boat.

Like all boats, the design of this one is the final compromise between several conflicting requirements. However:

1) It had to be as light as possible — light enough for one person to carry overhead if necessary, and for two people to carry full of equipment. 2) It had to be an excellent row boat and handle well in the surf. 3) The sailing arrangement had to be utterly simple and not interfere with the rowing qualities in any way.

In other words, I wanted a boat that I could get to beaches easily, as well as on and off them during moderate conditions.

Its lines are directly descended from boats known as Delaware Duckers, light lapstrake skiffs used for market gunning on the east coast of the United States about 100 years ago. The lines of The American Pie are 7/8 scale of the original skiff published in American Small Sailing Craft by Howard Chapelle. The lines were modified slightly during lofting to restore the original 14” depth amidships, and to make the bilge just very slightly more full. The lofting for this boat was easily done on a single piece of 4’ x 8’ x ¼” plywood as it is a symmetrical double-ender.

The hull is conventionally strip planked ‘canoe style’ from ¼” x 1” strips of Sitka spruce, edge glued with epoxy and sheathed inside and out with 6oz fibreglass in epoxy resin. In order to obtain the maximum space inside the hull there are no thwarts other than the mast partner and a similar strut in the stern. A movable seat is used for rowing. For trimming purposes there are two rowing stations. The rowing seat fits over the spars, which are stowed on the midline. There is also a seat at each end of the boat. These seats have about a 6” gap in the middle, to accommodate the spars. These seats are supported with urethane foam to give about 40 lbs of built in flotation. All the foam is sheathed in 1/8” pine. A 15” square boat cushion easily bridges the 6” gap, and makes a comfortable seat.

The necessary stiffness athwartships is obtained by using graphite fibre-epoxy ribs. There are 7 of these ribs each consisting of 7 tows (layers) of graphite fibre 1” wide.

A substantial ‘hemi-rib’ was constructed to give a solid point of attachment for the leeboard and its bracket. This rib extends from the left of the keelson up to the starboard gunwale. This rib is a lamination consisting of 2 layers of 1/8” spruce, 8 tows of graphite fibre (1’ wide, side by side), and 2 more layers of 1/8” spruce. It is further reinforced for about 8” at the turn of the bilge with 8 more tows of graphite fibre.

The keelson is laminated from two pieces, 3/8” spruce on the inside, and ½” ash outside. It is 5¼” wide amidships. The inside of the keelson is flush with the inside of the planking. This leaves quite a heavy shoe on the outside which affords good protection when beaching and a good place to step while getting into the boat.

The stems are laminated from 16 layers of 1/8” x 7/8” spruce. They extend above the sheer. I am now very glad that I did not cut off the stems as I had originally intended. In the first place the stem protects the kick-up rudder when the boat is upside down. Because I use a Norse style push-pull tiller the high stem does not interfere with the tiller. Secondly, these long stems hold one gunwale high off the ground when the boat is upside down. This makes it very easy to crawl under the boat. By letting the stems take most of the weights the boat can be carefully balanced on ones shoulders and back preparatory to lifting it. Being able to adjust the boat perfectly before actually lifting it takes a lot of the strain out of carrying it. I am not sure that I could ‘power lift’ this boat into a carrying position like one does with a canoe. The boat is carried with the rudder and leeboard in place, and as such weighs 104 lbs. Because the long stems hold the gunwale high off the ground, the boat is a ready made camping shelter, with sitting headroom on the high side.

As previously mentioned, this boat uses a single pivoting leeboard. Single leeboards that operate on either the lee or weather sides have been sporadically used by a variety of boats. Several recent designs by Phil Bolger have also employed single leeboards, so using this type of leeboard can hardly be considered novel. However, I do believe the method of attachment is. This bracket was perfected through no less than 6 generations on a previous boat. It has proven itself to be very practical because it gives good support when on either tack, and does so over the entire arc through which the leeboard pivots.

The bracket for the leeboard is actually quite simple (Figure 1). It consists of about 100º of an annulus with an outside radius of 7”. This is made from 1/8” stainless steel. The aft end of this attaches to the gunwale, while the forward end is fastened to the ‘hemi-rib’ previously described. A spacer around the 3/8” bolt that goes through the end of the bracket and the ‘hemi-rib’ keeps the bottom of the bracket about 2” away from the hull. The bracket is positioned so that the bolt on which the leeboard pivots is also the centre of the annulus. A second bracket is located on the inside of the leeboard. This bracket forms a lip about ½” x 2” that engages the annulus so the leeboard cannot pull away from the hull when it is on the weather side. Although this is a simple arrangement, the dimensions are critical. It is especially important that the plane of rotation of the leeboard be parallel to the fore and aft axis of the boat. Otherwise the leeboard will toe in or out when rotated downwards. Incidentally, one advantage of this design is that the small bulk of the bracket coupled with the leeboard standing well away from the hull just about eliminates the problem of ‘scooping’ water inboard that happens with some leeboards. Although the metal work in this design may immediately discourage a lot of folks, it really shouldn’t. The only tools used in fabricating this bracket were a hacksaw, a few good blades and a heavy duty electric drill.

The leeboard was designed according to principles set forth in the book Rudders by Eys. The leading edge (3”) is oak, and the rest spruce. It is reinforced with 8 tows of graphite fibre on each side, let into the surface about 3/16”. It is covered with 6 oz glass. The weight of the leeboard, brackets and other fittings is just over 7 lbs, and I would guess the weight of the ‘hemi-rib’ to be about 3-4 lbs. I feel this is a very reasonable weight penalty to pay for an effective leeway preventing device.

In regards to small boats in general, and small cruising boats in particular, I have never understood why leeboards are not used more frequently. Of all the boats in which space is at a premium it is in the small cruiser. Yet most of these are virtually eviscerated by the centreboard case, which is often itself a source of problems.

Some people are put off the use of single leeboards because the design lacks symmetry. However, I feel these objections are based more on aesthetic prejudice than practical considerations. After all, the underwater section of any boat is asymmetrical as soon as it heels, and nobody complains about that. Especially in a narrow boat such as The American Pie, which is sailed as upright as possible, there is little change in depth of board on different tacks, and hence little difference in performance. In fact, like Phil Bolger, I feel the single leeboard may actually work a little better when on the weather side, perhaps because it is operating in less disturbed water.

The use of the leeboard on The American Pie certainly makes the difference between a cramped boat and a commodious one. It may also make the difference between a safe boat and a dangerous one. The latter is true because the absence of thwarts allows one to sit very low in the boat, on the 15” square by 3” boat cushions, and trim the boat perfectly by placing one’s weight exactly where it is needed. The push-pull tiller greatly aids this because when sailing alone one can sit far enough forward to achieve optimum fore and aft trim.

My original intention for sailing was to use a 72 sq ft spritsail rig from a previous boat. However, my first flotation test in a neighbour’s swimming pool cured me of that illusion. Setting and striking the spritsail in this rather tippy boat would have occasioned a lot of unscheduled swims. About that time I happened on a copy of Spritsails and Lugsails by John Leather. I was particularly interested to hear that lugsails were traditionally used in many boats with low initial stability because of the ease with which they were handled and reefed. Inasmuch as I had designed the boat to stow the 10’ 8” spars from the sprit rig, I decided to design a lugsail using these spars, with the sprit becoming the yard. It is often stated that a disadvantage that lugsails have relative to spritsails is that lugsails need longer spars to set the same area. It appears that this is primarily due to a fixed mast being used on the lugsail and this necessitates an appreciable distance between the mast and yard to prevent the yard from binding. However, if the halyard is made fast to the mast, and the mast is allowed to rotate, the yard can be brought very close to the top of the mast, and a relatively short mast can be used. In the case of the lugsail I designed for The American Pie, the same 10’ 8” spars that set 72 sq ft as a spritsail, set 67 sq ft as a standing lugsail. This area is quite sufficient for such a narrow and slippery boat as this.

In order to ensure that the mast rotates easily, and to make the rake easy to adjust, the mast step is made from a solid block of Teflon with 6 3/8” holes, 3/8” apart, in it. A bronze pin about 1¼” long in the end of the mast engages one of these holes in the mast step. Friction and wear on the mast is further reduced by a Teflon bearing in the mast partner. A mast gate makes stepping the mast a very easy operation. All in all I am very happy with this boat. She is highly portable and I can get her to beaches not frequented by other boats. She is an excellent rowboat and rows at hull speed with little effort using 7’ oars. I have been pleasantly surprised by her performance under sail. Although she does not point as high as a Bermudan rigged racing dinghy, she is blazing fast in light to moderate winds with the sheets started a bit. It is always fun to blow by a class dinghy with its maze of running and standing rigging, while leaving virtually no wake. Her worst point of sailing is dead downwind, especially with a cross sea. She can set up a horrible rolling with the yard swinging about, and an accidental jibe is just a matter of time. Fortunately, with a loose-footed sail, this is not so bad as it could be otherwise.

Her lack of initial stability is disconcerting to people who are used to rectangular boats — but they learn to keep their weight down. I have never capsized her, however, and she stiffens up considerably when heeled. Although I would not want to slug it out in heavy seas under sail with this boat, she does have the advantage that once under oars (which only takes a few minutes) she is very seaworthy, What she could survive then would be largely dependent upon the skill of the oarsman. She could be swamped, of course, and I never go offshore without adequate flotation aboard. She does have the advantage of being able to seek shelter on beaches that most boats could not.

I realise this is not the type of boat that will appeal to everybody, especially those brought up on heavy, beamy dinghies with great freeboard. But it should not be discarded as a toy boat or a mere canoe. It is a seaworthy little boat, and there is definitely a niche for this general type to fill. It is so easily cartopped, carried and launched that it allows one to explore places inaccessible to others.

Above is the drawing from Chappelle’s book showing the 16 feet x 4 feet original. He describes it as follows:- ‘The Delaware Ducker was a seaworthy skiff well suited to her work on the exposed Delaware shore. These boats worked with a crew of two, a gunner and a man who either rowed, paddled, or sailed the skiff, as occasion allowed. The boats were light enough to be handled in the marshes and on the flats by two men, and they were perhaps the most able of the gunning skiffs for use in rough water.’