jamaican/bermudan/caicos sloop design sought.

canibul

canibul

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I am contemplating building a small (less than 30 ft.) sloop as a home project here in the BWI. I have been around boats all my life, but have never built one. Have built lots of other wooden things, though.

Would appreciate it if anyone knew of a design for a small, fast sloop. I would intend to race it against similar wooden sloops here in the islands.
 
A friend of mine built and sails a L34 designed by Angelo Lavranos. Built by himself from ply and covered in epoxy and glass cloth.

May be a bit bigger than you indicate. Have a look here

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I am currently building a L50 same designer have a look in my bio for link to pics of mine
 
Thanks. thats a nice boat. But I have to build cypress planks on ribs, etc. To race it in a class of traditional Caribbean sloops. Also, shallow shallow draft.

Are you familiar with the Tola sloops?( Tortola) I am looking for plans, dimensions, etc. for something like that, in the 24-30 ft. range.
 
Thats a hard way to build. Most of mine have been ply from mirror dink to 20ft and 28ft canal crusers in the UK to this steel I picked up the Hull and decks in Cape Town to finishing off and to retire to go sailing the Indian Ocean etc.

Good luck with the project if i see anything I think may suit I will let you know.
 
I am the Programmes Manager for the Turks and Caicos Maritime Heritage Federation and we are designing and building Caicos Sloops and will be designing and building Turks Islands Sloops within the next few months.
What do you need exactly?
Ross
herossea2004@yahoo.com
 
I would send you some line drawings that we have but they are rough, as most of the boatbuilders do it by eye. I do have an extensive collection of photographs though. We race here quite a bit and we have been documenting the building and the sailing.
Let me know how I can help you. Which Island are you on?
Ross
 
Hello Ross. We meet at last. I am the big shaved head gringo who was talking to Jay S. when you and H. staggered out of the water Saturday at dusk.


I have been talking to H. about boatbuilding. Lifetime of working on boats, and 30 years woodworking experience. Never built a boat before, but I bet I can.

H. is designing a house for us on Provo including a big garage/workshop, but its a year away.

H. Says you maybe could use an extra pair of hands, something to do with a trimaran?
 
those are some nice boats, to be sure. I actually am looking for something without a centerboard, and 4 ft. of draft is no good as well.

Something similar to this:




thanks.
 
A Carriacou sloop was built a couple of years agon on the beach at Windward. There was quite a spread on it in Caribbean Compass IFIRC. For something smaller, go down to Bequia, lots of "two-bows" on the beach Port Elizabeth.
 
Thanks for that link. I found the Compass article, and subsequent info on the sloop. Am still looking,however, for smaller boats. 24-30 ft.
 
Have you ever read a book called 'Clean Sweet Wind - Sailing craft of the Lesser Antilles' by Douglas Pyle?
It is an autobiographical account of the author's sojourn in the Caribbean in the early / mid '70's, where he sailed from island to island, recording details of the different working boats that eveolved to suit the local conditions.
It is truly excellent - see if you can get a 1st edition copy, which has all the photographs - later editions were very economical with the photos.
There are a fair number of lines plans as well. You could maybe use one of these as a basis for building your boat?
 
I did hear of the book, and have tried to find it in this nations one bookshop...but no luck. Will look for it in the US when I visit in a couple weeks.

Have been reading histories of the Jamaica-Bahama-Caicos sloops, and looking for line drawings. No luck yet on plans, but the following article on the Tortola sloops does have some ratios.

Tortola Sloops
 
Re: Tortola sloops

Clean Sweet Wind has lines drawings of two Tortola sloops - the lines were taken off by Edwin Doran in 1966, when he was working (I think) with the FAO in the region.

You could try Amazon - they occasionally have 2nd hand copies of the 1st edition for sale.
 
Re: Tortola sloops

I have to find one in person. trying to order something from here via internet is a nightmare.
 
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