Low Tide

Yacht Designer Tad Roberts' Web Log
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Wooden seine boat Chelsea Lake. Sank 1987Documenting Historic BC Boats

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The Oliver Clark II

By admin | Published: March 24, 2013
The Oliver Clark II is now 74 years old and still working the BC coast. She was heavily built at Marpole in Vancouver by George Askew in 1939 for Will Vivian of the Vivian Engine Works. The intention was that she serve as a demonstrator so a monster 8 ton Vivian engine occupied much of[.....]

High-Speed Hull Design

By admin | Published: March 23, 2013
I drew the Hinckley 36′ Picnic Boat in May of 1993, 20 years ago now. The commission was for a waterjet powered day boat, maximum speed to be 30 knots. I doubt I considered the use shown in the picture above. But of course this is the designer’s job, worry about the worst case. As[.....]

Bulbous Bows

By admin | Published: March 18, 2013
People often ask about adding a bulbous bow to their boat, usually in the interest of increasing fuel efficiency. My usual answer is that it’s probably not going to do any good, and it’s likely do harm. The chances of adding a useful bulb is really small unless an owner is willing to undertake an[.....]

Chinook – Garden designed heavy cruiser

By admin | Published: March 17, 2013
Chinook is gone now, I believe she burned in a marina fire around 2011. Her design is a stock troller from William Garden, available in 38′, 42′, and 48′ sizes. Chinook is the smallest, 38′ LOA with 11′ beam and 5′ draft. She was built in the late 1950’s (or early 60’s) by Jim Emmett[.....]

Sayonara – A Garden designed heavy cruiser

By admin | Published: March 16, 2013
Sayonara stopped in last night, they were away again before daylight so I just got a couple of pictures. She’s 35 years old this year and looks good. Writing about her in his first book, Yacht Designs (1977), William Garden called her Bill Trenholme’s Boat. At 58’6″ LOA with 16′ of beam and 7’4″ draft[.....]

The Sleigh Builders

By admin | Published: October 17, 2012
The Sleigh Builders Walden Brothers Sawmill, Baronet Pass, Cracroft Island, BC. That was the address, it was 1964 and I was 9 years old. The sleigh builders were brothers, two tall skinny silent men, black beards, dark eyes, always in motion. They had a two man chain saw, huge thing, and monster slicks and impossibly[.....]

Bluenose II Launched

By admin | Published: October 8, 2012
The Bluenose II went back in the water last week. I feel a lot better now. As a symbol the old (built 1963) horribly hogged Bluenose II was an embarrassment. The new laminated structure will hold her shape for many decades to come, a wise investment. So now we’ll have a circus of lawyers and[.....]

Nomad 16′ sea trial

By admin | Published: September 4, 2012
I don’t get to attend sea-trials much anymore. I miss them. After the initial worries of “will it sink?”, “is anybody happy?”, and “How heavy is she?” the trial run is just fun and interesting direct feedback. Mark Reuten, builder, and Mark Brown, owner of the first Nomad 16, entered her in the 2012 Victoria[.....]

I Hate Perfect Boats

By admin | Published: August 21, 2012
I hate perfect boats. That’s not really true, I can appreciate all the work and effort required to achieve a perfect coat of paint or varnish. And I can appreciate replacing rotted wood with new. But often it seems as if history is being re-written, as if all the hard knocks of real life did[.....]

Ocean Racing Ketches

By admin | Published: June 9, 2012
A recent question about the rig proportions of an older ketch caused me to do some comparison of several boats. Let’s look at two ocean racing designs separated by 50 years. Above is L. Francis Herreshoff’s design #47, created in 1930 for Dudley Wolfe who instead built the Frank Paine designed 72′ cutter Highland Light.[.....]

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