John Carswell retired to Jekyll Island, a 7-1/2-mile-long barrier island on the coast of Georgia. With gentle slopes of white sand on its Atlantic coast and creek-laced salt marshes on its western side, Jekyll is surrounded by shallow water. When John and his wife Dorothy relocated there, they brought a boat with them, a Princess built in 1932 by the Thompson Brothers Boat Manufacturing Company of Peshtigo, Wisconsin. John began by carving a half model made of 38 vertical transverse lifts. The method is uncommon but is a direct route to a section drawing. The sections, somewhat loosely arranged here, are set on a separate horizontal piece for the box keel. He put each piece on a scanner and a print shop scaled the images up and printed them full size.
Photographs by John and Dorothy Carswell
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Truly inspirational. Congrats!
John,
What a great design and project!
I was a big fan of Robb White, his expertise and humor.
Billy Atkin, joined later by his son John, designed a number of boats with the box keel. He called them Seabright skiffs. The smallest one I’m aware of was a 17′, with many in the 18′ to 24′ range, and even some to serve as shallow draft tankers (300′ or so) for use in WW II. In fact, Rescue Minor was intended for rescuing downed airmen, though I don’t know whether it was ever put to that use. Atkin said the original Seabright skiffs were fished off the shallow, exposed beaches of the Jersey shore. The originals used the box keel even before the introduction of power.
A few were round bilged, both smooth skinned, and lapstrake, but most were chine hulls, though usually not for plywood planking (too many compound curves). The Rescue Minor came along when waterproof plywood was still a new material. Atkin always claimed these hulls were good for decent speed (up to 17 mph) with low horsepower. The 17′ I mentioned above called for only a 5 or 6 hp engine. I once owned the plans for that boat, either from How to Build 20 Boats or The Rudder, and I always admired it. Sadly, that magazine with its plans went missing years ago. In those days, the magazine articles almost always gave enough information to build the boat right out of the magazine.
Most of the Atkin Seabright skiffs were published in MotorBoating magazine; later, the boatbuilding articles were bound together in hardcover volumes. I own several of these, though again, a few have wandered off. 90% of the plans were by the Atkins. Though a few of the designs now seem very dated, especially power boats, many would still be worth building. One design that was rendered in fiberglass in the 1970s (you could buy just the hull) was originally printed in MotorBoating. That was a 38′ double-ended ketch called Ingrid, a beautiful boat. There is one even now in Port Townsend advertised on Craigslist.
One of the most beautiful sets of line drawings I’ve ever seen was for a 25′ double-ended sloop called Eric Junior. I still do occasionally see one of these boats around.
An absolute beauty!
The Seabright skiff design still lives on in the lifeguard boats used on the beaches up and down the coasts of the US. Now made of ‘glass instead of wood, they sit upright, resting their box keels, on rolling logs just touching the surf as they await the next rescue.
As for Skimmer, as I am enamored with electric propulsion, I would have been very tempted to drop either a Pod from Torqeedo or Epropulsion in place of the diesel. They might have the range at speed the engine would have, but would be much lighter and more simple to operate.
Other wise, Bravo! I love the tumblehome and the cleverness of the drop down stern. You do not need to be older or have reduced mobility to see the advantages of such a set up.
Cool story, cooler boat! …
Robb White’s Rescue Minor had a keel cooler if I remember correctly. Any details on that for SKIMMER?
Congratulations on a wonderful build.
It’s a wet exhaust. I built a two-chamber water lift muffler that works very well; you can’t hear the exhaust. (The little Beta-Marine two-cylinder makes enough noise with its clackity-clack valves.)
Great article about a great guy who spent his career helping disabled veterans.
A wonderful boat. Congratulations, John.
John Atkins’ Happy Clam has intrigued me for some years now and I have often wondered why more boats of this practical design have not been built.
I have obtained a 30.5 cu. in. diesel 1-cylinder of 9 HP continuous and have ideas! Fizz boats are O.K. but they are very expensive to run and even deep -V’s are not so much fun in even small chop. I’d rather enjoy the ride.
This article is an inspiration. Well done, John Carswell.
Ah, “Happy Clam.” That was the name of the design that was in the old magazine (can’t remember whether “How to Build Twenty Boats” or “The Rudder.” 17′ long as I recall. I think that was the smallest of the box keel boats that Atkin designed.
Have you built it yet? Why not?
What an amazing story and an awesome boat. Happy to see you enjoying the fruits of your labor.