Reader Built Boats

A Herreshoff Coquina

From Issue November 2014

With 130 square feet of sail set, the Coquina slips along in light air.

Joe Brennan’s as-yet-unnamed Herreshoff Coquina is a cold-molded version of the lapstrake cat-ketch that Nathanael Herreshoff built for himself in 1889. This is Joe’s first boat, built to test the idea of a career as a boatbuilder: “So I had this silly idea . . . ,” he said.He purchased plans from Doug Hylan of Brooklin, Maine. The plans for the 16’8” by 5′1″ Coquina, developed by Doug with Maynard Bray, include directions for Herreshoff’s original construction of white cedar on oak as well as for glued-lapstrake plywood. Joe enlisted the help of Terry Schuster, a craftsman in Pittsburgh who brought his knowledge and experience as a boatbuilder to the project.

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Comments (3)

Matt Philips says:

November 2, 2014 at 2:10 pm

Very glad to see some boatbuilders in my region as I usually envy the coastal states northeast of me.
John Buhrmann says:

November 3, 2014 at 10:43 am

I had never heard of the rope steering method before this. Did Herreshoff design this into other small boats? Have other designers used it? With two sails you can balance the boat well. I wonder how the rope method would perform with a single sail rig.
dave bossert says:

November 19, 2014 at 7:35 pm

Beautifully finished!

Comments are closed.

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With 130 square feet of sail set, the Coquina slips along in light air.

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