The 5.40m Flat Bottom Boat was designed in 1971 by Oyvind Gulbrandsen of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for use on Lake Malawi in southern Africa. The plans are posted as a free design in their Fishing Vessel Design Database. I built the United Nations Flat-Bottomed Skiff last year, when I was 16, and it has performed well, no matter the conditions on my home body of water, the Great South Bay, Long Island, New York.The seven pages of metric-measured plans for this 17′ 9″ flat-bottomed outboard skiff include drawings for the transom, the two molds, and the stem, all of which are straight-sided. The plans mention only some of the materials used in the construction—screws and galvanized nails for fastenings, and cotton caulking and bitumastic compound for sealing seams; the wood is given in dimensions only, not by species. That was only a minor inconvenience, as it didn’t take me long to find the wood I needed from local sources. For every structural member—transom, stem, frames, keel, and keelson—I used oak; for the side and bottom planking I used pine. Wherever the plans lacked detail, I turned to Pete Culler on Wooden Boats and Howard Chapelle’s Boatbuilding. For a first-time builder the 5.40m is a straightforward project using easily sourced materials. I built mine in the driveway using pine for the planking and oak for the structural members.
Liam McEvoy
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Thoroughly enjoyed your account of building your boat and operating it.
Good job, Liam.
Nice to see youth working with their hands crafting something of material and personal value.
Very nice article, with clear pictures that support it – thanks! I’d think a plywood bottom, reinforced with fiberglass, would be a great alternative to cross planking, and would make the bottom much stiffer – indeed the boat much stiffer and less prone to twisting – as well. Another boat of this type which may interest you is the Clarence River Dory, designed by John Welsford, here: https://duckworks.com/clarence-river-dory-plans/
Look forward to great things from you and Clam Island Boatworks!
Well done!
I built a sailing dinghy for use in those waters back in the eighties. I also sailed a 20′ sloop there in the nineties, I know how choppy it can be. Good luck in all of your future endeavors!