Peapod

A couple of weeks after starting the course (back in September) we were told that if we wanted to build a boat on the course (and take it away afterwards) we had to make up our minds by early October. This was a bit of a shock as I had expected to spend the first few months of the course talking to people and making an informed decision. Of course, I had forgotten that boats need to be lofted before they can be built, timber has to be sourced (not trivial) and workshop space has to be planned and organised.

I got down to work and decided within a week that I wanted to build a Maine Coast Peapod. Why, is quite a complicated story that should emerge over the next few months (if I manage to keep writing once I start building that is).

A Peapod is a small rowing/sailing boat. They have been built and used by Maine Coast lobstermen since about 1880 and have also, during this century, been variously adapted for lesuire use. What characterises Peapods is that they are double ended, symetrical fore and aft and open (no deck). Lobstermen would often row them both backwards and forwards when manouvering close to shore. As Maine Coast Lobstermen typically built their own boats there are a multiplicity of Peapods to choose from built in a variety of ways. The Mystic Seaport plans catalog (see the book) lists a selection of very different Peapods. To get started I ordered the plans for a 15′ sailing Peapod (Red Star) from Mystic Seaport (Mystic certainly describes their approach to order fulfillment) and Joel White’s plans for a 14′ Peapod from Woodenboat Store .

I fairly quickly decided that neither of these boats was quite right for what I wanted to do so I settled down to make some changes. These quickly mushroomed (in my head at any rate) and by the time I started lofting what I had to show Jack was a set of sketched lines based on Joel White’s Peapod design but….

• longer (4.5m length)
• wider (1.6m beam)
• fuller amidships with more reserve buoyancy (for stability under sail)
• a bit more rocker (for manouverability)
• a less pronounced sheerline (my choice)

Lofting the boat from the sketched lines meant an extra day’s work to fair the lines and end up with the sort of Peapod shape that I wanted. Once I figure out how to transfer the lines from two 8′x4′ pieces of hardboard onto computer I’ll put them on-line – but for now, for the technically minded, here are the Seapod Offsets that I am building to.

So much for the lines. The construction details, foils and sailplan are all significantly different to the Joel White design as well – but they all need stories of their own – another day.  As I intend to use the boat on the sea (of course) it seems sensible to label my interpretation of a Peapod as a Seapod.