# New Skiff design



## Chris Morejohn (May 12, 2014)

I am showing one of my latest designs for some feedback here as you all are what drives the market. When designing new skiffs I feel you have to look at past designs to try to improve on and hopefully come up with a better way to build in the intervening years from the others past.
The skiff shown will be built in Florida by Piranha Boatworks in Sanford. The owner wants to get into the deep vee Skiff market and understands the weight and engine needs of today’s consumers.
I feel the main contenders in this market are my old design the HB Marquesa, the best selling skiff in this market the Maverick HPX and because the Chittum skiff is a variation of the HPX and is in the news then it gets my attention too.
I have written in detail my design goals about this design on both my blogs.
The builder will build to my design specs, this skiff will be a solid glass hull, with core in the interior where needed. It will weigh in the 900 lb range rigged less engine, fuel, trolling motor, Baitwell water, etc. the goal is to have an 18’ Skiff that floats on her lines loaded and is still quiet, dry running, and reasonable to pole.


----------



## jhreels (Apr 20, 2017)

Nice looking boat, can you explain the split lifting/poling strake? 

My only concern looking at the hull is the relatively sharp and plum bow. I wonder if that may constitute amplified bow steer in a quartering chop. I'm sure if it were a problem, it could be corrected with proper trim tab and tilt adjustment, but I'm just wondering about the standard weekend guy that may run the boat with the bow pressed too hard or something and maybe cause some nasty unwanted juke moves.

Again nice looking work, not trying to cut it down or anything, just some design review.


----------



## Cut Runner (Jan 25, 2017)

Armchair naval architect here lol...
Judging by the plug, it doesn't "appear" to have too much rocker so I don't think bow steer will be an issue unless tabbed way down in a following sea/chop. The chine does appear big but maybe that' just me thinking with a "skiff mindset", it appears you plan on being able to rig a 150hp so then the chine size makes sense. I was toying around with the thought of building a skiff plug for this market (bigger, deeper v, but still kind of a skiff).


----------



## followotherboats (Jul 24, 2017)

I would be concerned about bow steer


----------



## Chris Morejohn (May 12, 2014)

jhreels said:


> Nice looking boat, can you explain the split lifting/poling strake?
> 
> My only concern looking at the hull is the relatively sharp and plum bow. I wonder if that may constitute amplified bow steer in a quartering chop. I'm sure if it were a problem, it could be corrected with proper trim tab and tilt adjustment, but I'm just wondering about the standard weekend guy that may run the boat with the bow pressed too hard or something and maybe cause some nasty unwanted juke moves.
> 
> Again nice looking work, not trying to cut it down or anything, just some design review.


Hey thanks this is the kind of imput I am looking for. The plumb


----------



## Chris Morejohn (May 12, 2014)

Hey just the questions I am looking to talk about. 
The plumb bow is designed in to add bouancy forward when tarpon fishing in deep water in wind. I also feel it aids in polling because of the added longer waterline. I have spent my life sailing plumb bowed boats. They do not dig. As a sailor I am used to trying to get the most out of a boat at speeds of 1-2 knots in light wind. When rowing it’s all about Skiff balance and waterline. All the best performance sailboats of today have plumb bows. The sailboat I designed and built when starting Hells Bay Boatworks has a plumb bow and has taken my family and I across the Atlantic twice and has logged to date 28,000 sea miles in the Atlantic Ocean. No bow digging problems in all seas.
BUT with engines going with inexperienced hands in a skiff going at speed with the wrong trim she might give you a lessen in the right sea. It’s just a matter of trim. All Skiff bows when running are out of the water except when going into good chop. This skiff will eat it up in these conditions.
The Chines width reflect my current knowledge from designing and building skiffs hands on since 1976.
The reverse spray strake is at the postition of where I feel the worst of the spray can come across when running beam seas and going odd the wind. It’s a proven feature of mine and is employed on many other skiff designs today too.
I posted the pictures to get your thoughts. Thank you for your time.


----------



## LowHydrogen (Dec 31, 2015)

Looks cool! Approx how wide will the boat be?

I like the bow, you mention inspiration from sailboats. That bow reminds me a bit of a Herreshoff Cat Boat.


----------



## Chris Morejohn (May 12, 2014)

LowHydrogen said:


> Looks cool! Approx how wide will the boat be?
> 
> I like the bow, you mention inspiration from sailboats. That bow reminds me a bit of a Herreshoff Cat Boat.


Hull LOA 17’-10”
Hull LOD 18’-4”
Beam with deck 7’-4”
Beam hull 7’
Draft 9-1/2” at 2134 lbs displacement 
Beam at waterline 5’-6”
Look up Maine lobster boats for bluff bowed offshore running boats.
This bow has lots of bouancy as the picture shows


----------



## CurtisWright (May 9, 2012)

followotherboats said:


> I would be concerned about bow steer


x2. The boat I built has a bow like this. It adds a lot of buoyancy to the bow and waterline length to make poling much easier. It makes for a sweet smooth ride in 1' chop. However, at about 2.5'-3ft in a following sea it bow steers like crazy. Better be holding on and wearing the kill switch.

The deep V at the transom should allow an experienced driver to slow down and get the bow up, compared to my nearly flat bottom boat with sponsons. 

Its all about tradeoffs.


----------



## jonrconner (May 20, 2015)

Typical lobster boat design used from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia, these boats navigate very perilous waters through heavy seas and incredible tidal currents, the design has evolved to be what it is because it works.
JC


----------



## Chris Morejohn (May 12, 2014)

CurtisWright said:


> x2. The boat I built has a bow like this. It adds a lot of buoyancy to the bow and waterline length to make poling much easier. It makes for a sweet smooth ride in 1' chop. However, at about 2.5'-3ft in a following sea it bow steers like crazy. Better be holding on and wearing the kill switch.
> 
> The deep V at the transom should allow an experienced driver to slow down and get the bow up, compared to my nearly flat bottom boat with sponsons.
> 
> Its all about tradeoffs.


Yes it is. Flat bottom skiffs without a slight rocker on their aft stern outer Chines are very hard to get their bows up. All my past HB designs have this feature which allows all my skiffs to trim their bows way up. Flip Pallot loves this as he and I fell in big chop short seas you need to slow down a bit trim your bow up a bit and as Flip would say “mush along”.
This design will be able to trim way up. The bottom is already proven.


----------



## el9surf (Dec 23, 2008)

I like the bow lines, reminds me of the lines on some older boats. Looks like a chop eating beast. That long water line should make it track like an arrow. As mentioned with the v in the stern I would think you could get the bow up with the correct adjustments. But keep in mind you will have folks who tab down and pin the throttle in a following sea because they don't know any better.


----------



## el9surf (Dec 23, 2008)

Are those lifting strakes up toward the bow?


----------



## Chris Morejohn (May 12, 2014)

el9surf said:


> Are those lifting strakes up toward the bow?


No they are my reverse strake setup. Look at the bow on picture and you can see they will catch lots of the spray shooting out and send it straight back down. What hits on the our side of these goes up to the big upper spray rail. Haveing this set up I feel gives you way more vee forward than the HPX, Super Skiff, Chittum type of forward chine setup. This is why lots of my flats skiff design transition from a standarg aft lower chine into soft rounded bows.
Also look at the bottom vee in this design. The bottom in not flat, it has a slight crown in it to give a better ride and for strength.


----------



## Flattitude (Jun 30, 2016)

jonrconner said:


> View attachment 18749
> Typical lobster boat design used from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia, these boats navigate very perilous waters through heavy seas and incredible tidal currents, the design has evolved to be what it is because it works.
> JC


The lobster style boats aren't going 30-40mph! Great at slow speeds though


----------



## Chris Morejohn (May 12, 2014)

Flattitude said:


> The lobster style boats aren't going 30-40mph! Great at slow speeds though


Look up Lobster boats races in Maine, flattish water but some can really move out


----------



## Flattitude (Jun 30, 2016)

Saw that, definately flat water & they are also stable due to their large keels as well. All of the lobster style boats I fished on for Bluefin tunas only did 10-12 knots


----------



## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Chris,
Growing up where you worked with Mead I built a boat very similar to this with the reverse strakes. I built it because I wanted to experiment with something that I could get more steering in rivers chasing ducks, salmon and steelhead.

It worked unbelievably well in open water. They were devastatingly treacherous in flowing water. So much so that they came off the next weekend.

I am not saying they won't work because you certainly have far more experience than I. Mine were slightly different but the premise was the same, however, that was the end of my experiment.


----------



## Cam (Apr 5, 2017)

I am a moron when it comes to boat design details. What I am a bit surprised by is how there are a ridiculous number of 17/18 foot skiff designs and so few well designed 19'-20' light skiffs out there. Decent relatively light 19' skiffs are almost non-existent. Vantage comes to mind... Egret sort of. Seems a 19' with a 7' or 7.5' beam at the right price point would be more marketable than trying to compete with dozens of 18 skiff builders. No idea how that translates to overall performance though.


----------



## FlyBy (Jul 12, 2013)

Cam said:


> I am a moron when it comes to boat design details. What I am a bit surprised by is how there are a ridiculous number of 17/18 foot skiff designs and so few well designed 19'-20' light skiffs out there. Decent relatively light 19' skiffs are almost non-existent. Vantage comes to mind... Egret sort of. Seems a 19' with a 7' or 7.5' beam at the right price point would be more marketable than trying to compete with dozens of 18 skiff builders. No idea how that translates to overall performance though.


I'm with you on the 19' x 7-7.5. Seems to me that the additional weight would be more than offset by the additional volume of the hull for draft. I don't know how it would affect poling properties.


----------



## Cut Runner (Jan 25, 2017)

Wider hulls always pole worse than long skinny hulls


----------



## Cam (Apr 5, 2017)

Keep the gunnels low and use a very simple deck layout to keep the weight down and it should pole reasonably well.


----------



## Chris Morejohn (May 12, 2014)

The plug is now in the final stages getting ready for the mold to be made off it.
A couple more pictures here.
It’s always fun to see both sides at once.


----------

