New pictures added 3/17/2017. These were sent me by my friend Dody, a crew on this boat for a passage (see video below)
You Tube video of her sailing across the Irish Sea: MELQUIADES crossing the Irish Sea
50' MELQUIADES has been cruising the world since the 1990s Here she is anchored off Castle Haven, in SW Ireland. |
Although my design business may not be the
most prosperous, in return I frequently get to deal with people
who dream and act in ways that keeps my sense of humor up. Boring
most of them are not!
A case in point is this boat. She was designed for a South African
world cruiser. He's been traveling about the oceans in a smaller
boat, and learned he could pick up products in some places and
carry them to isolated communities, like Pitcairn for instance,
and sell them for a tidy profit. He wanted a larger boat to carry
alot of stuff and asked me to design it.
MELQUIADES here is the result. She had to be a schooner,
of course, since who ever heard of a trading ship that wasn't?
Noel also wanted it to be as low as possible, traditional looking,
and quite strong. He wanted a large cargo area, a buoyant hull
form, and a hull shape that could be quickly and inexpensively
built. Of course I'm not impartial, but I think the design quite
successfully meets these criteria.
Plans are available in steel or wood and the single chine hull
will be easy to build in either material. The steel version uses
¼" plate, and the wood version uses an inner layer
of 1 ½" wood and two outer layers of ½"
plywood, covered with glass cloth and epoxy to stop toredo action.
The whole middle area is hold. It has 1166 cubic feet and can
carry quite alot of stuff. Since he'll be carrying "clean"
things, like clothing or motorbikes, the hold area isn't bulkheaded
off. This way it also can be part of the living area when cargo
isn't in it. Pipe berths could be installed, since one angle is
using the boat as a diver's charter boat, maybe going treasure
hunting or something.
The basic living space is for two people, but
the hold area gives alot of potential living area for a person
who would rather have a cruising home. One man building him is
raising the freeboard to the bulwark top, which greatly adds to
the interior since it raises the floor about a foot without harming
the looks.
Noel wanted the gaff rig and says he and Karola can handle the
big main themselves. I'd imagine they can, since folks who own
boats like this often are pretty competent. I'm afraid I also
sketched up a marconi main which is available with the plans since
I think that's the way I'd go unless I had a few people around
to help sail the thing.
The hull will weigh 61,500 lbs. when floating at the waterline.
This sounds like a lot, but actually gives a moderate displacement/length
ratio of only 248. She has a long waterline.
If she floats 12" high at launch, which she might if built
of wood,, she could carry 27,280 lbs. before passing the waterline.
That's alot of stuff, and one option is to use rock for ballast
when sailing empty. The rock could be pitched over before loading
cargo. If you were carrying shirts, for instance, which aren't
very heavy, you'd remove maybe half the rock. If you were carrying
drums of diesel from Mexico, you'd pitch over all the rock. That's
how the sailing ships used to do it, by the way.
Anyway, although her cargo hold makes her a pretty specific use
boat, she's still rather interesting, and I'm pleased that boats
like this are still being dreamed about by at least one fella
in this "Brave New World," and flattered that I was
asked to design it. For those of us who aren't quite the buccaneer
Noel and Karola seem to be, a boat like this would still be fun
to own. The hold could be turned into living area, and even tied
to the dock you'd still know the "roots" of MELQUIADES,
and you'd say to yourself that if ONLY you didn't have such a
Protestant work ethic and Sense of Responsibility, why you'd be
out there too, knee high leather boots, billowing sleeve white
shirt, a pint in your back pocket, pointing the 'sprit WHEREVER
you felt like it. And you know, with a boat like this, maybe one
day you would!
A few years ago a guy wanted her as a flush deck cutter. It makes
sense as there would be quite a lot of room inside. And, the single
mast is the simplest. It ain't a schooner but that's OK; she'd
still be fun and actually, she'd be easier to cruise and able
to point a lot better. I've never done an interior for this version.
That's OK; nobody follows mine anyway and the reason to build
your own is to set her up as YOU want her. I'd put the bed in
the bow, galley and head in the middle, and have the whole aft
of the house living area. I'd likely do a vee drive on the engine
to get it back some, I don't know.
Length on Deck: .........................
50' |