A retired woman in Florida asked me about a boat for cruising the “Intracoastal” which extends 3,000 plus miles between New Jersey and Texas. This called for a boat that would be easily driven so fuel efficient, relatively seaworthy because there are times when you’re in open water, and comfortable to spend extended time aboard.
My immediate thought was ULLIN, the less gungho version of IDLEWILD, however we both thought she was larger than needed. But we liked ULLIN’s looks and functionality, so I reduced her down to 45′ which seemed the smallest the boat could be and still have a comfortable interior yet still be trim enough, as the hull lines show, to be very easily driven. Oh, she has an outside rudder! I like the look. Plus, it’s easier to install than an inboard one, and being further aft allows more room for a prop.

Trim hull will easily move along with her 60 HP diesel

The interior I show follows the old “rule” of “drinking six, feeding four, and sleeping two.” This is very still common in the RV world but not often seen with new boats.

The forward house is a large owner’s cabin with a queen bed, plenty of clothes bins, two small closets, and a big bathroom (“head”doesn’t seem to do justice to it!) with a large shower room across from it.

In the middle of the boat there’s a decent sized pilot house with a large dinette table that I suppose could convert to a double bunk if wanted. The engine is a 60 HP Deere, located below the pilot house sole and accessed by hatches. There are fuel tanks on each side of the engine with about 230 gallons of usable fuel total. This should easily give a range of over 1000 miles.

The aft cabin is devoted to galley and food storage. A real working galley makes living aboard comfortable rather than camping! This could be shortened one station (2′ 6″) to make a bigger cockpit.It would still be usable but not as comfortable to work in. All interior layout is compromise; of course the interior can be changed, but what do you want to give up?

Simple construction based on commonly available sizes and much lamination.

The wood construction plan is based around commonly available materials and uses a lot of lamination. The keel is made up from 2x8s, the frames 2x10s ripped in half to make 4″. Deck and house beams are all laminated from 1-1/2″wide strips ripped down from 2-by. Obviously a good table saw is an essential tool for builders of this boat!
The hull can be either solid plywood, using three layers of 3/8″glassed, solid planking of 1″, or a composite of an inner layer of ¾” x 3-1/2″ covered with a layer of3/8″ ply, then glassed.

The house is two layers of 1/2″ ply up to the forward cabin then 3 layers of 3/8″ which seems easier to bend.
The deck is two layers of 3/8″ ply and the house roofs, because of the “crown,” are 3 layers of 1/4″.

Particulars:

LOD: 45′ LWL: 43′ 4″ Beam: 11′ Beam WL: 11′ Draft at DWL: 3′ 4″ Displ.: 26,279 lb.