Small Boat Designs - 10' to 30'
Tad Roberts Yacht Design

Designer's Comments

2013/01/02: Updated with a pilot house version.

Harry was the first design I ever published, back in about 1985.  The boat attracted a good deal of interest from Cruising World readers, and I actually sold a few plans, and made a few variations.  But I have never seen a completed boat.  One of Harry’s drawbacks was 11’ beam, though creating a wonderfully roomy interior and providing good sailing stability, it is a rather awkward size for the average builder.  As marina costs and availability have changed, we see an overall increase in interest in boats which can be built and stored at home on a trailer.    

Both Harry and Tilikum were, to some extent, heavily influenced by Thames Barges.  Both are flat bottomed boats intended to go dry with the tide, neither is intended for maximum speed, but both have long waterlines to reduce wavemaking.  The new trailerable versions of each boat, called respectively Harry II and Little Tilikum, are of moderate beam.  This means a form with less initial stability, but both are outside ballasted boats with high sides and centerline deck openings.  Neither of these boats will flood until well past 90 degrees of heel.  This sort of safety is required for open water sailing in shallow draft boats.

  Both these boats are modest cruisers, fully able to undertake a coastal cruise in Florida, the Carolinas, British Columbia, the great rivers of Europe or Asia, or the Great Lakes.  They can always find shelter due to very shoal draft, and turn up anchored on mudflats in the smallest creeks.  They are intended to provide maximum pleasure and ability, for the smallest investment.