Plans from Duck Trap
the
Newfoundland Trap Skiff
Please note that information on plans pages will be scant while we are trying to get our site back up and in operation. Should you have questions in the meantime, please email us. Thanks for understanding.
Mercedita under sail off Miami
The Newfoundland Trap Skiff is the largest of our wherries. Her lines came from an original builder's lift half model carved to 3/4" scale. At nearly 20' overall, you might think she'd be quite a handful. On the contrary, her ketch rig is so well balanced that she nearly sails herself. We've built five of them here in our shop, beginning with Arundel.
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Writing in Maine Boats and Harbors, designer Art Paine said, "I like to think that I can improve most boats that come my way, but when my friend John and I conspired to find something to improve on this design, the best we could do was to suggest a wider stern seat to accommodate the wider stern of the owner."
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Superlatives are not unwarranted exaggeration when it comes to the Newfoundland Trap Skiff. Beautiful to behold, shapely yet refined, able almost to a fault, and so seakindly that one doctor uses his regularly to calm some of his most excitable patients. Owners have sailed them on extensive offshore passages. One sailed from Sag Harbor near the tip of Long Island, NY out around Cape Cod and all the way to Islesboro, ME in Penobscot Bay. Another sailed his from Northern Ireland to the Paris Boat Show. Yet another sailed the inside passage to Alaska. There is little doubt that these are true sea boats.
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Their size and their high deep tuck are what make them more challenging to build than say, our Christmas Wherry. Still, they go together like any other traditional lapstrake boat. They have been built by other professionals here and abroad but also by home builders, so they are not beyond the capabilities of any determined and persistent builder.
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Her plans consist of lines and offsets, construction plan, and two sail plans (ketch rig and sloop rig), drawn to 1-1/2" scale. US$125
