Plans from Duck Trap
Skiffs
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.
We offer several skiffs, each fulfilling it's own special niche: The Maine Skiff, the Lobsterman's Skiff, the Dory Skiff, and the Harbor Skiff.
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The one being built in the photo is the Maine Skiff. Those two teenagers built her in about a week and sold her to a local fisherman about an hour after they put her up for sale. This is basic boatbuilding at its finest and these skiffs been built by the hundreds since we drew her plans in '76.
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She's 9'7" overall with a 4'0" beam and is the ideal craft for youngsters, for getting in a spur-of-the-moment fishing trip in a local pond, or just for traveling back to your mooring. This one is cedar planked, but plywood works too and you don't even have to build her lapstrake. The single page plan (US$30) provides the dimensions for a single side panel.
No matter how you choose to build your skiff, you will find that her construction is straightforward. Early on we used the Maine Skiff in our teaching, and we even wrote a manual detailing her construction in 40 lessons that require about an hour apiece. The book includes the single page plan, all for US$45
Not only that, we also offer the lofting for the Maine Skiff. That's a full size plan drawing printed on rolled 36" wide paper. For this design you don't really need the plan and the lofting, but just in case you might feel better having the scale plan too, we include it with the lofting at no additional charge. US$85
This is the 9'0" Dory Skiff. Unlike our Maine Skiff this one's round sided.
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A pretty little thing, she's actually an unpublisherd Herreshoff design. The gentleman who commissioned us to build her had been L Francis' roommate at MIT, and it was drawn as a present for him. 50 years later, the roommate (who was himself an architect),drew her from memory and asked us to build her for his girlfriend. She loved it.
The Dory Skiff plans are drawn on two pages and include lines and offsets and construction plan. As a bonus scale plank patterns are included. US$55
The Lobsterman's Skiff is a variant of the Maine Skiff, designed to carry more of a load. She also has an optional sail plan that includes a sprit rig and a leeboard. The two page plan includes lines and offsets, construction details and sail plan and also scale plank patterns.Professional building time about 50 hrs.
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Hull Dimensions: LOA=9'-6" Beam=4'-6" Depth Amidships=1'-2 " Wt=68 lbs US$45
The Lumberyard Punt. A number of years ago we were asked to design a quick 'n dirty tender for use on the shores of Puget Sound. Because it was to take a daily beating on shingle beaches, it had to be cheap enough to be expendable...that meant easy to build with readily available materials. Hence her name. Everything in her can be purchased at your local lumberyard...or Home Depot if you really want to get exotic. Building time is 30 hours or less.
Hull Dimensions: LOA=8'-0" Beam=4'-4" Depth Amidships=1'-4 " Wt=65 lbs. US$30
The Harbor Skiff is considerably larger than the others on this page. In fact, she's 12' long with a 5' beam, and complete with floatation chambers. She's a pretty thing with her round sides, much like our Dory Skiff. This particular one doesn't have flotation chambers, but when they are wanted, they go under the fore and aft seats.
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The plan consists of a single page...only it's about 14' long and 3' wide, because she has been drawn full size and all construction details are included. That means there is no lofting required so you can get right to the building.
Hull dimensions: LOA = 12'-0" Beam = 5'-0" Depth Amidships = 1'-3" Wt = 85lbs
Harbor Skiff lofting. US$85
We also offer a full color Boatbuilding in Pictures book for the Harbor Skiff. It's 8.5"x11" overall, comb bound and 76 pages with 84 color photos, fully detailing her construction. To read more about the book, click here.