Pocket Ship

Product Description

The Pocketship is a fast-sailing pocket cruiser with a dry and commodious interior.

This is one dandy looking little boat. It's shapely, with lots of sheer, a pugnacious bow profile and sweet overall hull lines.

Robert H. Perry, Sailing, June 2009

John Harris, the designer, has developed a fast-sailing pocket cruiser with a dry and commodious interior. PocketShip is quick and easy to build being a stitch-and-glue plywood construction. The cockpit is laid out for daysailing comfort and is large enough for sleeping on warm nights. Auxiliary propulsion is a pair of oars which will drive the boat at a couple of knots when the wind doesn't suit. (The builder can fit the boat with an outboard motor.)

Interior arrangements are ample, we think bigger and more comfortable than anything else this size, without compromising Pocketship's looks and performance. Two adults may sleep below or wait out a rain shower, and a portable head can be stowed beneath the cockpit, sliding forward into the cuddy for use. The enclosed area of the cabin is identical to an average four-man tent but drier, more private and more secure.

PocketShip is stiff and fast and tacks through 90 degrees. The helm is light and the boat will spin nearly in its own length in both light and heavy air and with a variety of sail combinations.

The first boat was built and painted with the spars fitted in about 525 hours. The typical amateur builder might require about 30 weekends and occasional evenings to complete this boat. The plans comprise 11 pages of architectural drawings, and full-sized patterns for nearly every part in the boat. The manual is 280 pages with nearly 800 images and drawings showing construction step-by-step. Plans and manual are in both metric and Imperial measurements. This kit is no more difficult to build than our other kits but there are many more parts: practice on a smaller vessel would speed things up but it is by no means essential.

The hull kit includes:

• Pre-cut hull panels, bulkheads, decks, keel, rudder, centreboard and plywood components
• Pre-drilled bulkheads and panels for assembly with wire ties
• Wire ties
• Most of the solid timber parts for the basic hull
• Wood for the spars
• The pre-cut parts for the building cradle
• Epoxy system
• Epoxy fillers
• Woven glass fabric
• Lead Ballast
• 11 pages of architectural drawings
• 280 page comprehensive building manual

The basic hull kit does not include:

• Sails
• Hardware

This kit weighs about 400 kg and requires a specialised courier. The price of delivery will vary with your address thus you should contact us to obtain a quotation. Delivery to England will be about £160. You are, of course, very welcome to collect the kit from our Lake District workshop.

Study Manual

This is for builders who want to study the building process before committing to the purchase of the kit. With almost 800 photos and diagrams and comprehensive explanations in plain English, no pocket cruiser project has ever been documented quite so thoroughly. This manual is included in the kit.

If, later, you decide to purchase the kit the cost of this printed manual will be deducted from the kit price.

This manual does not contain the plans of the panels with the cutting instructions so it is not possible to build the boat from scratch using only this manual.

Plans, manual, epoxy and fabric

This is for builders who want to build the PocketShip from scratch.

PocketShip plans include 116-feet of full-sized patterns for all plywood parts in the hull (and many other parts besides), and 11 pages of traditional scaled architectural drawings including sails and spars. The instruction manual is 280 pages The manual walks you through construction from cutting out the plywood to rigging, with almost 800 photos and diagrams. Plans and instructions are in both metric and imperial measurements.

This package includes:

• 11 pages of architectural drawings
• 280 page comprehensive building manual
• Epoxy Resin
• Epoxy Activator
• Epoxy Measuring/Dispensing Pumps
• Epoxy Fillers
• Woven glass fabric
• Woven glass tape

The above are in sufficient quantities to build the boat.

This package does not include any of the wood or hardware required to build the boat.

(All of our prices include VAT)