I have read and re-read John's blog post on this several times over the last couple of weeks.  We are nearly ready to start our boating season here in Central Ohio, but there are enough days of boating-unsuitable weather to make this sort of boat-design daydreaming a necessary therapy for Boaters' Cabin Fever, a deadly variant of ordinary Cabin Fever.  <;-)

After reading the "NanoShip Sails" bit I spotted in the website banner slideshow today, I noticed that NanoShip was referred to as "PocketShip's smaller sister."  That tickled my memory about John wanting us to vote for something that might be considered PocketShip's bigger sister at the end of the Bigger PocketShip piece.  I re-read his ”Search for the Bigger Pocketship" once again, and entered a vote for the couple of concepts there, PocketShip 18-6 and PocketShip III, which I think have potential for becoming PocketShip's bigger sister.

John strikes me as a humble fellow, and I think he may be selling himself short on these.  First, I don't think the looks of PocketShip 18-6 are as "uninspiring" as he thinks.  With a bit of tweaking, maybe applying some design cues from NanoShip, I think it could develop into very nice looking boat.  Think of a NanoShip stretched to something bigger than PocketShip, and the concept begins to look something like the PocketShip III concept, though perhaps not as large.

Now, I know John stated that he thought PocketShip III was starting to look too much like Cornish Crabber's Shrimper 19, but I think there are a couple of important differences:

1. The Shrimper isn't a yawl.  A yawl is a mighty handy thing for a single-hander and especially for coastal cruising when the weather gets ugly.  We'd be getting into the size range here where there is enough deck length to make the yawl rig practical.  Other optional rigs are also possible: cat-yawl with balanced lug main, a cat-ketch with a small "steering cockpit" aft for the helmsman, and perhaps even a balanced lug "schooner" (like Bolger's St. Valery).  I had a Sea Pearl 21 cat-ketch for 23 seasons, and I can attest to the handiness of that rig and its ability to "lug what she won't carry" (Bolger's phrase) in squally weather.  My point is that none of this is possible with a used Shrimper.

2. If John's hypothetical PocketShip big sister had a stern like NanoShip, carrying a center-mounted outboard that way (seems like a great setup to me), it would be a better outboard motor setup than the Shrimper's off-center outboard well, I think.  Many of the Shrimpers have inboard diesels.  Probably a reason for that, but a well situated outboard is better probably suited for a boat that spends most of her life on a trailer.

I hope John will let his genius chew on this some, and maybe someday we'll get a kit for a home-built "PocketbookShip" as a worthy big sister to PocketShip and a lighter, slightly smaller, yawl rigged, good lookin' alternative for trying to find a decent Shrimper 19...and then trying to figure out how to get rid of a diesel engine and retrofit a motorwell!

Go for it, John.  We got faith in ya!

.....Michael S.