A thing of beauty!

You do know how to draw a fine lookin' boat, John.  Mercy.  Reminds me of a Lyman runabout of about that size owned by a friend of mine in Fremont, Michigan.

.....Michael

Be still my boat building heart!

Scott  

  Yesterday I stopped myself from making my one very minor critique (more of a suggestion) on the design, I was going to just let it go.  Then today when I saw the Lyman comment I found that I can't help myself, because I had the exact same thought.  This design reminds me of a Lyman runabout I once knew.  Learned to water ski in the 1970's in Michigan behind a (too small, actually) Lyman.  My family had a 13' Boston Whaler with a 35 hp, a friend had the Lyman runabout that looked a lot like this CLC boat. I think it also had a 35 hp.  The friend also had a pontoon boat.  We'd put as many gas cans as we could afford, and friends as we could round up (ALWAYS room for extra girls) on the pontoon boat, find the calmest corner of the lake, anchor the pontoon boat and ski our arms off.  As we grew bigger we had to learn how to slalom start VERY efficienlty with a one leg drag and deeply bent ski-leg knee.  A hard cut could drag the tail end of these little boats around pretty significantly, but hey, you dance with who you came with.  Lots of fond memories.  

Now the critique (John, if you're reading...) Folks will have to get up on the foredeck for dock landings & etc..  On a boat this size (small and light) walking/crawling outboad down a gunwale probably son't be an option, you'll have to stay pretty much centerline.  I haven't checked old pictures to verify whether the sketched windscreen is traditional, and it might be low enough to conveniently step over, but a 3-part windscreen that has the center piece that swings open might be a consideration (and of course the windscreen might not even be a part of the boat kit and left up to the builder/owner to select).  The windscreen and perhaps a centerline step, or even a deck-supporting post with step, thus making it easier to climb onto the foredeck.  This post might allow the deck-supporting dashboard/bulkhead/support beam arrangements and materials to be less beefy or the dashboard to be thinner in vertical height (if desired).  Of course the trade-off is slightly restricting access to the cuddy.

Just thoughts to consider and you probably know best, anyway.  Good luck on the project.  

Wow, ya’ll move fast!   

Awesome boat! Just beautiful lines! Showed the wife and she says sell the pontoon boat and build now. After a plans built pocketship, Nesting Eastport Pram, Kit Oxford shell and Waterlust canoe this project doesn’t seem to difficult. Watched much of the video assembly and it appears straight forward CLC quality fit and construction.

Really hoping for plans or kit soon.  I’m all in for a new project as my boat building addiction has waned.

Slick95, I’d love to hear more about your Waterlust project!

I fell in love with that project when it first got a showng here, lobbied hard for it as a kit before buying maybe the first one to come off the CNC a couple years ago. Alas I knew then it’d be awhile before I got space enough (and heat!) to put it together so it’s still a kit as I key this in.

Bought sails for it earlier so I’m quite serious.

Where’bouts you happen to be situated? I’m in west central WI, high on a ridge in what’s referred to as the Driftless Region, about 18 miles from the Mississippi river.

This forum doesn’t feature a private messaging capability though so it’d have to be out in the open (maybe on one of the Waterlust threads here) or we exchange e-mail adresses somehow?

spclark,  i would be happy to discuss my Waterlust build. I photographed the project so I can share pictures as well. The project is nearly complete with only final painting, some varnish work and rigging. I’m in central Texas, north of Austin. Not sure how to share email but you could have a look at my Pocketship picture blog and contact me through it as it is not so widely public. Link:             http://sailboatbuild.blogspot.com/2017/05/florida-120-may-2017.html                             

Jeff 

Bubblehead wrote:

>> Folks will have to get up on the foredeck for dock landings & etc..  On a boat this size (small and light) walking/crawling outboad down a gunwale probably son't be an option, you'll have to stay pretty much centerline.  I haven't checked old pictures to verify whether the sketched windscreen is traditional, ... <<

It's traditional. Google "wooden runabout boat" and you will see lots of them with fixed windshields.

To get around the docking problem you bring the bow line around the windshield on one side or the other and into the cockpit. That allows one to hop out onto the dock with bowline in hand - no need to climb over the bow.

Come to think of it, we do the same thing with our more modern runabout that has no windshield. You want the end of the line in the cockpit anyway so it doesn't fall overboard and drag under the boat.

Our runabout has no windshield because we do beach picnics a lot. Much easier to get dogs and kids in and out over the bow, where there's firm footing, than over the side where there's water. Especially when you have a dog that doesn't do water. ;-)

Clearly some people like it one way, some people like it the other.

John -- would an electric motor be feasible on this beautiful craft? Perhaps battery weight and effect on trim would be the only issues?

And perhaps with some not insignificant modification one could even put such a thing in a motor well under a deck behind the rear seats, to make it look more like the earlier inboard runabouts of the '30s??

Cheers,

Marcus

Reviving this thread.

What it the status of the client build (splashed yet?) and will we see this design in the Developement Projects list?

I’m very interested! Hope others are as well. 

Jeff

   So according to the thread updating the “Development Projects” the only thing preventing this boat from being available for builders is an instruction manual.  I am jonsing to build this one and I am completely confident that with just a set of plans and a kit I could build this without any problems.  I can and would also loft it myself, but I would rather work from a kit than spend a week driving a saber saw.  I have been looking at runabout plans on another website and was already to build one of them but I like the CLC better.  I am softy for the lapstrake hull.  I too grew up surrounded by Lymann boats.  BTW one of the coolest things on may of their models was cable steering with small metal wheels on the starboard rail so you could operate the boat from both the pilot seat or rear seat.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't remember jumping up on the foredeck of a small boat when docking. At 73, I'm now even less likely to do it. With the bowline secured to a bow cleat and coiled in front of the windscreen, one merely grabs the free end of the line and steps on to the dock to tie it off to a cleat there. Flip it through the appropriate bow cleat before taking up the slack and you're done. It's even easier if there's someone on the dock to toss it to. Appropriate use of a springline is recommended.

Cheers,

Dick

This is very much a live project. Here are excerpts of the 30-page plans package on which Dillon has been toiling.

John you are a tease and you are getting me excited.  I have been looking at the Glen-L zip but I like this design better for two reasons.  I like the lapstreak look and I like one cockpit better than two.  

Beautiful boat John!  Reminds me of the Lymans that I grew up on.  Any thoughts regarding designing an optional hardtop?  I recently read your SCA article on the C-Dory 16 and I am sold on something similar.   

   I wonder about putting a 12 gallon fuel tank so far aft. I grew up, water skiing behind a 14' boat with a 35hp motor -- later ugraded to 50hp. We always kept the fuel tank as far forward as possible. Of course, the 50ph motor weighed down the transom much more than a modern 25hp would do. Still, I'd probably want that weight farther forward. Am I missing something?

   Birch2, remember that each and every boat designed and built is a compromise among an enormous number of variables.  In the first line of the original post, John stated the comission was for a "small runabout of traditional design."  I agree with a number of the earlier posters that CLC has clearly knocked this one way out of the ball park.  A beautiful, light runabout.

I've owned tournament ski boats for almost five decades.  They are a compromise to achieve particular wake shapes at certain distances behind their sterns at specific speeds.  They include things like multiple fins to help keep them going in a straight line while towing an agressive skier, swim platforms to allow tired skiers easier access climbing back aboard, dedicated and beefed up tow posts, 300-hp or so engines, and 3,000-lb ready-for-sking weights.  None of these characteristics appear to be included in this design.  I'm guessing the new owners didn't even mention water skiing in their design brief.

If the owners indicated the adults, or older children, would be more likely to be up front so they could feel the wind in their teeth while messing about in their new boat, then putting the fuel tank aft with the lighter children would make a lot of sense.  And would keep the fuel line out of more of the bilge.

The beauty of building your own boat is that you have a direct impact on how you fit out and use your build.  As mentioned by a previous poster, when skiing behind a light boat, an aggressive skier can easily pull a light tow boat around.  Using a small boat, designed to be lightweight, for water sking can be done, but is a poor compromise, especially for such a pretty boat as being discussed here.  Happy and safe boating to you for this new year.

   Ootdb,

I wasn't trying to argue that it should be a slalom ski boat, just stating relevant experience with a boat of similar size. Getting the weight forward helps.

By the way, back in the 1970s I was doing toe-hold side slides, wake-toe 180s, and wake stepovers behind our 14-foot ski boat.

Agreed this runabout is a pleasure cruiser, but if I built one, I'd most likely experiment with placement of the gas tank.

>>>>>I'd most likely experiment with placement of the gas tank.

Hey, we're expecting to experiment with the placement of the gas tank!

We think it's right as shown, but we'll find out...

I note that this is a very light hull compared to ski boats and that ilk. It's designed to run with a much smaller and lighter motor---including electric motors as those continue to get better.

What do you guys think of the all-new plans format? The above is the first public sneak look at the graphic approach developed here by Dillon Majoros.

More about the Runabout here.

Yes, it will have some proper name, not "CLC Runabout."

   Kudos to Dillon for his fine work and much appreciation to John for allowing Dillon to further extend his wings.  Looks good.  I hope his hair doesn't turn gray as he builds the boat in his head and tries to imagine all the pitfalls a novice builder might stumble into.

Birch2, I worked for a number of years, beginning in the late 60s, at a Florida ski school where we taught/coached three-event and show skiing and hosted state-level tournaments.  Your tenacity to learn toe-wake tricks behind a boat with a minimal wake is impressive.  Moving fuel tanks and batteries around to help balance the performance of a small boat is helpful.  As is moving passengers around to balance a wake.  We would sometimes move passengers as a favor to a friend (boy wanted to get closer to a girl) or in hopes of a better tip (parent wanted girl separated from a boy).  Fun times, long gone, but still remembered.

The color highlights on the plans would be extremely helpful.  Great idea.

.....Michael

   The plans look great.

I find that new style highly appealing, it's a perfect base to build the boat in the head several times, and then in reality. 

   John, I think the design is terrific. And from a design point of view, I agree that a gas tank hidden near the transom is best. From a performace point of view, I prefer a 6 gallon tank on a long hose. Move it where you need it. When skiing behind our 14' boat (also extremely light), we placed the tank just behind the passenger seat to slightly balance the weight of the driver and make the boat plane out more easily than it did when that weight was further aft.

ootdb, I'm about your age I think. I started trick skiing seriously as a teenager in about 1963. One day my Dad brought to our summer cabin in northern Wisconsin a copy of Al Tyll's book Water Skiing. It had instruction on doing all the tricks he knew with a cute little estimate of the number of falls it took to learn each trick. In addition to the toe tricks I mentioned, I was able to master the one-ski wake 360 and the two-ski wake back-to-back off the the minimal wake of our 14' boat. Those small boats and small wakes can be mighty nice for trick skiing. The minimal turbulence meant I could do side slides right behind the motor.

I don't think anyone should automatically discount the fun that can be had skiing behind a boat like the CLC runabout -- but it would need a beefy enough transom to handle a 50hp motor. Bubblehead was making a similar point earlier in this thread when he reminisced fondly about long afternoons skiing behind a 13' Boston Whaler.

   I keep logging into CLC's website to see if this kit made it to market yet!

   What level building experience would be suggested for a boat like this? I know the other guy suggests one be skilled at boat building for their runabout.

CLC does an amazing job making their designs very accessible to newbie builders.  I suspect that over half their sales are to first-time builders.  Their manuals are great and this forum is an amazing resource.  If you're competent with hand and basic power tools you will be able to build this boat.  Also, if you're new to epoxy, you can always do small parts first to get the hang of it.  Worst case scenario, if you mess something up, you go buy another sheet of okoume, trace out the original part, cut it out and start over.  Reading the manual before you start to wrap your head around the process and watching a bunch of build videos will also help immensely.  The steps are all very similar, even for completely different boats.

Here's my build video.

   Any updates?  I'd love this design/kit to be my 4th boat build.  It would be fantastic if you made CNC cut wooden windshield brackets to go with the kit. I'll be patiently waiting for when I can pick a kit up.  

   I just decided to call CLC and ask my question above right from the source.  I think it was John himself that answered.  With Covid, like most recreational outdoor equipment suppliers, he stated clc is busy keeping up with demand and development of the runabout this summer took a back-seat unfortunately.  He seemed excited about it and was patient in answering a few questions about it.  They definitely still plan to kit it but they need to sea-trial/make any required changes and finish the instruction manual.  We talked about projected performance and projected price point of the kit and both sounded quite favorable.  He stated he hoped perhaps it would be ready middle of next year.  I'll place and order and drive to MD to pick up a runabout kit just as soon as its available!