Jim Michalak's Boat Designs

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Jim Michalak's Boats

Tween, built by Ed Heins
Toto, built by Tom Raidna
Twixt, sail plan from the blueprints
Harmonica, prototype built by Chris Crandall
Jukebox2, from Jim's Catalog of Prototypes
Pencilbox
Cubit
Eisbox, from Jim's Catalog of Prototypes
Jim's own web page: Essays, construction, new designs, news from builders,
prototypes, the AF4 power sharpie, and too much to list.

Tween

Tween is a 7-1/2-foot by 4-ft sailing dink: two sheets of 1/4-inch plywood.

Toto

SPARTAN, built by Tom Raidna: get the scoop on Tom's Home Boatbuilders Page.

Twixt

Twixt is 12ft by 4ft and can be rigged with a lugsail or a lateen. There are hatches in the fore and aft flotation compartments.

Harmonica

Photos on Jim's web site, as well as plans for Shanteuse, a larger sister.

This is a lake cruising, gunkholing shantyboat, 13ft by 5ft, with two compartments, a front porch and a 'slot top'. For an outboard less than 10hp or a trolling motor. Chris Crandall built the first and outfitted it in what we might term Shantyboater-Victorian style. He says it's been quite successful, after they got the sliding glass doors back on the basement, that is.

Jukebox2

This 19-ft camp cruiser and day sailer is something like Bolger's mysterious AS19 sharpie. It has the same "step-through" transom bow for running right up on the beach. And gives you a lot of space for the boat's overall length.

I have a passion for Sam Crocker's STONE HORSE, or for that matter just about any flushdecked sailboat.
: This is a very rough sketch of how I'd extend the sides forward in an incredible simulation of that style. Having looked at Jim's plans, this would be easy to do.

This shows, approximately, the cabin area (dark), the aft well, cockpit, foredeck and fore well (medium) and aft stowage (light). You can put portlights anywhere. The low round portlights wouldn't open, but they would help light up the interior.

Jukebox2, 19 feet by 6 feet.

Pencilbox

: Jim's lightweight15.5ft Pencilbox design as built by Gary Bustemonte. Notice the slick windowed cuddy cabin.
: Jim calls this a "beachboat" and you can walk right through the open-top cabin and out over the bow transom.
: I get the impression she could be rigged to sail either direction without much ado except moving the rudder to the bow and giving her a small foremast at the "stern".
: Maybe there's an idea. If you have to motor, you remove the rudder, drop the sail, attach a small outboard to the bow, and motor off backwards.

This design is simplicity itself, a rockered, flare-sided sharpie.

Pencilbox, 15-1/2 feet by 5 feet, eight sheets of plywood.

Cubit
: The bow isn't quite that abruptly angled, it's an artifact of the low-res scan I created and then tried to clean up a little. It's another of Jim's boats with a bit of that funky sampan look.

Cubit is 13 feet by 4 feet, a beachboat with a cuddy cabin, only slightly longer than the Peero, but more of a little cruiser. Six sheets of plywood (that's about $60).

Eisbox

Here's one of Jim's prototypes, apparently commissioned but never built. It's a 16-foot by 6-foot beachable cruiser.
: I decided it would look nice with a junk rig. The Chinese battened sail moves the center of effort back a bit, so this boat would probably have more weather helm than Jim's original rig (below).
: One fix would be to make the mast adjustable so it could be raked forward. Another would be to add a small foresail like the twakow or the Chesapeake Bay's stick-up rig.
: Another fix would be to fit a Chinese hoisting rudder, and drop the rudder deeper as needed to neutralize the helm. Or maybe just tilt the leeboard back.

Jim's original Eisbox rig.

Another easy to build, very simple scow hull. Note the optional "bowboard".

Eisbox, 16 feet long and 6 feet wide, almost a shantyboat, or maybe it's a Hobie 16 for the more contemplative types.

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1.2 09/11/97
1.3 06/15/98
 
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