Garvey 15 by Bateau.com

This design started with an old plan for plywood on frame. Somebody asked us if we could redesign it for stitch and glue, change the sheer line and modify the layout in the style of the old Boston Whaler®. At almost the same time, we had two requests for a boat in the style of the Bass Tracker®. Each of these boats had a garvey hull. Demands for Carolina Skiff® and Boston Whaler® type boats appear regularly in our email and we sketched several versions of Whaler type boats including a small Hickman's sled. This time, we decided to finish it.

We drafted a new hull based on the bass boat and the old plywood design with completely new lines for easy bending of plywood and 100% developability. The structural design is also 100% different: a true composite monocoque hull.

The new boat is 200 lbs lighter but stronger than an equivalent plywood boat. She is also much easier to build. The Boston Whaler® and the plywood boat to which we compare our design are, for the same length, 500 to 550 lbs!

The cockpit is self bailing: even with a heavy load, the sole stays well above the waterline, an unusual feature in a boat of this size.

Our boat has a cleaner and more efficient hull shape than the Boston Whaler®: a true vee hull with chines almost straight in plan view and a wide deck. It shows a good combination of stability with a roomy deck on a vee hull that will run much smoother than a Carolina Skiff®.

The program of the boat is clear: a comfortable, roomy and stable platform for family outings or fishing in protected waters. While the vee hull can take a nasty chop at high speed, she does not have enough freeboard for offshore use.

Thanks to her reduced weight, she will plane at the same speed than, for example, a Boston Whaler® but with much less HP and will use less fuel. She can be made 100% unsinkable with the addition of buoyancy foam.