The Shilshole 27 model...

Eric suggested I build a model before tackling the full-sized boat.  Building the model did give me a better idea of what the finished full-sized boat would look like and the sequence of the steps during the construction.   The various pieces of the model were cut out of thin aircraft plywood by Brandon Davis at Turn Point Design on his NC machine, just like the bigger boat.   The pieces were stitched together with wire on a building jig, aligned correctly, and then glued.

The model has most all of the features of the full-
sized boat except for the keel trunk, rudder,  and rigging.

More messing around in boats...

Barb and I had a great visit to Dungeness Bay in August of 2008.  She has a single rowing shell and I was out in my first stitch-and-glue project, a Pygmy Coho kayak.

Meet Prospect...

I had lot's of help with this project.  Eric's dad, Ted Jolley, put in countless hours.

Here's the design with a modified rudder.  The scribbles at upper left
are my positions on the waiting list at Shilshole Marina.  After years
of waiting I finally got a slip but sailed to Juneau after a few months.

Here is the hull upright out in the countryside near Castroville, CA - the artichoke
capitol of the world.  The hull was built of ferrocement on a male mold upside down.
Turning it right side up was a real project.

Sailing on a beautiful day somewhere in French Polynesia.

Rigged as a cutter with 1 reef in

Messing around in boats...

I've always liked the water.  My dad and I spent many hours fishing on lakes in Montana.  Fishing didn't stick with me, but being on and around the water did.  When I first experienced salt water in my junior year of high school I was hooked.
My first serious boat was "Prospect", a Sampson 37' cutter built of ferrocement that I started in Monterey, California in the 1970's.  Prospect was very comfortable and reliable, but not very fast.  I took her to SE Alaska for a few years and on July 5, 1982 Barb and I left Juneau coasting down the west coast to Cabo San Lucas by New Years.  Our first long ocean passage was to the Tuamotus, then on to the Marquesas, Tahiti, and Bora Bora.  The return trip to Seattle was via Hawaii.
Barb and I started a family in Poulsbo and have two wonderful girls, Katie and Anna.  I was spending more time maintaining Prospect than sailing her so we sold her.  She is now "Serendipity".  I was now without a boat and temporarily filled the void with a stitch-N-glue kayak, the Coho design from Pygmy in Port Townsend.
Several years ago I got this itch to build another boat.  I wanted something smaller and faster that I could put on a trailer.  A multi hull seemed to fit the bill and I was attracted to the F-22 trimaran designed by Ian Farrier.  It features folding arms from the main hull to the amas so that it can be put on a trailer when out of the water.  I bought the plans and visited Andrew (Andrew's F-22) in Seattle who is building an F-22.  My nephew, Eric Jolley, and his partner Paul Bieker invited me over to their office to look over the F-22 plans.  Eric and Paul are the real deal, having worked on significant parts of the BMW Oracle trimaran that won the last America's Cup.  For the last few years they have been kicking around the idea of an updated Thunderbird, a very successful design that was popular with home builders.  They convinced me that I should build this new boat, the Shilshole 27.  This blog will record the construction of my Shilshole 27 and will hopefully help other builders of this great design.  Here we go...AAn race course.