Sunshine -- A Tender and Lifeboat in One Pretty Packet
By Walter J. Simmons
Sunshine is a 10' 6" yacht tender. She can't be called unique, because her lines date from the early 1900s -- but she can be called a very special tender, because she outperforms so many of her kind.
How many really good yacht tenders do you suppose are in use today? I'm not asking about those that look so fine with their yacht finish; I'm more interested in tenders that are actually suited to their work. There are a good many different types in use, but that says little about the quality of their model. Small boats, like those who use them, can be classified as good, indifferent or poor.
Performance on the water should be the overriding criteria in the selection of any boat -- and this is especially true when considering a tender for use with a larger vessel. Unfortunately, price is often the first item considered, with overall size running a close second. That's a sad method for choosing a tender, and it could prove to be a dangerous method as well.
Once upon a time, larger craft carried with them what were called (and, in fact, were) lifeboats. When anyone selected a new lifeboat, be 10' or 20' in length, it was with an eye toward a possible emergency situation. In those days, if a boat wasn't a reasonable to excellent sea boat -- regardless of cost -- she was considered unfit for use as a lifeboat.
Times have changed. Today's pleasure craft in the 24' - 36' range are smaller than their predecessors. Smaller primary boats, of course, dictate smaller auxiliary craft as well. These smaller auxiliaries have come to be called "tenders." There is more than just a name change here, for there is a vast difference in connotation between the two terms.
A lifeboat, as such, may still be needed, but is that what we see around us? Just look at the tenders afloat: Many are flat - or nearly flat-bottomed, with little freeboard. They perhaps feature high initial stability but extremely questionable secondary stability.
I, for one, would hate to step off a larger craft in a sinking condition into such a boat, particularly with a good sea running. I doubt that anyone else would much relish the thought either, were they to reflect on it a bit.
On the water, a good tender is the best insurance available. It's unfortunate that today's tenders are thought of as little more than a conveyance between "The Boat" and the dock, or as carriers of ice, groceries, etc.
A really good yacht tender must first be able to handle the weather conditions it is likely to encounter. Further, it must be of a size that is compatible with the larger vessel, be light enough (under 100 lbs.} to be handled ashore and onto the larger vessel when necessary, and must be sufficiently strong to withstand the abuse normally absorbed by auxiliary craft.
Overall length is definitely a problem. Because it is difficult to design a boat of about 10' overall with sufficient bearing to carry a load and handle well at the same time. New tender designs have been, and are still being, developed, but it only makes sense to look at those existing tenders that have already proven themselves. Good yacht tenders are scarce, making the lines of the best ones that much more valuable.
The lines for Sunshine came to me in the form of the original boat. I had never before seen the original, so had to rely on her owner for her performance characteristics. CVL, as the original was known, was built in the Cherryfield, ( Me. ) area sometime around 1914. Unfortunately, I know little of her origin other than that, even the builder's name has been forgotten.
The owner claimed that CVL was the best tender he had ever used. When I received her, she was gone by in every sense but one -- she could still provide her lines. Taking the lines from a well-used boat can be a tedious job. Fifty-plus years on the water had taken their toll of her once-fair lines.
Measurements for lines are easily taken, but cannot be lofted without additional fairing of the waterlines -- that's where the tedium resides. Fortunately, due to a liberal sistering, CVL's sections were fair and therefore probably very close to what they had been initially. In any such case, the entire job of relofting revolves around establishing the original position of the keel, and then raising and lowering the individual section until the waterlines become fair.
Lofting always requires adjusting and readjusting, so the job really is little different from lofting a new boat from plans. The sole difference is that, here, I was working from measurements taken from an existing hull.
Sunshine, obviously, was the result -- and therefore the direct successor -- to the CVL. Because the new owner wanted his tender to be as much like the original as possible. I retained the original construction details as well. There was little justification for changing them anyway. Describing the building of Sunshine, then, will also describe CVL.
Sunshine was built upright on a straight strongback, with shims added to correspond to the slight rocker forward. The backbone consists of oak: a stem and forward knee sided 1 1/12", a 1 1/8" thick keel, a 1/2" keelson, and a 1 1/2" skeg and sternpost. The keel itself is very nearly straight in profile, with the skeg sandwiched between keel and keelson -- all three terminating at the sternpost.
The knee and skeg are bolted, but the keel and keelson are fastened together with 1 3/4" clench nails in pairs set at about 6" intervals. Not only was that a faster method then bolting throughout, but the clench nails were considerably less expensive than the 5/16" bronze carriage bolts I would normally use. The original boat had already confirmed that the clench nails would hold. (NBB note: We use bronze screws instead of clench nails.)
I call that 1/2"- thick and tapering 4" wide piece a keelson and doubtless will get an argument from some. The fact remains that it does lend rigidity to the keel while at the same time providing backing for the planking. Its name matters little.
For any who might consider building a similar tender, though, I do have one suggestion to make: It is best to steam the keelson aft so as to reduce its bending pressure on the keel. The bend required of the keelson is not great, but the steaming would be an asset in helping to relieve unnecessary internal pressures. I didn't steam mine, but if I had, the setting up of the backbone would have been easier.
Her lapstrake planking is of 3/8" native Maine white cedar, clench nailed. (NBB note: I use copper rivets.) Generally, short, full hulls are more difficult to plank than those with flatter waterlines. Sunshine is no exception. She has seven planks to a side, (NBB note: I build her with 8 planks per side.) and the first two must be steamed forward. The amount of lap beveling required is not extreme, and in all she planks readily for a 10 1/2' boat.
Because the garboard must fit its way around a tapered keel and then to a straight skeg, it has a rather curious shape to its lower edge. that's all part of building a boat and should be of little concern to anyone with a good spiling batten. The ribs are 7/16" x 1 1/18" oak, running from rail to rail where possible.
Such flat and relatively thin ribs are little problem to install once the planking is completed, as they bend readily. In the way of the forward knee, I simply set them as cant frames, so that they run with the planking and lay tight without having to resort to a great deal of twist midway between keel and sheer.
I could have used frames that were more nearly square in section, but there would have been no reason for doing so. These frames were spaced at 10" intervals, so that the additional strength of larger ribs was not required. The increased weight would have been detrimental.
The inboard joiner work is minimal and straightforward: one rowing position, and additional thwart fore and aft, and 1/2" pine floorboards. The floorboards are screw-fastened to the ribs. Removable floorboards are convenient when cleaning time comes, but definitely inconvenient should the tender get herself "washed out." At such time, the fewer free floating pieces of gear there are, the better.
Sunshine is not rigged to sail -- yet. She was intended to serve solely as a rowing tender. (NBB"s note: Walter has since built sailing Sunshines as do we.) I've added sail rig to the design primarily because both the owner and I know she can easily handle it. Happily, the added rig also serves to elevate her above the strict classification of "tender." She could still work as a tender with the sprit rig, as it is designed to stow within the boat, but additionally she could be used as a vessel unto herself.
I wish now that I had weighed her when she was completed, I didn't. I have moved her around some, though, and would estimate that her weight in no way exceeds 95 lbs. (NBB note: In fact rowing Sunshines weight in at aprox. 160lbs) That's not beyond the capabilities of many. Further, as it turned out, she can take a least as much abuse as her predecessor.
Sunshine was built in the spring of 1978 and was used throughout the season. In October, she was moored in Buck's Harbor ( Me. ) when one of our line gales struck. Sometime during that gale she parted her new 5/8" polypropylene painter (bending her 3/8" bronze bow eye nearly 30 degrees in the process) and headed for the rocks.
Several skiffs and tenders were destroyed that day, and more would have been without the work of an alert lobsterman. He noticed Sunshine on the rocks but was too busy with the larger boats in the harbor to help her right away.
He did get her off, though, when he had a chance an hour or more later. How long she actually pounded is open to conjecture. We do know that she had nearly 10" of water in her at the time.
Despite the pounding and the additional weight of the water, we found no structural damage whatever. Her cosmetic damage was considerable. Nearly all the paint on the hood ends of her garboards was gone. There was chafing damage to her cutwater, keel, skeg and starboard planking at the turn of the bilge -- but there were no cracked planks or ribs.
The accompanying photos were taken (NBB note: sorry I don't have the photos from the original article) after I refinished her in early December. She took a beating, but the important point is that she handled it without serious damage. Was it her construction? Partially, I suppose: mostly it was due to the design of the CVL which she followed.
In every respect Sunshine substantiated the original claims of CVL's owner. With her bright mahogany trim, she is a good deal fancier that her predecessor, but her lines don't dictate any such specification. She rows easily and carries a good load.
More that that, she is able and tows the way tenders are supposed to -- riding at the end of her painter without yawing, hitching or running down on the towing vessel. As her owner says, "She rides at the end of her line as if she was "painted" there.
In short, she performs all the functions required of a tender but can serve as a lifeboat as well, should the occasion arise.
This article originally appeared in The Small Boat Journal, August 1979.