NINI click here to read or make an observation about this  article
By Herb McLeod - Ottawa, Ontario - Canada
 
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NINI

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It has been many years since I have had the time or place build a boat. I had been living in an urban apartment but with the purchase of a cottage 50 km away I am, as they say, back in business. What we wanted for a new boat was a small motor boat in which to celebrate the still mornings and evenings with a cup of coffee or to go for a picnic on the water.

What we wanted for a new boat was a small motor boat in which to celebrate the still mornings and evenings with a cup of coffee or to go for a picnic on the water.

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Years ago in Messing About In BOATS (June 15, 1995) there was a design by Phil Bolger for a duded up flat iron skiff that he called Lake Launch. This boat was a planing hull and he specified a 6hp motor. I liked the ambiance of the boat but was thinking of powering it with my 2hp Yamaha outboard or with an electric trolling motor. Thus I used Mr. Bolger’s styling but drew my own hull lines for a displacement type hull. I placed 4 inches of rocker into the hull using the classic Howard Chapelle skiff profile recommendations. When I view the images of the boat I seem to have nailed the amount of rocker I wanted for the intended load in the boat. The photo with Liz and me in the hull (above) shows the bow just clearing the water. I know if the bow is buried in a wave it can be associated with handling problems but our lake is well protected by 100 meter high hills and is only a kilometre and a half long. I was looking for a very quiet boat and my experience with my AF3 sharpie is that when the bow is high above the water and the boat level, there can be considerable noise generated by wave slap. If I was to go with the electric trolling motor and the weight of a couple of batteries I should probably have had 6 inches of rocker in the hull.

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The boat is named Nini after my mother’s cousin who celebrated her 100 birthday this summer (2006) in Nice France.

The stern is not entirely pleasing to my eye as I find it a bit boxy. If I was to build this boat again I would place a convex curve in the surface on the stern decks curving downwards and ending the deck at a sharp angle with the bottom.

The boat is named Nini after my mother’s cousin who celebrated her 100 birthday this summer (2006) in Nice France.

The wicker basket is an interesting idea from a friend and it works very well. My dog Daisy loves being aboard the boat and the basket provides a safe perch beside me that she really seems to enjoy. It also keeps her secure and out of my way. I have the basket secured to the boat with a shock cord.

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