20' Isle of Gigha

A client who had already built the 14' Morning Tide Pocket Cruiser asked me to design a 20' double ended 'pocket ship' for him and the Isle of Gigha is the result.

In such a short length she has room for 4 berths for day/weekend sailing plus a wc compartment and small galley. For longer trips she would be an ideal 2 berth cruiser with plenty of storage space.

Construction is ply over frame, clinker ply or stitch and tape - both would be completed over a slotted ply framework of longitudinal girders and bulkheads/frames. Construction starts with 3 sub assemblies - bow, stern and a centre section which incorporates a ply box keel (later filled with scrap ballast. As an alternative a simple keel of steel box filled with scrap lead can be used. Planking is then started using whichever method you want over the framework which at this stage is upside down on a building jig/strongback.

She has a shapely and attractive double ended hull with a narrow flat bottom hull panel (making construction easier) and 4 further planks per side.

She uses 25 sheets of 9mm, 3 sheets of 12mm and 2 sheets of 25mm plywood in her construction. LOD 20' (6.10m); Beam 8'’ (2.44m); Draft 3’6’’ (1.06m); Sail Area 309 sq.ft (28.74 sq.m); Displacement to DWL 4190lbs (1900Kg).

Isle of Gigha Particulars