Flying Mouse Free Plans

Free plans. To download the file, click HERE

Flying Mouse is an exercise to develop just about the smallest, cheapest possible sailing boat I can conceive. As a result, it's not a boat to which you can safely trust your life in any sort of waves - as anyone who climbs into a Flying Mouse will quickly realise. Nevertheless, and I think it is capable of providing hours of summer fun in a strictly supervised environment, which isn't bad for a boat this cheap to build.

My guess is that Flying Mouse can quickly be knocked up in 24-40 hours of work, using the kitchen table as a workbench if you have to. The main material is intended to be 1/4in hardwood ply; the main hull takes one sheet, while the remainder is intended come out of an extra one and a half sheets. The framing should probably be inch by half inch or so pine, although just about any cheap lumber will probably do. The stitch and glue should be epoxy and glass tape; other glues may be of cheaper varieties such as polyurethane.

The mast is marked as being tapered, although I suspect that a straight-sided closet pole could serve.

Please refer to David Grey's Polysail website or other authoritative source for instructions on how to make suitable sails.

An email discussion group for builders and users of this boat has been created at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mouseboats

This zip file includes:

• a gif showing the lines
• construction details in both gif and dxf forms
• coordinates for cutting out the ply material for both hull and decking using a batten
• a table of offsets for Flying Mouse
• a Hulls file for Flying Mouse
• this readme file

All drawings copyright Gavin Atkin, Tunbridge Wells, April 2001

Contact: gmatkin@gmail.com