Plans & Kits - Plans by designer - Jim Michalak - Sailboats - Page 1

AF2 Plans

AF2 is the ancestor of both the AF3 and the AF4. The prototype was built by Richard Spelling of Sand Springs, Oklahoma.AF2 is almost 5' longer than AF3, and is 6" wider and deeper. The result is a boat that is a bit more of a cruiser than a day sailer...

AF3 Plans

AF3 plans come with two sailplans: the original sharpie spritsail (as seen in the photo below) and a balanced lugsail option. AF3, CUDDY SHARPIE, 16' X 5', 250 POUNDS EMPTY The AF3 (the original design study was called "Alison's Fiddle") prototype was...

Blobster Plans

Blobster has a lot of features I like in a boat. Lots of volume for its size, sort of like Micro or Scram Pram. The multichine shape is almost exactly like Scram's but this one does not have a Birdwatcher cabin. It has the more traditional cabin with a...

Caprice Plans

BACKGROUND...About 15 years ago I built a Payson Canoe and used it for several years before selling it. I replaced it about 10 years ago with my Toto double paddle canoe. Toto has the same multichine cross section as the Payson Canoe but I tried for a...

Caroline Plans

SAILBOAT, 18' X 6', 750 POUNDS EMPTY Caroline started as a blend of Philsboat and Frolic2. The idea was for a little more cabin room than Philsboat and hopefully with the same seakeeping ability that Frolic2 has demonstrated. I made it a...

Catbox Plans

Note: You can purchase Catbox plans by using the "Add to Cart" button above, or you can download a free PDF file containing the plans by clicking HEREIn recent years I've seen several PDR boats at our Rend Lake meets. Chuck Leinweber asked me to...

Cormorant Plans

CORMORANT, CABIN SAILBOAT, 32' X 8', 2500 POUNDS EMPTY Cormorant is the largest boat I've ever designed. I always warn folks to think twice and three times before building a big boat because you can buy a good used glass boat for less, maybe a lot less...

DarcyBryn Plans

CABIN SAILBOAT, 15' X 6', 800 POUNDS EMPTY Darcy Bryn is the new name of the "Billsboat" project that was discussed here a while back (see the November 2009 back issues). The idea was for a solo cruiser with good rough water capabilities. The issue of...

Deansbox Plans

Deansbox was designed for Dean McClure down in Key West. Dean had an interesting background in boats including a Dovekie and a Chapelle sharpie (junk rigged, to boot). He was looking for a daysailing boat for his shallow area, small enough for easy...

Family Skiff Plans

The Family Skiff is large enough to swallow up three men or maybe a family with two kids. She has two benches that are 7' long and there should be plenty of room for all. I would say her fully loaded maximum weight might be 900 pounds and her empty...

Fatcat 2 Plans

Fatcat2 is still really a prototype boat even though I can show photos of a completed boat. What happened is that the builder, who is in his mid 80's, was taking the prototype to the lake to test when it was damaged in a road accident. It's been repaired...

Frolic2 Plans

The photo shows the prototype Frolic2 built by Larry Martin of Coos Bay, Oregon. Larry built the boat quite quickly this past winter including sewing the sail to the instructions given in the plans. He reported sailing it for the first time on a ripping...

Gizmo Plans

I'm finding out folks talk about proas like they talk about sex. Most talk about it a lot more than they do it. The ones who do it a lot don't talk about it.Gizmo was designed at the urging of Craig O'Donnell who edits the Cheap Pages. In there is a...

Hapscut Plans

SAILING PRAM, 18' X 6.5', 450 POUNDS EMPTY Hapscut, Sailboat, 18' X 6.5', 450 POUNDS EMPTY In 2010 I was lucky enough to sail the TX200 with Chuck Leinweber in his Caprice. Chuck had me design Laguna just for this event and the Laguna fleet did quite...

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HC Skiff Plans

HC Skiff is a rework of a "typical sharpie skiff" that appears on page 101 of Howard Chapelle's great book AMERICAN SMALL SAILING CRAFT. I can almost say that if you own only one book about small sailing boats that this is the one to have. The lines of...

IMB Plans

IMB features a "Birdwatcher" cabin, full length with panoramic windows and a center walkway slot in the roof. Everyone rides inside. This style of boat was invented by Phil Bolger in the early 1980's.These boats can be self righting with minimal, or no,...

Jewelbox Jr. Plans

This is Jewelbox Junior, a 15' version of the original 19' Jewelbox built a while back by Karl James in Texas. That Jewelbox went all over the US and parts of Canada and I understand was sold a few years ago to someone in Florida and replaced by a larger...

Jewelbox Plans

Here is a boat that is supposed to be self righting to a great degree without ballast! Jewelbox has the combination proven by Bolger's Birdwatcher of high sides with a thick bottom and low down crew weight to act as ballast. Karl James told me his boat...

Jukebox2 Plans

The Jewelbox and the Jukebox2 are both "inspired" by the Bolger AS19, having the same size and boxy shape. They all have the same mainsail, too, although the AS19 has a mizzen and mounts the main as a gaff sail instead of as a balanced lug. The actual...

Jukebox3 Plans

This one is the third iteration of a design called Jukebox that I drew about 1990. The first had the same hull as Jewelbox but had the solid cabin, aft deck and ballast of the usual small cruiser boat. Jukebox2 was the same only slightly narrower at the...

Ladybug Plans

Ladybug is a lot like Woobo which was one of my first designs. There was a Woobo near here for a while. I never got to sail it but was told it would really fly. (That boat was made of Lauan plywood from Home Depot which fell to pieces after rainwater...

Laguna Plans

DOWN IN TEXAS....They started a "cruise", not really a race, 200 miles up the protected waters of the intercoastal waterway. They say the wind blows strong and from such a direction that you reach or run the whole way and usually in smooth water. The...

Mayfly 12 Plans

Mayfly12 is a small general purpose row/sail skiff based on the lines of the traditional flat iron skiffs of 100 years ago. By that I mean she has a nearly vertical stem, flaring sides from the midsection to the stern, and a raking stern. And she has...

Mayfly 14 Plans

Mayfly14 is a straight forward flat bottomed plywood skiff for sailing and rowing. She's easy to build because her planks have no twists. That means that the chine log and wale bevels are constant for all practical purposes and can be presawn before...

Mayfly 16 Plans

Mayfly16 is large enough to swallow up three men or maybe a family with two kids. She has two benches that are 7' long and there should be plenty of room for all. I would say that her fully loaded maximum weight might be 900 pounds and her empty weight...

Mikesboat Plans

Mikesboat is a big Piccup Pram. It is slightly narrower in proportion. The idea was to have something like Piccup that was large enough to take the family so she has two bench seats 8' long. It should be a good expedition solo boat with a boom tent...

Mixer Plans

Mixer is a stab at mixing some features of my prams with the features of the original Roar rowboat. The prototype Mixer was built to perfection by David Boston of Factoryville, Pa. That's him sailing on vacation in Maine.Mixer's beam is half way between...

Mixer2 Plans

Eventually I tweaked Mixer to have a "through the water" bow. It's the same change that Roar went through to become Roar2. I called the new boat Mixer2 and here are some lines of it.The rest of the boat is identical to Mixer although it appears that I...

Moby Dink Plans

Moby Dink was one of my first projects. I built and used the prototype for a few years before selling it to a man who uses it to tend his farm pond. If I were to do this one again I wouldn't change the hull at all but would try the small lateen that I...

Musicbox2 Plans

...its the same as Musicbox3 but with a bow transom. Musicbox2 looks a lot like a shallow draft Micro and that's what she's supposed to be. I helped build a Micro a few years back and have spent several hours sailing one in both light and heavy winds...

Musicbox3 Plans

Musicbox3 is about the same size as the Bolger Micro and is clearly derived from it. I've sailed on a couple of Micros. Amazing boat in a lot of ways, especially in the amount of room inside a 15' boat. The volume is the result of a 6' wide beam and flat...

Normsboat Plans

CABIN SAILBOAT, 18' X 5-1/2", 600 POUNDS EMPTY Normsboat was designed for Norm Wolf of Washington D.C. to join a group of trailer traveling shallow water sailors. He wanted the ability to motor and self rescue in a knockdown. Simplicity of...

OliveOyl Plans

OliveOyl was designed for someone who liked AF3 but wanted more cabin room and comfort, but not more length. So I actually had some AF4breve drawings handy when I drew the lines for the new boat. Although Olive is the same length as AF3 the cabin is...

Paulsboat Plans

I had a request from Paul Moffitt, of the famous sailing Moffitts, for a sailing canoe. Now, a "sailing canoe" can mean a lot of different things. But to me the sailing canoes that you read about from the late 1800's were what we both had in mind. I had...

Petesboat Plans

This boat was designed for Pete James, brother of Karl James who built the original Jewelbox. Petesboat is an overall enlargement of Jewelbox and I'm guessing a 50% increase in volume and weight over Jewelbox. The hull shape is patterned after my Twixt...

Philsboat Plans

Philsboat is essentially an IMB with the nose extended to a pointy bow. The width and multichine configuration are the same as IMB's. The cabin is 3" deeper because Phil is at least 3" taller than most of us. In a boat with a Birdwatcher cabin like this...

Picara Plans

CABIN SAILBOAT, 18' X 6", 1300 POUNDS EMPTY A while back I presented a design called Fatcat2 which was a 15' x 6' unballasted sailing cuddy catboat. It is still in the prototype catalog, although one was built a few years ago but never used to...

Piccup Pram Plans

Piccup Pram was the first boat of my design to get built, back in 1990, I think. I still have the prototype and use it regularly. I designed it to be the best sail/row boat I could put in the back of my short bed pick up truck. But I found it to be a...

Piccup Squared Plans

Piccup Pram was my first design to get built. Here is a photo of Chris Feller's up Chicago way.She is shown with the original 55 square foot rig. I still have the boat. The sail rig has been experimented with many times but the hull is identical today as...

Raider Plans

Norm Wolfe built his Normsboat to my design so we were acquainted. He visits the Baltic countries regularly and had participated in a "Raid" in Finland and was going to make it a regular thing, maybe with his own boat. A Raid is a pseudo race with boats...

Robbsboat Plans

Robb really probably wanted a Matt Leydon cruiser like Paradox but was put off by the complexity and small size. It has been a while since I saw Paradox plans but I think the "complexity" of the design is mostly in the details that made such a small boat...

Scram Pram Plans

Scram Pram is an interesting boat that I designed for Wil Gordon of Houston a few years ago. He built the prototype shown above, including making that multicolored sail. Wil had owned some production pocket cruisers and had sailed in Karl James' Jewelbox...

Skat Plans

Long time readers may recall this design as being in the prototypes section a while back. One was being built and nearly completed when the builder had to put it aside to work on some realities of life, something that happens to all of us from time to...

Slam Dink Plans

Slam Dink was presented earlier this year as a prototype design and was quickly built by the Moffitt gang in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Here Sean and Lauren contemplate boatbuilding on a picnic table:Slam is a pretty straight forward building job from two...

Sneakerbox Plans

If you like to spend time looking at drawings of small boats one of the best books to invest in is Howard Chapelle's AMERICAN SMALL SAILING CRAFT. If you turn to page 65 you will see a drawing of the "Old garvey box, substitute for a sneakbox". The...

Toon19 Plans

John Trussel built the prototype Toon19 in South Carolina. He had built several boats before this one including a Mixer of my design. He wrote this essay about his Toon19:Toon 19For a number of years I have owned various "shallow water cruisers" (to...

Toon2 Plans

Toon2 is in almost every way a multichine version of the AF3. I think these multichine hulls are more like round bilge hulls in that I keep the upper chine above any normal waterline so only the very easy lower chine flows through the water. Other boats...

Trilars Plans

You will also need Larsboat plans to complete this project.I also drew up a trimaran sailing rig for Larsboat called "Trilars" which is sold separately. It is pretty much a clamp on rig except for the small mast step and partner. Here a photo of a model...

Tween Plans

Tween is another one of those "in between" boats. it has a flat bottom for the most part like my Moby Dink, but that bottom twists into a V bottom entry like that of my WeeVee dink. The original Moby Dink, which can be built without thinking, is fairly...

Twister Plans

An AF4 builder might face the difficult choice of maybe building a boat like Twister instead. It's quite a different boat from AF4 but comes out of about the same pile of wood and labor. Twister is a bit smaller and won't go as fast but it...

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