FishyFish Tolman Alaskan Skiff and Boat Building Forums

What's considered too heavy for a widebody? Assuming enough power/ propping isn't an issue what are the ill effects of a heavier boat? The general idea is build as light as possible though what happens when a Tolman gets heavy? I've added enough "stuff" I've started to get away from light and am getting worried it's going to have handling issues though not sure what the issues would be.

The boat is at the point where I'm not out that much time/ effort to put it on a diet. It's a lot easier to add weight once the boat is done than take it off. I'm having visions of sketchy handling and cutting apart a year old boat next winter to loose some weight. If it looks like it needs a diet I'll be out a lot less time now than once it hit the water.

Going off 2 completed widebodies  I'm guessing I'm an easy 1,000-2,000lbs over Kobuk's boat and  heavier than Mike Schlecter's though I'm not sure by how much. Looking back at the Renn built boats I'm way heavy compared to how he used to build and I believe he was a believer in lighter is better.

My boat is a 23'6" widebody, 5'9" floor full pilot house with rear bulkhead, all bs1088 marine plywood, probably a little heavy on epoxy/ glass though not extreme overkill, I've tried to keep it as low as possible and use thin materials whenever possible. A lot of extra weight is coming from amenities like an anchor winch, hydraulic steering/ auto pilot, heater, electronics, glass windows, longer pilot house, full rear bulkhead and other things typically seen on a jumbo or great Alaskan. I have a 400lb Suzuki 20" 140B on order I don't think I can get out of. I don't think being under powered will be an issue.

I think I could shave 1,000 pounds off the boat and get rid of some surface area for wind to blow around for not much out of pocket. The plan is to start on something in the 26-30' range when the Tolman is done and spend a lot longer building it so the parts I won't use will have a home on the next boat.

We spend a lot of time in our boat on the inside passage. Decent handling in rough weather is very important to us. We aren't so much worried about speed when the seas get into the 4'+ range as not feeling like the boat shouldn't be out in it.  We put 200 hours on our main with an easy 200+ hours of jigging this year in our alumaweld and will put more on the tolman with the ability to sleep on it.

I've attached some pictures of where the boat is at progress wise.

Thanks for sharing, Betsy, great story. 

Can you advise how many total books have been sold for these great boats?

Been a while since I stopped by the forum. This is Betsy, Renn's girlfriend and the supplier of his book to the world since he died.

My nephew found this Youtube video about being caretakers of a remote homestead for seven months way out on the Aleutian Islands in 1999. At 4:50 minutes in, the narrator talks about the Tolman Skiff that was on this island for his use,

“Of all the boats I’ve had the opportunity to use in my lifetime, I would say that boat is as fine as they come.”

https://youtu.be/UwL3TRmJ16U

Pretty cool.

Betsy

This post has 'legs' and "arms" to test this quote things

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