Wil Gibson is building two Sloops. He has Gold Williams building one and he is learning by example and building one himself in his back yard.
For these two new boats Wil has taken the usual cut off stern of the West Country (England) and attached a sweeping counter stern, leaving off a lot of deadwood below and creating an easier turning radius for tacking. It also gives buoyancy in place of weight aft.
Both Sloops are broader of beam than anything around for their sizes and still shallow but the run is the thing. They are both flat with a sharp entries and nothing wasted getting the water by her hull. Gold’s vessel is the big one with a beam of about 10’8” on her 30’ overall length, and this boat will support a tremendous amount of sail having a comfortably sailing platform for even spinnaker work. Both Sloops are planked with Yellow, called White, Cedar and framed with pressure treated fir. The frames are of note in that they are either 2”x 6” and curve cut at their turn of bilge or reinforced with scarfed pieces to keep their width and strength as a continuum. The floor timbers are of a practical artistic shape insuring the constant circle strength when the frames are bolted below and above to the deck beams. But pictures explain the heartfelt craftsmanship that both boatbuilders are expending first to beat the rest of us at the South Caicos Regatta then on to beat the Bahamians next June in the Mariners Week TCI Challenge Regatta, then into the future of boat design in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Carlin's Sloop with Brian Been
Brian Riggs sent these photos of Carlin's progress on the Leeward Sloop of a few weeks back (Jan 2007)
