We Finally Resume Work on Our Trailerable Dreamboat

…After Four Long Months Away, We’re Back At It

Where did the summer go? And how can it be four long months since we’ve worked on TATOOSH, the 20’ outboard cruiser project we started writing about last November?

To review, here’s our doodle illustrating the end goal, sort of. (We aren’t working from plans—just designing and building as we go—so the sketch is our only guide.)

The project started with the bare, unfinished hull of a Welsford 6 Meter Whaler sailboat and in the first seven installments in our series—the last one appearing in this space April 21—we covered everything from gutting the hull’s sailboat interior to doorskin mockups of the planned pilothouse and cuddy cabin.

If you’d like to review the previous episodes, scroll back to read the following Shallow Draft columns…or just make do with this summary:

Part 1, November 13, 2024 (below) — We demolish everything related to a sailboat inside the hull: Side seats, bulkheads, foredeck, cockpit sole, outboard well meant for a tiny electric motor, and centerboard trunk…getting down to bare planks and frames, so we can start creating our beamy double-ended outboard cruiser.

Part 2, December 17 — After pattern-making, we cut and fit a new transom, frame in the outboard well that’ll accommodate a new 9.9-hp four-stroke outboard, and start cutting a hole in the portside stern. The plywood you see running across the hull is only a pattern for the actual transom.