15 '9" and 19' Ben Garveys
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Join to view PDF Purchase 15'9" Ben Garvey PlansHere is a pair of boats that will feel right at home on the working waterfront. Both would make fine boatyard skiffs or small harbor-ferries. Both would be fine for a little recreational fishing or getting around the lake on a summer vacation, or ferrying out to that island camp. The larger boat would make a fine skiff for some entry-level lobstering or shellfish harvesting.
Drawings
Garveys originated as shallow-draft, burdensome, and easily built boats for working the shallow bays and estuaries of the Jersey Shore. The advent of the internal-combustion engine, and later, the outboard motor, ensured their survival since the hull form is actually better suited to mechanical power than to the sailing rigs of the early boats. Doug Hylan has refined the Ben garveys somewhat from their original form: They show a strong sheer and more rake to the bow transom for good looks, the buttock lines aft have been straightened out for planing speeds, and the construction is updated to make use of plywood and epoxy. But they still display the same characteristics that made their forefathers popular: ease of construction, shallow draft, good stability, and great load capacity.
Plans
You build the Ben garveys of plywood, upside down on a ladder frame over temporary molds. Lofting is required, but it is extremely simple. The chines are easily made using epoxy fillers and fiberglass tape. Flotation compartments ensure that a swamped boat will float level and support the motor head above the water.
Plans
The plans are printed on five sheets (four for Big Ben) and include lines, construction, details, and building jig. Also included are instruction sheets that cover tool and materials, scarfing plywood, construction, and use. WB Plan Nos. 126 (BEN) and 127 (BIG BEN), $75.00 each.
Completed 15 ‘9″ and 19’ Ben Garveys Images
Photo by Doug HylanThis Ben Garvey has its outboard motor mounted in an inboard well. Designer Hylan lobbies against building that well for general use as it reduces the boat’s efficiency, occupies space, and adds construction time.
Photo by Benjamin MendlowitzDesigner-builder Doug Hylan and his daughter head out across the Benjamin River in his Ben Garvey. The stable boat is easily built with plywood and epoxy, and requires only modest power.
Photo by Bill Thomas“They can perform every manner of waterfront task with easy competence and honest grace.”
Photo by Bill ThomasDenny Robertson, a Maine waterman, built a house way aft on his 19′ Big Ben Garvey. The boat ferries people and supplies to an island camp in Blue Hill Bay.
Photo by Mike O'ConnellMike O’Connell built this center-console Big Ben. The husky boat earns its keep by assisting rowing crews near Pittsburgh and working for the local Riverkeepers.
Dave Gerr designed a 20′ garvey that appeared in “Boatbuilder” magazine in two issues–March/April 1998 and May/June 1998. It’s a handsome boat, and very appealing.
Washington State Parks (or maybe Dept. Natural Resources–the two agencies have divvied up responsibilities east vs. west in the San Juans) have a nice garvey with a Helmsman’s house in the stern. Leaves the whole forward half for people and cargo. Must be something over 20′. I have ridden on it, and it is very smooth riding even on a Puget Sound chop.