Joe Lanni’s first-build, 3’S A CROWD, appeared here as the Reader Built Boat for our September 2020 issue. She’s a three-piece plywood sectional, built to plans that provided the option to forgo curves. That simple construction appealed to Joe as a novice boatbuilder, but a boat constructed with straight lines, angular corners, and flat surfaces might not be regarded as a first step into the boatbuilding arts. “It was,” writes Joe, “like making three wood boxes that connect.”There are three good reasons for a boat to be, instead of boxy straight lines and angles, a composition of curves flowing one into another: even a quick glance at any creature evolved to move quickly through water makes it obvious that smooth curves don’t impede its flow; the curves of a hull, like the arch in stone and steel architecture, have more strength than straight lines; and curves are simply more beautiful. With Joe's first boat, there were valid practical reasons for building it with the sheerline made of straight segments, but one's eye cannot follow it without coming to a stop at the angles created.
Photographs by and courtesy of Joe Lanni
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As an older guy who’s first and, so far, only build has been a 12′ Phil Bolger Instant Boat, this has a strong appeal to me! Thanks!
A good-looking boat! I would like to know where you got the seat & straps? (Ingenious!)