Phoenix III Plans PDF

Description

Click HERE for Phoenix III Metric Study PlansClick HERE for Phoenix III Imperial Study Plans

Phoenix III was designed for the builder of the first boat, Paul Hernes. Paul came to me in search of plans for a dinghy which could be sailed fast and far, rowed in such a way as to be more pleasure than pain, and to be able to accommodate a small outboard motor if the conditions required it.

As it happened, I already had a design which I had been working on for many years. She was to be the perfect beachcruiser for my own use, incorporating my idea of the optimum physical dimensions for solo and two-up cruising. The modeling was done using a wooden half model laid out according to the principal dimensions I had settled on after many years of small boat sailing and rowing.

Once the modeling was complete, I made a pantograph which allowed me to take off the sections, which I then drew up as a standard set of lines on my drawing board. These lines remained dormant for about six years until I was approached by Paul Hernes, who was in search of such a design. At the time I was moving workshop and house, so did not have free access to my board. As the job needed to be done straight away, I was forced to teach myself CAD – something I had always said I would never do. Oh well, we live and learn! It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and it has had cascading benefits.

In order to get the lines into CAD, I initially put my hand-drawn dimensions into Greg Carlson’s Hulls program to generate dxf files, and then transferred the dxf’s into a conventional (i.e. nothing to do with boat design) drafting program – Autocad’s entry-level program, Autosketch.

A major advantage of having taken the step of using a CAD program is that the need for lofting has been removed. The dimensions shown on the bulkheads and molds are accurate enough for direct use, and have been tested by the builder of the prototype.

She has been given a spritsail with a jib set flying (i.e. a jib which is not attached to a separate stay). The spritsail sloop is one of the few sloop rigs which can carry a jib effectively without stays, shrouds or backstays of any type. This is because the sprit places the head of the mainsail in tension, which is in turn translated into tension in the luff of the jib. Therefore, there are no stays on this boat at all – just place the mast into the step and partner, and off you go!

Considerable thought went into centreboard placement and design, as I really wanted the boat to balance under mainsail alone as well as under full sail. This she does quite well. In heavy conditions, raising the centerboard a bit eases the boat and moves the centre-of-lateral resistance aft. I’ve sailed her in thirty knot winds under reefed mainsail alone, and was quite comfortable (although I am battle hardened, as I also sail a wooden International Finn!).

The centerboard is of generous area, and the centerboard case extends under the main thwart. With a centerboard shape reminiscent of that seen in Swampscott Dories, PhoenixIII’s centerboard provides plenty of “bury” in the case when fully lowered, while not interfering with the correct positioning of the rowing thwart.

The forward end of the centerboard case has been angled back so that it doesn’t interfere with the mast stepping process. There is no need to lift the mast to put it through a hole in the deck – just place the foot of the mast in the step and push it forward into the mast partner. The whole process is a one-handed affair, which takes about thirty seconds.

I’ve long held the view that the smaller a boat is, the more she will be used, and with this in mind, Phoenix III has been kept to modest dimensions: –