Nahlah - "A drink of water"

Nahlah is the first of my stock plans and is featured in the design section of the July/August, 2003 issue of WoodenBoat magazine. Boat designer and builder Bob Stephens wrote in his review, "Attractive, comfortable, easy to build, and fast - Nahlah delivers. Surely that should be "enough"... shouldn't it?"

Nahlah is an 18'6" (5.64 m) shoal draft trailerable yawl that combines traditional styling with modern performace and convenience. Her simple, powerful rig balances well with a sleek underbody. Water ballast simplifies trailering and the fixed, winged rudder means you won't have to mess with moving parts or a sloppy helm. A big offset centreboard will make Nahlah weatherly, while being out of the way. The roomy self-draining cockpit has space for four, and all sail and centreboard controls are within reach of the helm.

Aft of the cockpit an electric outboard provides auxilliary power. The outboard runs off a single 12v gel battery (located under the starboard berth, and acting as ballast). The battery is charged by a 20v solar panel located out of the way and beside the outboard. This quiet, environmentally friendly form of propulsion is also a good long term investment. Surprisingly, as gasoline prices go up, the price of solar panels have been going down... and refills are free! A good sized locker is located below the solar panel. There is also storage in two large cockpit lockers.

Below, there are two berths, and storage for cooking gear under the forward end of the cockpit seats. The ballast tanks are located below the berths. A cockpit tent would provide protection for two children camping outside.

(Metric measurements in brackets)

Construction is simple and strong, and is suitable for the amateur, or the professional. Nahlah's construction is designed to teach the amateur as the boat progresses, and because of the nature of this type of construction many (what usually would be) up-front expenses are spread out over the project. Laminated curved hull and deck panels are glued up on a simple mould. The panels have compound curves (they curve in two directions) like the outer edge of a doughnut. 1/2" (0013) wide strips of suitable wood is ripped square from 3/4" (0019) boards. There is little edge set to the strips, and there is no spiling. The resulting panels are 10' (3050) long and 3' (0091) wide. Because of the panel shape Nahlah has a round hull forward and a chine and arc bottom aft. The wide bottom amidships gives her excellent stability and shallow draft, and round hull forward means she's not likely to experience the eddying and odd steering of some sharpie types of hulls.

(Metric measurements in brackets)

Construction is simple and strong, and is suitable for the amateur, or the professional. Nahlah's construction is designed to teach the amateur as the boat progresses, and because of the nature of this type of construction many (what usually would be) up-front expenses are spread out over the project. Laminated curved hull and deck panels are glued up on a simple mould. The panels have compound curves (they curve in two directions) like the outer edge of a doughnut. 1/2" (0013) wide strips of suitable wood is ripped square from 3/4" (0019) boards. There is little edge set to the strips, and there is no spiling. The resulting panels are 10' (3050) long and 3' (0091) wide. Because of the panel shape Nahlah has a round hull forward and a chine and arc bottom aft. The wide bottom amidships gives her excellent stability and shallow draft, and round hull forward means she's not likely to experience the eddying and odd steering of some sharpie types of hulls.

(Note: more ballast has been added since the WoodenBoat article)

Stats and Ratios

Different Rigs

Nahlah may be rigged in different ways. A full-length boom would work fine on the balanced lug mainsail. A cat-ketch rig would work well as well, especially on the "sloop" hull (see below) .I'm just working on a topsail sloop daysailer version of Nahlah that would have a longer waterline, more room in the cockpit (rudder and tiller would move aft with less rake to the transom), more ballast (same overall weight), and a flying topsail/mast. This would be a handy little sailboat!

Different Rigs

For more information on Nahlah, study plans are available for $15.00 CDN.

To order construction plans of Nahlah please send a $150 CDN cheque or money order. Currency exchange rate site.

	1) Mould Setup
	2) Torus Mould in Action
	3) Inside of Torus Panel