Red is a multichine plywood ballasted-daggerboard sloop that I designed and built for cruising in damp and wet Northwestern and Alaskan waters. The look is inspired by an eclectic assortment: a 1930’s Gordon Monroe motor sailer, Lake Union Dreamboats and early local gill netters with their tiny dog houses. To be honest the boat was really designed around the doghouse. It gets us out of the rain and has standing headroom where you can navigate from, cook and wash dishes. With an autopilot we can steer from there as well unless it is really blowing.
It took four years to build after about a ten year designing process, in that I am not a boat designer. I started with models that kept getting larger and more precise while at the same time I steeled myself to take on the project. Finally my son suggested that I should quit building models and build the boat. So I did. We live on Quilcene Bay and launch day became a community event with friends, family, acquaintances and complete strangers showing up to build the temporary railroad that carried RED the 300 feet from my shop to the water.
Red displaces about 4200 pounds dry and has a modern underbody and a transom-mounted spade rudder. The daggerboard is wood and glass with an 1100 pound bulb. She does have more windage than is ideal but given that I wanted the space and headroom there are always compromises. She is powered by a 10 HP outboard in a well.
My wife, VIviann Kuehl, and I have cruised the Salish Sea and trailered RED five times to Prince Rupert, BC, and then sailed to Alaska as far north as Glacier Bay. She sails well and is just unusual enough to always start a conversation. The story of RED’s design, building, launching and travels is featured in an article in the June 2018 issue of WoodenBoat.”