Fast and friendly daysailer or raid boat, easy to launch
| Hull length / waterline | 5.70 / 5.07 m | Sail area | 21.3 m² |
| Breadth / waterline | 2.08 / 1.80 m | Outboard motor | 6 ch |
| Draugth | 0.25 / 1.1 m | Design category / Crew | C4 |
| Light weight / ballast | 580 / 120 kg | Building time | 750 heures |
The main target is to have a lighter boat, easy to launch from a ramp, still keeping the flat bottom of Stir-Ven. We also wanted to keep the superior performance of the elder boat. Stir-Ven 19 has a NACA profiled cast iron centreboard, an efficient hull with a low wetted area but a firmer bilge. This new boat is fitted with a water ballast tank allowing to get a stable hull at sea but a light boat on the trailer. The stem overhang helps recovering on the trailer. The water ballast is simple. There is two dinghy type hatches into the tank top, and a drain plug into the hull just under the hatches. To fill in the tank, just open the hatches and the plugs. Shut all when the tank is full. To empty the tank, open a pair of drain plugs in the aft bulkhead and use the bilge pump to discharge at sea. Of course, it is also possible to empty directly if the boat is already on the trailer.
As requested by many customers, the cockpit is watertight and self draining. In order to ease recovering after capsize, the space under cockpit is floodable as soon as a large quantity of water enters into the boat. As the cockpit extends on full breadth, a specific arrangement has been designed to allow draining at sea. On both sides there is a draining box with an Elvstrom type bailer. When reaching with enough breeze, you may drain with the down wind bailer. When sailing to windward, or in light breeze, you use the upwind bailer by simple gravity. Actually the main interest of the self draining cockpit is at mooring. It gives the possibility to leave the boat unattended during a long period of time. The slope of the cockpit floorboards drain the rain toward the boxes.
The cockpit allows two people to spend some nights under a tent. There is a locker under the fore deck and two ample ones under the cockpit side seats, big enough to stow an outboard. The outboard is clamped into a removable cut-out in the transom. Oars may be stowed under the cockpit side decks.
The rig is a simple and effective gaff sloop. There is no bowsprit, to make rigging faster. It is possible to use either a symmetric or asymmetric spinnaker. In the later case a removable bowsprit is fitted.
As most of my designs, Stir-Ven 19 is designed to be easily built by an amateur builder, taking profit of NC cutting but also more than 10 years of design improvements and simplification on previous boats. Most parts are made of plywood. Only simple adjustments are required with basic hand or portable tools. A full 3D model of the boat is made allowing to give a step by step illustrated building instructions in addition to drawings.
The cabin offers a full floorboard over the water ballast. It gives a seated headroom, but do not wait more than the comfort of a trek igloo tent! In order to get the best compromise between inside height and outside look, the coachroof top has a double curvature. It is cold moulded with plywood on a jig made with criss-crossed NC cut parts. We have drawn a wide companionway hatch to give a satisfactory access to both sides of the centreboard case. This cabin version makes Stir-Ven 19 an excellent raid-boat for a crew of 2. A tabernacle is bolted on the coachroof front to ease masting, which is a little more difficult than with the open version. As access to the fore deck is less easy, we have fitted an anchor recess and a roller furling device for the jib. The first cabin Stir-Ven 19 is sailing in the Med, where a strong breeze may raise suddenly. The owner asked for a roller reefing system, allowing to sail with a partly rolled jib. We have designed a traditional system with a Whykeham Martin device, a hollow wooden spar with a half groove and specific end fittings. In normal West Europe condition, the full jib may be used up to Beaufort 6, with two reefs in the main, so a simple roller furling system fits most crews.
First units of both versions have been built, launched and tested at sea in 2014. The open version has been tried by readers of Voile-Magazine, a French yachting magazine, with a Beaufort 6 wind. She performed well and safely under jib and main with two reefs.
The full plan with building instruction in English will be available shortly and may already be ordered from the designer. The plywood NC kit is marketed by Grand-Largue in France, Jordan Boats in UK and my other partners elsewhere. Of course, it is possible to get the complete boat from Grand-Largue or from an other builder in UK or other countries.
Dr Renato Rotunno –
Very interested