Tom's Boatshed

Mairin – Why Five designs?

It Actually started with a single sketch of a very traditional 28′ bass boat in the style of Eldredge-McInnis, Brownell, or MacKenzie Cuttyhunks. The design evolved as a potential client liked the sketch, but, “Wanted Bigger”. 

We settled on under 30′ as a size constraint, and a strong desire for it to be a DIY build. The center console version evolved with more discussion and a desire to be a little more modern. While high speed wasn’t a prerequisite, the client didn’t want it to lack for speed – 30knots was targeted as top speed with cruising speeds in the mid 20s.

You may notice in the photo captions, that Mairin II isn’t included – There would’ve been six then. Mairin II was a significant deviation from the others, lapstrake, with a cuddy cabin, windshield, and forward helm position. While it didn’t make the cut here, it shows enough promise (in my opinion) to be another  design project altogether.

There is a good deal of variety in the designs; two being outboard powered, the others being powered by diesel inboards, one of which (Mairin V)  is “Soft Chined”. 

how far did we get? Not as far as I would like; the client opted to pursue other interests, moving away from building a boat entirely.

Neverther-the-less the process was good fun, and learning never stops.