Up On Plane – Tad Pole…A Contemporary Classic Runabout

Tad Pole…A Contemporary Classic Runabout

By: Andy James, 2nd-year Instructor

Last fall, the school was approached by local summer resident Steve Upham to build a runabout to ferry people and supplies to his island home.  It would replace a tired plywood lapstrake boat that had served in this role for many years.  Steve wanted something similar that would carry a lot for its size and would perform well with a modern 60HP four-stroke outboard.  He suggested a Tad Roberts design, called simply enough, 16-foot Lapstrake Speedboat.

Tad’s design was a big boat for its relatively small size.  lots of freeboard and flair made for a seaworthy platform.  He designed it for traditional construction with lots of steam bent oak frames.  As this would b a project for our second-year students, our first task was to change the construction to wood composite.  Pat Mahon (Education Director) and I contemplated our options and settled on a strip-planked bottom and blued plywood lapstrake topsides over sawn plywood frames.  This allowed us to teach two techniques on one hull, but it also makes for a more trailer-friendly bottom.  As we became more familiar with the boat’s lines, we thought it begged to be lengthened to 18 feet.  At 16 feet, we would have to do lots of scarfing to get planks long enough; it wouldn’t cost much in terms of material or time to make it longer.  We ran this idea up Steve’s flag pole and he gave us a BIG thumbs up!

When school started, we presented this project to our second-year students.  It gave us a great opportunity to talk about different contemporary construction techniques and their advantages and disadvantages.  We also talked about scantling changes, when changing a design from traditional construction to wood composite.  The we set about lofting the boat.  Stretching was a simple matter of changing the station spacing to arrive at 18 feet overall.  Construction details were changed to include a fir keel, laminated sapele stem, and transom.  The bottom is 3/4inch-thick white cedar.  Topside planking and deck are 3/8 inch okoume ply.  The dash and windshield will be solid sapele.

As soon as we started setting up the frames, it was clear that extending it to 18 feet was a good choice.  It still has lots of depth for an 18-footer.  Some have even suggested that we could have gone another foot.  I think a modern 60HP engine will give it plenty of speed.

As for the name?  Well, we had a hart time calling it 16 Foot Lapstrake Speedboat.  It just doesn’t roll of the tongue, and it isn’t 16 feet long anymore.  Our students started calling it Tad-Pole in honor of its designer and it stuck.  Steve will have to come up with another name when he commissions her this spring!

To see more of this project click here.