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The Viola 14 Sailing Canoe combines the simplicity and portability of a sailing canoe with the hull shape and stability of a performance sailing dinghy. Viola is 4.3m (14ft) long and 1.02m (40in) wide for stability. The hull weighs-in at a cartopable 34kg (75lbs), a little heavier than an RS Aero and about half the weight of a Laser. Two different rig types are available – a balanced lug for cruising and a square-top bermudan for racing.
Joost Engelen has been talking to me on the forum as well as in emails of a really simple and light boat that would be fun enough for one person, but able to take two in a pinch.
The normal form of sailing canoes is pretty much like paddling canoes with fine entry and exit. They tend to be very slippery through the water. Downside can be that there isn’t as much stability as one would expect so they tend to attract more expert sailors.
But we wanted to do something differently.
A canoe form is really nice for storage, transport, and handling the boat to the water by yourself. I found that with my BETH sailing canoe. A dinghy can be very light, but is too bulky for one person. So we started looking at a wider canoe and making the hull a much more powerful and stable sailing machine by following dinghy shapes.
A lighter, simpler Laser.
The tradition of British Open Class sailing canoes was brought to my attention by Brian Pearson. While paddling canoes are considered “wide” if close to 36 inches wide, the English canoes are more sailing and recreationally based and often have beams around the 40 inch mark. So that was our standard.
Joost kept bombarding me (in a nice way)with potential boats that might answer his requirements. One of these was the Japanese Aquamuse, which had also picked up a lot of the UK open canoe thinking, but was shorter because of taxes and storage space limitations in Japan. One departure from most recreational sailing canoes is that the Aquamuse has a cnetreboard rather than a leeboard. This is much more marketable and stiffens up a light hull in a very convenient way.
One very big departure is that the Viola is very much a sailing dinghy form hull rather than a canoe. One thing Joost and I noticed in the numerous videos we located was that boats are quite seldom paddled except for in very light wind.
Experienced dinghy sailors will be familiar with the handling, much more like a dinghy with more stability than a conventional canoe. Enough to stand up with reasonable security. Considering that my much more crudely shaped BETH sailing canoe paddles quite fine in very light winds, this one will be better still.
Finally, a little industrial design tweak of having a canoe stern, but a small transom to allow neat rudder fitting installation with standard fittings seemed a good idea.
But the dinghy shape gives more stability and potentially more speed when sailing. Joost found this at the Dorestad RAID event in 2017 where it was the fastest boat upwind and down from light to heavy winds. A big chop will slow it down to the average speed of bigger, heavier sail/oar boats.
The rig will balance with a whole range of different sails apart from the standard three rigs at quite a performance drop. There may need to be some adaptation required to support the different spars it will take:
It comes out of four sheets of imperial size ply (2440 x 1220 – 8ft x 4ft). Don’t bother trying out of the strangely sized Australian 2400 x 1200 ply.
Michael Storer
Designer
2017
Our kit includes the following:
Plywood – All plywood parts are included and are precision-cut from 4 sheets of BS 1088 Lloyd’s Register Okoume marine plywood using a CNC router. All parts are numbered and keyed to a drawing for reference. Parts may have little tabs (shaker tabs) along the perimeter remaining from the cutting process that you’ll be able to quickly and easily remove with a sanding block. Other than that, they will be ready for epoxy coating and assembly.
Timber Foils (Daggerboard and Rudder) – A daggerboard and rudder precision-cut from a blank (essentially a breadboard) made of Western Red Cedar staves for lightness and a hardwood trailing edge for durability. Both are given a precise NACA profile as specified by the designer using a CNC router. This profile is key to the boat’s performance. The surface finish will be uniform, but a little rough. You can give each a light sanding if you like, but I’ve never found this necessary. All you will need to do to each is round the bottom edge and shape the top edge and they will be ready for fiberglass and epoxy coating. Later, you will add holes for a rope handle (daggerboard) or bolt and uphaul (rudder) per the plans.
Not included are all other timber parts as these are all rectangular sections easily cut on a table saw. They are made of Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, or a hardwood per the plans. I can add these to the kit for an additional cost if you like.
The Plywood Kit and Timber Foils Kit can also be purchased separately.
Please note that, in addition to what I describe above, you will need other specialty items to undertake and complete your boat build such as epoxy resin, fiberglass cloth and tape, spars, rigging, and sails. All of these items, except the spars, can be purchased online through Duckworks Boat Builder’s Supply (duckworksbbs.com). This is also where you purchase the plans, which grants you a license to build one boat. The tools and other supplies you will need are readily available at your nearest home improvement store.
There are three different sails available for the boat – a lug sail for cruising and a 4.7m2 or 6.0m2 fathead bermudan sail for racing. Spars will differ depending upon the chosen sail. Aluminum tubing is the preferred material, but it has proven difficult to obtain the specified tubing in the US. For my part, I have the 4.7m2 fathead bermudan sail and use a cut-down Laser clone mast purchased from Nautos (nautos-usa.com) and a wooden “T” boom per the plans. Given the number of options and high shipping costs associated with oversized items, I don’t provide a Spar Kit.
Please email me with any questions you may have. The Viola 14 is fun to build and to sail and I’m happy to make it even easier!
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!