Bluegill
Description
The Blue Gill (often stylized as Bluegill) is a compact, trailerable daysailer catboat designed by American naval architect Clark Mills in the late 1950s. Introduced in 1959 and built primarily by the Douglass & McCarthy yard in Melbourne, Florida (with later production by other small builders), it's renowned for its simplicity, affordability, and beach-launching capabilities—making it a staple for novice sailors, youth programs, and casual pond or bay outings. With a hard-chine hull and kick-up centerboard, it emphasizes ease of construction and handling, embodying the post-WWII trend toward accessible fiberglass small craft. Around 500 were produced through the 1970s, and it's still popular for home builds using plans from the original molds.
Construction Details
| Designer | Steve Redmond |
|---|---|
| Builder | Douglass & McCarthy Boat Yard |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | - |
| e | - |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Blueprints
Sails
| Sail Type | SPRIT |
|---|---|
| Luff | 15.5 ft - (4724 mm) |
| Foot | 11 ft - (3353 mm) |
| Leech | 17.07 ft - (5203 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 77.77 ° |
| Diag (clew/throat) | 17 ft - (5182 mm) |
| Head | 0.17 ft - (52 mm) |
| Area | * 84.63 ft² |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.