Cape Cod Oystering Skiff
Description
Reuel Parker's Cape Cod Oystering Skiff is a modern plywood adaptation of a historic 18-foot sharpie workboat documented by Howard I. Chapelle in American Small Sailing Craft (1951). Parker scaled it down to 14 feet for pleasure use (daysailing, light rowing, or shallow-water fun) and included it in his influential book The Sharpie Book (International Marine, 1994), where he modernized many traditional sharpie designs with plywood/epoxy construction for easier homebuilding. This design keeps the essence of the original Cape Cod oystering skiff: narrow, flat-bottomed sharpie hull for speed and shallow draft in thin water (perfect for poling over oyster bars or beaching), a simple unstayed spritsail rig for quick setup and easy handling, and overall simplicity/low cost. It's an excellent "starter" or project boat—lightweight, trailerable, rows/sails well, and forgiving for beginners or casual sailors.
Construction Details
| Designer | Reuel Parker |
|---|---|
| Builder | Home Built |
| Length | 14.000 ft |
| Beam | 4.250 ft |
| Displacement | 150 lb |
| Max Draft | 2.000 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.750 ft |
| Year Built | 1951 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 14 ft |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | - |
| e | - |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 ft | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Sails
Cape Cod Oystering Skiff - LEG-O-MUTTON
| Luff | 13.75 ft - (4191 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 11.25 ft - (3429 mm) |
| Leech | * 15.33 ft - (4673 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 75.43 ° |
| Diag (clew/head) | 15.42 ft - (4700 mm) |
| Head (Inches) | 1.5 |
| Area | * 75.53 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
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.