At this length the DUCK concept gives us a
pretty spacious cruising home. While certainly a substantial boat,
she’s also quite trim. She has the same beam as the 44, but
the extra length has been spread out throughout the design. The
owner’s cabin, engine room, and wheelhouse are a little longer
than the other two. I made her entirely flush decked to give the
maximum feeling of spaciousness inside, as well as making her
even simpler to build. The flush deck drops down 16” to the
main sheer along each side of the wheelhouse and up in the very
bow by the windlass, breaking up the deck line and making things
more interesting to look at as well as giving more of a feeling
of being in the boat than you get from standing on a normal flush
deck. However, she has a heavy railing made of 1 1/2” pipe
welded to the deck so you’ll feel secure anywhere aboard.
Like all the DUCKS, she has a rugged and businesslike “air”
to her. It’s a real strong look. As you head out of the jetty
mouth you’ll engage the autopilot, then go out and climb
the ladder to the flying bridge. Settling down into the bridge
seat you’ll sip your drink and smell the salt air and hear
the faint throb of the diesel dry stack, and as you survey the
sea and the retreating coastline you’ll feel like seaman
first class Wolf Stiener himself, piloting Der BISMARCK. Or maybe
even Mother Foss, the foundress of the great Foss Tug & Barge
Company!
In July 2002 I revised the drawings a little, calling the new
version the “Evolution 48 Duck.” The reason was that
the original floated low on the WL. This wasn’t an issue
really, but, I added a bit of volume aft to increase the displacement
about 3.5 tons. This will help support her heavy scantlings. I
then added some changes that Seahorse Yachts did on the first
one they built. They came up with a passageway beside the engine
to the aft cabin, and a “staircase” down to the swim
step, as well as an inboard rudder. Then, I raised the wheelhouse
7” to make it easier to see over the bow. The possible downside
to the change is that the sections aft near and including the
transom underwater are a bit shallower “vee” than the
original. In short chop, at anchor, if the stern for some reason
is pointed into it (which can happen at a dock), you’ll possibly
hear some wave slap. Everything’s a compromise. This shouldn’t
happen often and heavy foam insulation against the plate under
the bunk should really dampen it.
I like the original version fine but I also like the evolution
version. So, you decide!
Computer projected speed/power requirements,
calm and off-weather conditions for the original.
The Evolution version will be similar.
V/L..........Knots.......HP.............Range
with 900 gallons @ .06 gal/HP hour
1.1............7.44........13.7......................8147
1.2 ...........8.12........21.8.................... 5587
1.25..........8.46........29.2......................4346
1.3............8.8..........39.7......................3298
This is the original interior. I don't like it now; the fwd. head area is way to large although there's nothing wrong with storage. So, here's the new idea. This makes the main cabin far more comfortable and still has a big enough head up fwd.
The new version has a slightly taller pilot house, the passageway aft beside the engine, and the stairway to the swim platform.Here's a look at the passageway, and, the transom with the "stairs".
With all the talk about the "Evolution" version, I still like the original. She's trimmer on the waterline. If I was building in wood or aluminium there's no question but that I'd choose her hull but I'd likely go with the new interior. But as I said, in steel, unless you lighten the scantlings, she's going to float low. Here she is below; again, while there's nothing wrong with THIS interior, there's no reason you can't use the new interior in her if you want to.
Here's the first version of the 48. Note I gave her guest bunks in the bow, something other versions lost as I hate wasting space for company. They can sleep on a dropped down dinette or couch! However, as I keep saying, part of the appeal of building your own is to make whatever interior you want....
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Here's another version using the "Bubak" modification, a junk rig. This version also has a vertical transom. |
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