Tom Davin
A 20' 3/4" Flat-Bottomed Skiff
By John Atkin
The 20-foot Tom Davin closely approaches the kind of boat I am going to have built for myself some day by my friend Bob Wilmes at East Haddam, Connecticut.

Her principal dimensions are 20 feet 3/4 inch overall by 18 feet 9 inches on the waterline by 6 feet 2 inches beam and 1 foot 7 inches draft. A Universal Atomic Four engine is shown for power. Some other similar gasoline engine would work well, but I would not use a diesel, in her, as these machines tend to vibrate and her flat bottom might tend to pant excessively. (Most small diesel engines do more than their share of vibrating and have to be installed carefully and mounted on flexible pads -- all of which makes for complications.)

The lines show a relatively narrow hull with a fine entrance -- much in the manner of many of the successful flat-bottomed boats my father and I have designed.

Batten seams are shown in her bottom, with lapstrake topsides -- a combination that is hard to beat. While waterproof plywood can be used, my own boat will be constructed as shown.

Tom Davin will make a fine fishing boat for shoal areas, since the propeller and the heel of the rudder are protected by the keel and shoe. She will pound when going into a short chop, but, all things considered, Tom Davin will provide fine performance, She will behave herself in deep water and long swells, and she'll otherwise come up to all expectations, as has been proven over the years with similar hulls.

Plans for Tom Davin are $100

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