DUDLEY DIX YACHT DESIGN

Little Creek 47
Steel multi-chine cruisers

Little Creek 47 "Flutterby" on Baltimore Harbor
Little Creek 47 "Flutterby" on
Baltimore Harbor

A versatile blue water cruiser

~ Staysail schooner or cutter rig options

~ Wonderful aft saloon

~ Shoal draft swing keel for gunkholing
with ocean capability

or:

~ Deep draft fin keel

~ Flickr Album
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The commission for this design came from American clients to live aboard on Chesapeake Bay with open water cruising to follow. My brief was for a design with shoal draft, poop deck and staysail schooner rig, suitable for the chesapeake with it's shallow areas as well as occasional coastal cruises in the gulf stream areas. The material chosen was radiused chine steel, similar in concept to other designs which I have previously drawn for the yard which is building the boat.

The underbody is my idea of what a multi-chine should be, with horizontal central panel and a sharply angled first chine in the bow to minimise pounding, flowing into very flat chine angles aft to minimise drag and give powerful stern sections. Only the topside chine is radiused, to a constant radius of 1m.

The main keel is long and shallow, housing all ballast, most of the tankage and the propeller and shaft. The hydraulically operated swing keel stows inside a casing in the main keel and projecting partially into the accommodation. It tucks in under the engine and is fairly inconspicuous.

Little Creek 47 drawings

Due to the control problems of a broad sterned boat with shallow rudder, she has twin rudders, well spread and angled outward. This allows permanent rudders with no lifting arrangements being necessary while giving good control under all conditions. Instead of the rudder being heeled out of the water, the leeward rudder becomes more effective due to greater depth and being more vertical. The rudders also act as legs to keep the boat upright when aground.

Little Creek 47 "Flutterby" on launch day

Saloon of Little Creek 47 "Flutterby"

Little Creek 47 "Flutterby"

Click pics to enlarge

Little Creek 47 "Flutterby"

My eye finds most poop deck boats to be unattractive so it was a challenge to draw a boat of that concept with which I would be happy. The resulting deck has a raised centre cockpit, low trunk cabin and bulwarks all round except to the poop deck. The stern has a boarding/swim platform aft of a vertical transom.

The interior is laid out for two permanently living aboard with occassional guests. Forward is the owner's cabin (where they wanted it) with it's own access to the large head with separate shower. Amidships to starboard are the nav station and a conversation area with the guest cabin to port and a small workshop. Under the poop deck are the saloon with dinette for six, two swivel easy chairs, large galley, head compartment and two quarter berths.

The staysail schooner rig gives an easily managed sail plan (especially if roller reefing gear is fitted) with no working sail larger than 27,5 sq.m. The main staysail is fitted with a camber spar to minimise flogging sheets over the cockpit and the foresail uses a half wishbone to contol the head, the half wishbone being hoisted along with the sail.

Little Creek 47 hull section

For those who do not require a shoal draft or who prefer a single stick, fin keel and cutter rig options have been added. The twin rudder configuration has been retained even with the deeper draft. The keel and rig options are interchangeable to suit the owners' requirements.

Follow theselinks to a material list for the structure, a stability curve and a list of drawings for this design.

CHARACTERISTICS

LOA 14.4m (47'3") LWL 12.5m (41'0") Beam 4.30m (14'1") Displacement 14900kg (32840lb)
Ballast 4200kg (9257lb) Area Waterplane 30.8sq.m (332sq.ft) Immersion Rate 315kg/cm (1763lb/inch) Fineness Coef 0.69
Block Coef 0.46 Prismatic Coef 0.57 Displ/Length 213 Powering 75hp diesel

Schooner/Swing keel Cutter/Fin keel
Draft 1.05/2.55m (3'5"/8'4") 1.80m (5'11")
Wetted Surface 48.7sq.m (524sq.ft) 48.1sq.m (518sq.ft)
Sail Area (with 100% fore-triangle) 99.3sq.m (1069sq.ft) 93.3sq.m (1004sq.ft)
Ditto (Total light weather) 109.7sq.m (1181sq.ft) 109.3sq.m (1176sq.ft)
Sail Area/Displacement (working) 16.6 15.6
Sail Area/Wetted Surface (working) 2.04 1.94
Ditto (light weather) 2.25 2.27
Righting Moment 30degrees 9250kgm (66905ft.lb) 9503kgm (68735ft.lb)
Ditto 60degrees 12868kgm (93074ft.lb) 13645kgm (98694ft.lb)
Ditto 90degrees 9640kgm (69726ft.lb) 10577kgm (76504ft.lb)

Please note that our plan prices include for adding imperial measurements to our metric designs if needed by the buyer.


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This page was updated 1 August 2018

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