Chebacco boats FAQ:
The Chebacco boats are the brainchild of Phil Bolger, the prolific naval architect of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The are derived from an earlier design of his, called 'Harbinger' - a 15 foot open catboat with a cold-molded hull.
In fact, the first version of the Chebacco also had a cold molded hull. It was designed at the request of Brad Story, of Essex Massachusetts, who wanted a somewhat larger replacement for his Harbinger with a small cabin for overnight accommodation and cat yawl rig. This cold-molded version had a transom-hung rudder.
Brad found it was an expensive boat to build, and asked Phil if he could modify the design to make it more affordable for his customers and a new, sheet-ply version was designed. This had hard chines and an inboard rudder so that the outboard motor could be hung centrally on the transom. Any fuel which spilled from the outboard fell into a self-draining well, clear of the cockpit.
This version of the Chebacco (my personal favourite - Bolger design #540) is 19'8" long by 7'5"beam, with a draft of 1'0" or 3'11" depending on whether or not the centreboard is down.
Brad commissioned yet another version, just like the sheet-ply one, but with glued lapstrake sides, which is probably more acceptable than a hard chine hull, to many customers. The other details of the design are essentially the same as the hard-chine version.
As well as these versions, a Chebacco Motorsailer has been designed, with higher topsides and a big cabin, as well as a 25 foot version with a raised deck.
Most recently, Phil Bolger and Friends have designed a 'Cruising' version of the 20-foot Chebacco, with a pilot house, heads, galley, easily lowered mast in a tabernacle, and lots more storage for extended cruising. the beauty of this version is that existing Chebacco-20s can be easily adapted without too much surgery.
Plans for the Chebacco boats can be bought from:
Phil Bolger & Friends,
Boat Designers,
P.O. Box 1209,
Gloucester,
MA 01930,
USA
Experienced builders can order plans for the sheet ply version of Chebacco from
Builders should note, however, that Phil Bolger and Friends will only enter into correspondence with builders who buy plans direct from them.
Bill Samson has edited 'Chebacco News' since 1994, and it can be viewed at this site.
Bill Samson
bill.samson@tesco.net