After building the three canoes, my next project was a 12’ Catspaw rowing/sailing dinghy. It’s based on a Herreshoff design which l adapted to strip plank with cedar.
Read: “Building the Herreshoff Dinghy” by Barry Thomas. Mystic (USA), Mystic Seaport Museum, 1999.
“How to Build the Catspaw Dinghy” Brooklin (USA), Woodenboat Publications, 2000.
“The Working Guide to Traditional Small-boat Sails” David Nichols, New York, Breakaway Books, 2006.
I've called by dinghy "Kishmul Galley 2" after my late father-in-laws boat by the same name. Kishmul Galley is also a waulking song used for working with tweed, but it shares its rhythm with rowing songs and it describes MacNeil's (Laird of the island of Barra) galley or birlinn as it makes its way to Kishmul Castle, the stonghold of the MacNeils, set on a rock in the middle of Castlebay. These Highland birlinns were smaller versions of the Viking longboat and required skill in handling them.
Click on the thumbnail below to view a series of photos which show the build.
