LITTLE CRUISER was designed
and built by an experienced small boat sailor by
the name of Matt Layden. Over the course of more than a decade afloat,
he traveled aboard many of his home-built boats for thousands of miles and
figured out what worked and what didn't. Though his micro-cruisers were not fabricated
out of any high tech materials, they were in fact quite
advanced in their design. To maximize their cruising potential, several of
his boats employed the use of "chine runners," while all of
them used water ballast and had inside steering. In our opinion
the development of his chine runners were probably one of his
most unique innovations since they eliminated the need for a centerboard or a
keel, and they allowed his boats to sail upwind in very shallow water.
Incidentally, Paradox, GJAC and Swamp Thing
use chine runners, while Little Cruiser employs a bow
mounted centerboard. Another thing that is notable about
Matt's micro-cruisers
is
that they are sturdily built out of readily available
materials. This has ensured that they are capable of surviving real cruising
conditions. In the case of Little Cruiser, she is fashioned out of thick
AC grade plywood with a bottom that is a full
inch thick. She also has inch thick framing throughout to support her 1/2" plywood sides and
her 3/8" thick plywood deck. The only fault that we have discovered in
her construction (and it is a minor one
at that) is that she was not covered in epoxy and fiberglass; therefore, the plywood
has developed some checks over time. Therefore, we have decided to sheathing the whole boat to
reduce our yearly maintenence (2005).
Despite this cosmetic shortcoming, we can attest
to Little Cruiser's tough build, and over
the years she has survived impacts with just about
everything including reefs, engine blocks, rocks, jetties, docks, steel
pipes and even other boats. Believe us when we say that if you
go sailing you will hit something eventually! We think
that our boat's stout build has saved us many times from sinking, albeit
only in a foot or two of water. For instance, on our 1998 trip to the
Bahamas we hit a reef while navigating a narrow passage between two
islands at dusk. When we checked the damage the next morning, we
noticed a ugly looking 3/8 inch deep gash that was at
least 8 inches long in the bottom. Thank goodness
Little Cruiser had
a thick hull or we'd have been
pumping from the get go. Instead, we sailed on to our next destination,
and then we repaired the damage at our own leisure. The fact
that our boat was small and that it did not have a keel allowed us to simply beach
her to undergo these repairs.
After twelve years of
owning Little Cruiser, we still believe she is one of the
best boats for the job. She is simple and inexpensive to maintain,
and she tows nicely behind our small four cylinder car. There have
been times when we have considered buying a bigger boat that would be
more spacious, but in the end we realized there were always
more disadvantages than benefits in owning something larger. For us,
Little Cruiser
has the best set of compromises that we can live with.