Shelter Island Boat Works

I purchased plans for Coquina from Doug Hylan. After an initial quick glance, I began to look more closely, scale in hand. I was struck with the extraordinary accuracy of them. Every detail was drawn to scale, down to the smallest detail. Every tiny fitting, rig layout, block and taper. Immaculate!

I was not used to this. In the past, I would work with three sheets of simple drawings. These included a table of offsets, lines plan, and sail plan. Hylan’s plans were far more extensive. Full size spar details, full size mold outlines, many small construction details, and more. There was even a CD. It contained hundreds of pages of text and photos. These described the construction of both a plywood hull and planked version. Doug’s thoroughness would make this build so much easier, and I am confident that this build will be as precise a rendition of the Herreshoff original as is available today.

On that point, working closely with Maynard Bray, Doug did extensive research on Herreshoff’s original design, construction, and modifications as there was only one plan of the original design and only two boats were made. All records and design drawings, apart from the one sheet and some old photos, had been lost.

Only surviving original Herreshoff drawing of Coquina.

So, with Doug’s remarkable set of drawings I started construction.