Mouse Pram Building Plans

Description

The Mouse Pram has been drawn up after a long study of prams of various periods, countries and methods of construction. A simplified clinker plywood hull was decided on, so that amateur builders with no boat building experience would be able to put together a strong and attractive boat in a short time, and with minimum cost.
Besides being better looking, this hull shape is actually less work to build than either the ‘traditional’ chine plywood, which has many more parts to be fitted together, of the stitch-and-tape method which is simple enough but is a time-consuming and messy process. The boat has no frames, and no laminated parts; a minimum number of components.

Altogether this construction method give an attractive and useful hull, which will be about as safe as such a boat can be, will be a pleasure to own, easy to maintain and will last a long time.

Sailing performance is certainly better than is generally expected from a small pram. The rig is the high-peaked Gunter, which is in effect an efficient Bermudan sail, but with the practical advantages of the short spares. The boat is lively and responsive, can turn in her own length and is well balanced and light on the helm on all points, with a light crew or two 12-stone men aboard. She can manage a third adult confidently, although there is not a lot of room to spare.

• Length

  7′ 9″ – 2.36m

• Beam

  3′ 11″ – 1.2m

• Draft

  –

• Weight (kg)

  28

• Sail Area

  38 sq ft – 3.5 sq m

• Time to build (estimate)

  110-150 hours