James Cutter

Jim Franken

The James Cutter, designed by Jim Franken, favors traditional function and beauty over interior volume and amenities.

Designer Jim Franken has put all of his 60-plus years designing and building boats into the pretty little James Cutter, and that experience shines through everywhere you look. Designers tend to become more conservative with experience—less optimistic about performance and weight, and more concerned with structural integrity and longevity. So, it’s natural that they’re happiest when producing plans for very traditional types of boats. I know that Jim was happy drawing this little cutter.

The first James Cutter is being built now at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB) in Port Hadlock, Washington. In general form, this design’s ancestors were small working boats built in the south of England during the late 19th century. A more direct connection is with BRYONY, the 34′ big sister that Jim designed and NWSWB built in 1983. The James Cutter will benefit from decades of using BYRONY.

This new boat will not be crossing oceans or even undertaking long coastwise passages. It’s a boat for those interested in daysailing a traditional heavy-displacement gaff cutter with overnight accommodations. No compromises were made to gain internal volume; rather, all were made in favor of traditional function and beauty. The house has been purposefully kept short and low, partly hidden behind solid bulwarks, which allows the shapely hull curves to dominate our visual impression.

Jim Franken

The design is influenced by working boats built in the south of England during the 19th century.

This hull form goes back to when bluff bows and tapering sterns were the norm. Some will object to the seeming imbalance between the almost plumb bow and long overhang aft, but the rendering shows that these elements harmonize perfectly, separated as they are by the topsides. There’s a gradual twist to the topsides that our eyes follow from the bow to a satisfying conclusion at the stern. Careful examination of the lines shows all kinds of refinement: the bow is not all bluff but is fine down low with more volume up near the sheer; the bilge turn is harder and higher up than in the older types, adding form stability; and the garboard tuck is tighter and higher as well, which increases effective keel area.

Jim Franken

The bow’s volume increases near the sheer; the turn of the bilge is sharper and higher up than on old working types, lending form stability; and the tuck of the garboard is tighter and higher than on original working craft, increasing effective keel area.

Displacement-to-length ratio is 388, indicating that this is an extra heavy boat. With almost 46 percent of its displacement as ballast and a vertical center of gravity (VCG) well below the waterline, the boat is stiff and forgiving and can carry a lot of sail. In addition, all that weight gives us a boat that is positive and surefooted through tacks, even those nerve-wracking ones when the boat is almost stopped by a big slop in light air. The downside of all that ballast weight is that the boat will not remain afloat should it be swamped. Strongly built hatches kept closed in adverse conditions are required.

The other signature feature of the James Cutter is its gaff rig. It’s large, with a sail-area-to-displacement ratio just below 20, which once upon a time would have been considered racing boat territory. Today we consider it healthy and entirely appropriate for a daysailer. I’m a bit surprised there is no jackyard topsail shown on the sail plan, because in the light summer winds of the Pacific Northwest it would be a welcome addition. A big overlapping jib is shown, however, and is probably as effective as the topsail with less heeling, but not as much fun or as spectacular looking.

Aside from ghosting in the light air of summer, it’s also easy to imagine this boat shortened right down with two reefs in the main and only the staysail set, working comfortably and safely to weather in the 35-mph gusts and big seas of late fall in Juan de Fuca Strait.

The Dellenbaugh Heeling Angle is a theoretical approximation of how far the boat would heel under full sail in a wind of about 15–16 mph, or a wind pressure of 1 lb per square foot of sail. Using an estimated GM (metacentric height) and heeling arm, plus the designer’s displacement and sail area, I get an estimated heel angle of 17.3 degrees for the James Cutter. This is well below what’s typical of old-style racer-cruisers with tall rigs and light ballast, which would be heeled more than 20 degrees and looking to reef.

Jim Franken

The cutter’s hull form recalls a time when plumb bows and counter sterns were the norm.

As we expect with any design commissioned by a boatbuilding school, the construction method and
materials are selected for their teaching effectiveness. In this case it’s traditional plank-on-frame boatbuilding,
with a centerline structure of massive solid timbers carved to shape and bolted together. This offers the students an opportunity to draw each piece full-size in all three views on the loft floor, and then make patterns of each piece before shaping any wood. Going through the three-step process is a far different lesson than that of modern boatbuilding, which involves CNC-cut molds or patterns with little background context. Working out the shapes of pieces from a table of offsets is a skill that can be used in numerous other industries.

Jim Franken

The displacement-to-length ratio of 388 indicates a heavy boat; almost 46 percent of its displacement is in the ballast. The boat will be stiff and forgiving.

This hull will be built upside down, which offers many advantages. The work is closer to the shop floor because the ballast can be left off until the hull is turned upright. The bracing of molds, bending of frames, and fastening of planking is all down-hand work with gravity helping out. And most of the fairing, sanding, and painting also is down-hand and close to the floor, making it all go quicker.

Frames are molded 1¼″ and sided 1⅜″ through the middle of the boat and spacing is about 8″; in the ends, siding is less . There is a 1½″ floor timber on every frame, which reflects the support needed for the massive ballast. Planking is western red cedar finished to ⅞″ thick, fastened with bronze screws. The decking is of ½″ plywood with sheathing of 8-oz fiberglass cloth set in epoxy. All four spars will be built up of Sitka spruce with metal eyebands.

Jim Franken

Robust floor timbers on every frame support the massive ballast keel. Planking is ⅞″ western red cedar; decking is ½″ plywood with a sheathing of 8-oz fiberglass cloth set in epoxy. The cockpit sole is well above the waterline, for assured self-bailing.

Cockpit seating is on the main deck, and the footwell is quite shallow and narrow, but it’s workable for a small crew. The main thing is that the cockpit sole rests well above the waterline so drainage won’t be a problem.

Below, the arrangement shown on the drawings is equally simple: a 10′-long cushioned bunk flat extends from the companionway forward and under the foredeck with another narrow footwell aft of the mast. Otherwise, the interior is
open from the stem to the transom, greatly aiding ventilation and longevity. For sailing in the Pacific Northwest my first addition below would be a tiny woodstove, possibly mounted on centerline just aft of the mast.

Jim Franken

Although the drawings indicate an inboard auxiliary motor, the cutter could be propelled by a single oar manned from the cockpit. A small electric auxiliary could also be fitted.

The drawings show a shaft line for an inboard auxiliary and a propeller aperture that takes a bite out of the rudder. I’d do away with this and just mount a tall oarlock abeam of the cockpit to use while sitting on a movable seat over the footwell, or while standing up facing forward. If I got tired of rowing, a small electric auxiliary could be fitted down low with its shaft horizontal and running out the port quarter to a strut and a two-bladed folding propeller. No aperture would be needed, and there would be no cross-flow to slow the boat and mess up flow over the rudder.

This will be a wonderful small sailing yacht, in every sense of the word. You can view construction progress photographs on the NWSWB website (www.nwswb.edu).

Particulars

• LOA: 25′11″
• LWL: 20′7″
• Beam: 6′8″
• Draft: 4′5″
• Displacement: 7,590 lbs
• Ballast: 3,483 lbs
• Sail Area: 475 sq ft 

Tad Roberts designs boats on Gabriola Island in British Columbia, Canada.

Contact designer Jim Franken at: James J. Franken, Inc., P.O. Box 356, Port Townsend, WA 98368; franken@olympus.net