Hooper Island Launches

    Hooper Island Launch is an " old style " launch which is no longer being built but is still quite prevalent. It first appeared about 1905 and was a copy of a local racing motorboat, the half- model of which is now in the National Museum at Washington, D.C. This racer, in turn, was apparently inspired by a design for the Dolphin, published in the American yachting magazine Rudder about 1903.

The Dolphin and the Chesapeake Bay racer, as well as the subsequent fishing launches, were modelled with dead straight lines for the chines in profile and it was intended that the chines and the line of flotation should coincide. The hull-forms were basically the same, the " double- wedge", in which the greatest draft at the rabbet was at or very near the heel of the stem, from which the rabbet ran up fair and finally straight to the waterline at the transom. In plan view, the fishing boat was all bow, the greatest beam being at the transom or nearly that far aft. From this extreme form, the model used was gradually changed until it developed into its present form. This style was usually narrow, with a beam of about one-fifth the overall length, or even a little less. The greatest depth of the rabbet was finally about one-fifth the overall length from the stem and the greatest beam about seven-twelfths the length from the stem at the chine but slightly forward of amidships at sheer. These boats, curiously enough, were found very satisfactory in the short steep sea of the Bay and were also useful in cabbing with a trot-line, as they ran straight unattended. The peculiar stern was favoured for many years by oyster tongers, as a man could work over the stern with safety without the quarters of the boat rocking the tongs.

The narrow beam remained popular as long as the boats used only small marine engines of low power but when automobile engines became common, the beam was increased. With small power, the narrow boats ran fast; one of 25 ft. (7.6 m.) length, and 4 ft. 2 in. (1.27 m.) beam, made 13 knots with a single cylinder engine rated 7 h.p.

The effect of the straight chine on the lines can be seen in the example of the type. A buttock line 18 in. (0.456 m.) out has been projected to show the low angle of attack of the bottom along the chine, in spite of the straight-line sections. It is very noticeable that these old launches run very cleanly and show a fine turn of speed with moderate power. In the boat shown, capable of a speed of about 12.2 knots with her six-cylinder automobile engine, she lifts forward at between 8.7 and 9.6 knots per hour. At full speed she squats slightly. The owner uses her in the open Bay for winter tonging and considers her a far better sea boat than his larger and more modern launch.

The drawing shows the appearance of the bottom planked. The bow is staved up with thick plank bevelled on the inside, where each piece bears on chine and rabbet. After all is in place, it is dubbed off smooth with adze and planed. The angle at which the bottom plank stands to the keel is determined by trial, so that the slight twist necessary can be worked in; in some instances it can almost be eliminated. With any form of round stern, it is usual to fan the plank at the stern.

It is apparent that the bottom, laid in this manner, furnishes no support to the long keel, so strongbacks are worked into the hull, consisting of a heavy timber running square across the boat, inside, from chine to chine. Due to the amount of deadrise, the timber can be secured to the keel only through heavy chocks resting on top of the keel member. The ends of the cross- timber or strongback are kneed to each side of the hull. There are usually at least two of these in a boat, one at the after bulkhead of the cuddy and one at the fore end of the engine, and many boats have two at the engine (as in the example) with only the fore one kneed to the sides, the one aft being a mere floor-timber used to support the fore ends of the engine beds or -bearers. The ends of this floor-timber are merely pinned to the chine logs. Some boats have a similar floor-timber at the after end of the skeg.

The bottom planking is not caulked but is fitted with the inner edge of the seams tight and payed with seam- compound, before the hull is painted. A common feature is the stern-bearing, made of an oak cleat, which contains a rubber bushing made of a length of steam- hose. This sockets an inch or so into the shaft hole of the skeg, the shaft hole having been reamed out for the purpose. The after end of the hose is split, and the tabs formed bent down and tacked to the after face of the oak cleat with copper tacks. A hole is bored athwart the shaft hole in the skeg, just forward of the rubber hose, and the result is a very inexpensive water-lubricated rubber stern bearing, which lasts for years.

The round stern is built with an upper and lower frame and vertical staving. The top frame is sometimes padded up to the crown of the deck and faced off with a steam-bent moulding, as in the example, otherwise the deck comes down flat around the stern. The stem is made of an inner member and a cutwater, sharpie fashion. The keel member is really a keelson, being wholly inside the boat, and is hewn in a single length from a curved tree to profile. The skeg and the keel are then bolted to the keelson, so that no rabbet for the bottom plank is required. In some boats the keelson is brought to the outwater and a rabbet cut across it for the bow staving, then the projecting end is dubbed off with the staving which allows a curved rabbet to be formed in appearance between the chines and the keel. The wale is of a thicker plank than the sides but around the stern it is made of very short vertical staving, or blocks, nailed to the stern frame at deck level. Raised fore decks are very rare in Chesapeake launches, the trunk cabin being preferred.

From the drawing and description, it will be seen that the Chesapeake manner of building avoids a complete framing system and spiling of the bottom plank is not required. The round stern was estimated to add 110 (U.S. $300) to the cost of a launch in 1949.

The availability of powerful light gasoline engines at low cost caused changes in this style of launch, the beam being increased and the depth of hull, or amount of deadrise in the bottom, lessened. The builders also made the topsides curved in frame and the curved, vertical transom of the yacht also became popular.