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Welcome to Scruffie Marine
For many, however, the dream remains just that, for the skills needed to build even a small clinker dinghy in the traditional way are possessed by very few. Apart from that who can afford the time for a project that could take years? Whether you buy your boat beautifully finished and
ready to sail or choose to build your own from our sophisticated kits, we know you will appreciate the traditional
qualities of our stylish, seaworthy wooden craft. Here in Australia we are blessed with some of the world's finest
waterways, what better way to enjoy them than in one of the world's best family sailing boats! We at Scruffie Marine believe we have the answer with our proven build system. At a stroke we remove all the worry of lofting and cutting patterns and panels or building strong-backs or jigs, leaving you to get on with the job of actually building your pride and joy.
Our proven slot-system kits, comprising of precision cut BS1088 marine ply, clear oregon and local hardwood, stainless steel fittings, powerful epoxy resin and comprehensive instructions ensure that anyone, even those with only modest woodworking skills, will enjoy the task. Most of our kits have been built by amateurs in their own premises, using their own (or borrowed) basic tools. Everyone has enjoyed rising to the challenge and has appreciated the accolades on completion. Some have achieved a very high degree of finish and all have built strong, seaworthy craft.
How to Choose One * Deposit Design Service Don't see anything you like? We offer a full design
consultancy service from concept sketches to computer tuned lines. |
The Scruffie Story The Scruffie 16 is the boat that gave the business its name. Designed in 1990, it was our first production boat and it is still very much in production with nearly one hundred now built. When asked by a journalist what sort of boat I had designed I replied "a scruffy, knockabout family sailboat." "A scruffy boat," he summarised. "And why not?" I thought........and I changed the spelling to "Scruffie" to make it a bit less scruffy. The boat was the result of a comprehensive study of small boat sailing in our evolving society. Social and economic trends played as much a part of shaping the boat as did practical design considerations. The perfect small cruising sailboat - the Holy Grail - will always elude us, yet I reasoned I could get a little closer than what was already on the market. From the beginning I put practical cruising capability on top of the list, then came simplicity, safety and seaworthiness. Once the basic criteria had been established, I was able to work on the hull form and rig design. The ultimate shape was the result of many influences, mainly Mediterranean workboats and the many varied craft I sailed from childhood on, but most of all it was form following function. I settled on around sixteen feet in length with a generous beam - big enough to take a large family out for the day, yet small enough for one man to build, launch and sail. From the beginning I rejected a flat-bottomed hull. They do have an advantage with minimal draught, but the disadvantages are many and most flat-bottomed craft are obviously suitable only for rivers and quiet waters. I had plans for serious voyaging. In the end I drew a single-chined displacement hull with a gentle rocker, shallow deadrise, flared bows and raked stem. I gave her a long shallow fixed keel - simple and safe, but in doing so traded in some upwind performance. Built-in ballast added stiffness and on later models, self-righting. The absence of a centreboard resulted in a huge uncluttered cockpit with room to boogie. Scruffie Number 1 was half decked, however I dispensed with the stern deck on the following boats and apart from minor changes to keel and rudder sections, today's boats are essentially the same. Construction issues were settled very early on - ply and timber were the only real contenders with fibreglass versions pencilled in for later. The main reason for ply/timber construction was that I had decided to manufacture kit versions of the boats. I thought about strip planking - at the time cove/bead planking was beginning to be used in the UK but it didn't lend itself to the kits very well. The flat ply panels were curved as much as possible and the laminated chines rounded off and fibreglass taped. The standing lugsail was chosen because its virtues far outnumbered its vices and even loose-footed, it worked very well. A dozen years on we're completely convinced it's the best for the boat, its only real drawback was "folding up," on a run, but that's easily solved with a whisker pole. The sail originally had parallel sides at 90 to the foot to make it easier for amateur sailmakers but no-one seemed interested and it was soon replaced by a more efficiently shaped sail, although we still do them as economy rigs. I initially wanted an unstayed mast but they need to be much heavier and once they're over, say eighteen or twenty feet long, they are extremely difficult to manhandle into position without cumbersome gantries & tracks. A simple three-stayed mast works well enough, although all of our mizzens remain unstayed, as does our Shimmy. So at Easter 1990 Scruffie Number 1 took to the water. She sailed straight and true clear across the bay - straight out of the box. In the years since they have proved themselves over and over again as safe, well-balanced and stable boats, being both dry and sure-footed. They are popular with schools and numerous variations have been built. The current MKII Scruffies are faster, point higher and can be self-righting, so coastal voyaging in settled weather is quite feasible. They can be supplied as camper or cabin boats in addition to the standard models and the lightweight versions, if sympathetically helmed, can outsail a surprising number of "regular" boats. Did You Know? * One Scruffie 16 has been built as a mini research vessel by a marine biologist. Ed Drew * We have designed a "stretched" Scruffie as a mini sailing cargo boat with a payload of up to one tonne. * A 6-foot by 3-foot dining table will fit in the cockpit of a standard Scruffie 16 allowing dinner for eight under an awning, under sail. Not many other small boats can do this. * There's an electric powered but otherwise standard version in Canberra whose performance figures rival similar sized but purpose- built boats. Scruffie 16 - there's really nothing else as good |
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Scruffie is
a member of the BIA Queensland
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