The Y'all Yawl

Sailboats – the vision of the original historic vessel.

“The Y’all Yawl” is a contemporary classic boat built in 2011 by Knut Bulow.  She is 20 ft long.  Knut is a member of the Southwest Chapter of ACBS.

  The boat is based on Ian Oughtred’s drawings of the lapstrake Caledonia Yawl.  It was  completed in Nov. 2011. The Yawl is 19’6″ ft long, beam is 6’2″, draft up is 11″ while down it is 3’6″ and it has a 1953 Evinrude Lightwin 3HP motor and carries 3 sail – genoa, main and a mizzen.
  The boat was made using only hand tools and is made primarily out of mahogany, other woods are white oak, spruce, Sitka spruce, walnut and ash (design trim), epie -seats, and balsa (flotation). There is a 120 lb cast lead keel.
  The design trim on the side of the boat and on the centerboard box is based on the design I have put on all my boats (Kenosha canoe 18 ft – “Can-Do” and 1956 Carver runabout 15 ft – “Last One”)
  Usage has been VERY poor. I have only taken it to the K&W in Seabrook a few times and to the indoor boat  show in Houston. It has only seen water once and a small leak was found in the engine compartment. Hopefully, as my back is better I can rig and sail the boat more.
  Everything is handmade – all the blocks, all the cleats (photo). All the rope work is done by hand using – regular splice, long splice, Turk’s-head and Monkey-fists. Rigging is steel and rope, the four fenders are hand made (photo)
All the gaff-ended booms were hand made with mahogany and Sitka spruce and covered in leather. (photo). Finally, the two handed water bailer was carved out of a pine tree log.
Y'll Yawl 1Y'all Yawl 3Y'all Yawl 2
  A little background from Knut Bulow,  “When I grew up in Norway I would spend summer time in northern Norway fishing in similar boats (no sail) and sailing one with rig. This was the first woodworking project I undertook since having shop class in elementary school. Since I had been at NASA and helped build satellites, I thought that since I was able to do that, I should be able to build this boat.”

There are more and more sailboats listed by members of the Antique and Classic Boat Society.  They fit into the same ACBS Classifications of:

  • Historic – prior to 1919
  • Antique – 1919 through 1942
  • Classic – 1943 through 1975
  • Late Classic – 1976 through the year 25 years prior to the present time
  • Contemporary – a wooden boat built within the most recent 25 years

2 Comments

  1. Looks really good. I am working on a caledonia that was used in filming voyage of the down treader and am having fun with it. It has the art work and dragons head from the movie.

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