Fuel efficient outboard cruiser for the home builder

Loon Drawing

 

Mar 8, 2018

After owning many different sailboats over the years, Alastair Fox of Saint Andrews, NB, decided he had reached the age where a powerboat might be more suited to his needs. Not finding anything on the new or used market he came across a design by Annapolis Royal based yacht designer Laurie McGowen.

The original design had been developed for a client looking for a trailerable boat capable of Loon 13 Profilenavigating North America’s “Great Loop”.

 

 

 

 

 

The first “Loon” was built in North Carolina and has an open cockpit. See Falcon in the accompanying photos. The owner reports the boat starts to plane at 7 knots, has a steady and gentle motion and is happy in the low teens. The best fuel economy is found between 8 and 10 knots.

Falcon 1 Falcon

Working with Alastair, Laurie has made a few modifications to the design, increasing the beam and adding a motor bracket to gain space in the aft cockpit.

LOON v.13 PARTICULARS
LOA – 24′ 10” [7.59m]
LWL – 23′ 10” [7.27m]
Beam – 7′ 1-1/2” [2.17m]
Draft – 12” [.31 m]
Dispel. – 3,929lb [1782kg]
D/L Ratio – 130
Motor – 40-50hp 4-Stroke

Falcon 2 Falcon’s interior

The design features a large central cockpit, which, with its hardtop and some weather cloths, will serve as the boat’s “living room” providing full standing headroom. The port side seat is 6’6’’ long making for an extra berth.

Fox 1 Below forward is a small galley, a table and a V-berth. The aft cabin has an athwartships berth, a hanging locker and the head. Having the head separate from the forward accommodations and galley is a very nice feature in such a small boat.

Alastair is building the boat, named Fox using Okoume plywood and West System epoxy. We will follow-up in a few months to see how the boat is progressing.

 

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