The Lynx 14 was designed by Paul Fisher of Selway Fisher Design. Paul is a qualified naval architect with 250 designs for professional or home boat builders.
LATEST NEWS: HBBR September 2006 photos, click below
HBBR 2006 SailingThe first ever sail of Millibee!
Click here for a picture of a one tenth scale hull model I built. You can see its a double chine hull with a clever second frame that eliminates a mast post to keep the cabin clear.
Early Trials
August 2005 Getting Wet! Although not finished I could not resist the warm weather and the beautiful River Severn near Tewkesbury, UK. She felt stable and yes she floated!
Construction Photos
August 2005 Fitting Mast By good fortune a standard Enterprise dinghy rig fits the sail plan almost 100%. My good wife removed the sail numbers stitch by stitch! Since taking this photo I have fitted chainplates and with good forestay tension I can get some mast bend, that the Enterprise sail requires. The chainplates fit exactly over the butt joint on the side panels, so the ply is 1/2in thick at that point but I will add a stainless plate internally to spread the load.
The mast was donated by a kind local sailor, the sails were traded for the chassis of my caravan that got flooded and the boom is an old Solo dinghy mast planed down to size. The windows were cut from the caravan windows. Wind power and recycling!
April 2005 More Painting Spring is here so work has started in earnest. I'm proud of the look of the windows (recycled from a caravan!) and decided that a white cabin was better than a varnished finish. This gives the best UV protection for the epoxy and a longer lasting finish because I have used Jotun Hardtop AS twin pack paint. The same paint has been used on the new Queen Elizabeth!
August 2004 Painting Painting started after a tremendous amount of sanding and filling. Had to stop after September due to poor weather. Waiting for Spring 2005 to start again, launch on a lazy summer afternoon I hope!
May 2004 Moved Managed to squeeze her between the neighbours house with 2in clearance and a few scratches. Ouch! We had the wettest summer ever so painting was delayed. :-(
August 2003 Roof Laminated The roof is two 4mm panels laminated together. Combined with the curve it becomes very strong. You can just make out the top stringers ripped in half lengthways. Its an old trick to bend wood in 3 dimensions. It was impossible to bend the 2x1 but the 1x1 sections bent much easier and join together almost seamlessly. The outwhales where clamped for several days and they slowly bent to the correct shape.
01/08/02 Cabin The mast is deck stepped and supported by an arch (2 x 9mm ply). You can see this keeps the cabin clear which is important on a small cruiser. The hardboard template for the starboard side is temporary. I have transplanted the Lynx 16 cabin profile and made the central frame upright to maximise cabin space. Everything is dry fitted to see how the shape turns out.
The cabin front is angled at 45 degrees as a compromise between cabin space (ideally upright) and nice lines (ideally a shallow angle). I'd really like to slope the front some more for cosmetic reasons, but I'd lose cabin space which is already limited by her size. The distance between the bow and the cabin front is 730mm, copied from the Lynx 16. I will fit an opening window at the front so that I can reach out to the jib/anchor rather than having to climb over the cabin roof.
12/05/02 Fitting bilgeboard cases The twin bilgeboard cases are half in / half out of the hull. The pivots for the L shaped bilgeboards will be below the hull eliminating leaks.
06/04/02 Cockpit framing. Half joints make a strong frame work for the seating. The curved cleats were laminated in 2 pieces because the originals were too thick to bend. I added the inwhale to provide some strength at the sides when she gets flipped over.
17/03/02 Lower Chine seams epoxied. Some of the frames are still clamped in position but the hull bottom is noticably stiffer and easier to walk on.
17/03/02 Close up of stem. Laminated ply 18mm thick, bedded in epoxy, notched into the hog and screwed through the panels every 4in. Tests with a hammer (!) prove it is very strong.
3/03/02 Hog laminated. The frames are temporarily clamped in position after the hog has been laminated. The hull panels are still held together by copper stitches but you can see the chine seams are being epoxied.
3/03/02 Close up of Hog. It is laminated from two 100mm x 15mm planks 4.2m long (4" by 5/8" by 14ft). I bought rough sawn 4 x1 (much cheaper than planed) and ripped them down on my table saw. Supporting the panels was very difficult - I used lots of house bricks. Next time I will build a proper basket mold to support my weight on the panels as you have to get inside the hull to glue it together and it wont support your weight until its glued together! Catch 22!
21/01/02 Mock-up of cabin. Click here for pictures of the cabin mock-up. I wanted to increase cabin space and see what it looked like.
13/01/02 Stitching the bows together. This is was difficult as the bottom planks are stressed into a tight curve. My first attempt split one of the planks. See Oops! I epoxied a repair and took the advice of stitching the upper planks first to distribute the stress evenly.
06/01/02 Main panels and Transom stitched. The next task is to stitch the remaining gaps then the bows.
