Thursday, August 11, 2016

Chris Morejohn Yacht Designs and Plans business


Back home in the Bahamas finds me unrolling all my past designs on my drafting table. Over the years I have received many inquiries about selling plans of my various boat designs. I've been reluctant to sell plans as I have been on the go so much seeing the world and would not have had the time to give potential clients their due. Times have changed for me with modern technology and the Internet. It's obvious now, but ten years ago it took for ever to send an email from a foreign port. As you all know in today's world I can now be reached to answer questions from just about anywhere. Well.... not when I am at sea. I won't get that high tech. 

At present this blog has had 132,000 views. On my new design blog HOGFISH DESIGN.wordpress over 8,000 so far. I get daily emails asking advice and questions about the boats I have built and my designs and thinking. With this in mind and all my past and present designs on hand in one place I've decided to open my doors to offer my design services for new boat builds and to sell my designs as full Cad drawings in PDF files.

I have teamed up with Nathan Shawl a yacht designer and CAD computer expert from Michigan. Nathan's experience comes from generations of on the water family boatbuilding and waterman knowledge. We have joined our collective knowledge and life's experiences to put forth our cutting edge shallow boat design plans. At present Nathan is converting my designs to PDF files so we can provide everything to be printed out full size or put into a computer to cut parts or used with a milling machine to make plugs. 
We will be focusing our design work providing very detailed drawings on how to build gearing towards the amateur builder in wood, composite and metal. 
My expertise in hull construction is in all forms of wood construction, composite, fiberglass, and plug and mold design.
Nathan brings his knowledge of Computer yacht design and hands on work in aluminum, steel, wood and compostite fiberglass design.
Our goal is to provide designs and plans for the home builder that wants to build a state of the art shoal draft vessel that can be built for a reasonable cost and time. Logical common sense smart boats for the average person that wants to be able to go to places that are inaccessible to the masses.

I have spent a lifetime designing, building boats and then sailing them across oceans. I am not a designer of dreams that's been sitting at a desk in an office. I draw, I build and then I am off to experience my idea first hand. In between I repair, modify, upgrade others dreams and designs. It has been a great voyage of understanding of what really works. 
Teaming up with Nathan Shawl allows the two of us to be available to clients at all times. With the Internet today Nathan and I are in constant communication. Nathan's computer skills and the information he will provide will bring our designs to a higher level of yacht design in the shallow boat market both power and sail.
I live and work in two different water related worlds. I sail about the oceans on a simple plywood built very economical, extreamly seaworthy sailboat. I also design and build some of the most sought after fishing skiffs on the water today. Two very different worlds. Our goal is to provide new designs for the emerging market of the home builder that wants what is not available in the mass market for a realistic cost and time to build.

A short summary of my 39 year old career finds me having sailed over 60,000 sea miles as Captain visiting 32 different country's by sea and 12 more by land. Personally built on my own 62 vessels from skiffs to large sailboats. Overseeing and helping my own designs being built at 384 boats and a rough estimate of boats having been built to my designs to date at around 3,000 plus. Related or copied designs, lots more. The Value of my original design ideas built to date is a conservative twenty million dollars at the very least. 

I will be based at my land home in the Bahamas till December of 2017. Rachel and I then plan on sailing our sailboat the HFM to British Columbia and set up shop on the West coast commuting back and forth to our home in the Bahamas in the winter by plane. We want to sail somewhere different but I don't want to die in the cold. 
Nathan and I will be making our designs available for sale with Nathan being able to answer questions or help with changes if I'am at sea for a few days. This way one or the other of us is always available for consultation, questions.
 I will still answer all questions that come in via email as I have been these past few years for free. I have perfect Wifi here in the Bahamas. When sailing in 2017 I will be at sea for 30 days at most at one time. Otherwise I can be reached daily. Nathan lives in Michigan and sails on his 37' sloop. He can be easily reached too. We make a great team combining our diverse skills into designs that will really work.

For any questions or inquiries email me at ; 
spankthemermaid@gmail.com

In a week everything will be seen at chrismorejohn.com

 
Light weight 15' flats skiff in foam core or cedar strip wood. Why guess when you can have us design your new skiff with all the experience we have and arrive with the real numbers before you build your plug. 

 
18' light weight flats skiff semi vee.


18' flats skiff. The above skiffs and 5 other flats skiff designs can be built in cedar strip or foam core. All plans will be in a PDF format that will allow all parts to be printed full size. We'll do the lofting. You just cut out the parts and put together. Or have everything precut out. Then it's down to assembling, fiberglassing, fairing, painting and then rigging.




The Hogfish Maximus plans in wood, aluminum or steel.


HFM 




Nathan taking my original drawings and interfacing them to his CAD drawing.



Showing how I want the stern swim step to look. No noise.

  
One of my hand drawn 3-D drawings of the Whipray. I can see any boat in 3-D in my head and just spit this out with a pencil. But Nathans Cad drawings are perfect.


My old paper designs will now be on PDF files so this will be very easy to send out. You can also order prints of everything.


My office today upstairs in our house on Russell Island in the Bahamas. My desk is made from Mahogany doors I salvaged from a Dutch canal barge that's shipwrecked across the bay from us.


Walking five steps from my drafting table I can look down on Hogfish Maximus and check the wind direction.

My goal has always been to design boats that set the standards for the markets of shoal draft ocean voyaging sailboats along with the fly fishing flats skiff world. This requires time spent on the water, in the builders shed, good common sense design work and it helps to have a bit of artistic flair thrown in.

Drop anchor out front and come ashore for a visit.
See you out there




3 comments:

  1. That's nice news and I wish you good fortune in the new business!

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  2. I am really looking forward to this. HFM is the most impressive boat I've ever read about, and I hope many more like her are built - hope I can build one myself one day.

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  3. A few questions:

    How extensive will your drawing and instructions be? What is the minimum boat building experience you expect potential clients to have?

    Are your plans just for a basic hull shell and sail rig, or will you also include interior details, plumbing, electrical, etc?

    In reading your blogs, Chris, I gather that most of your experience is with constructing in wood and fiberglass. What experience does your partner have that makes you confident in offering plans for an aluminum or steel boat? Has he built a sharpie-type boat in steel?

    Do you offer stability diagrams for your boats? I'd love to see one for a 36' Hogfish, both in plywood and in steel.

    Best Wishes for your venture,
    John

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