18’ North Coast Troller

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  • 18’ North Coast Troller. Traditional BC Wooden Fishboat18’ North Coast Troller. Traditional BC Wooden Fishboat
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  • Vessel Specifications and Comments

    • LOA: 18’0”
    • LWL: 17’0”
    • Beam (max): 7’0”
    • Draft: 20”
    • Displacement: 2450 lbs (full load)
    • PPI: lbs
    • Power: 8 HP Yamaha high-thrust outboard, inboard diesel alternative
    • Cruising speed: 5.5 knots
    • Max  Speed: 6 knots
    • Construction: 5/8” Red Cedar strip planking over temporary molds. 
    • General Comments: The Northcoast 18 is a variation on my earlier Traditional BC 18' Double-ender, DE185 design.  The earlier boat has tumblehome aft and fuller lines at the deck; this hull is finer and will be far easier to plank in cedar strips.  The form is based on a small troller built at Oona River in the late 1940’s.

  • About the Plans

    • Construction Method and Materials:

      5/8” Red Cedar strip planking over temporary molds. Outside sheathed with Vectra, Xynole, or Dynel cloth in epoxy. Interior joinery all fillet and taped to hull. Plywood decks and house. Laminated Fir keel, stem, and sternpost.

    • Number and Type of Drawings:

      Full size plots (e-mail or CD) for bulkheads, stem and transom, plus pdf building plans.

    • Study Plan:

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    • Base Price:

      $450.00 CAD
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Design Comments

The Northcoast 18 is a variation on my earlier Traditional BC 18' Double-ender, DE185 design.  The earlier boat has tumblehome aft and fuller lines at the deck; this hull is finer and will be far easier to plank in cedar strips.  The form is based on a small troller built at Oona River in the late 1940’s.   

The Northcoast 18’ is based on a small troller, a type of fishing that required a boat to tow fishing lures at idle speed all day. These hulls are finer lined with smaller waterplanes intended to be more comfortable when fishing the offshore banks. Fish caught using hooks is of higher value than net caught fish so trollers have less emphasis on carrying capacity. Draft is deeper with greater deadrise to increase the stability range and slow the shift of CB with rolling.

A retired fellow here on Gabriola approached me about the minimum boat for a northern BC coast cruise. He grew up on a mission boat visiting all the out of the way spots upcoast, and he hopes to revisit these places in his own small cruiser. He is experienced at building small open boats and at first we discussed him building a Pogy 17 motorsailer (lapstrake plywood). But he decided he would really like to try strip planking and he has a strong interest in traditional BC boats. Thus we turned to the little 18' double-ender, styled after a BC coast Japanese gillnetter of about 1935.

For his project we decided in the end to modify the Northcoast 18 shown here with an outboard engine in a well forward of the small transom. A transom is added to simplify the build, eliminating the need to bend the strips around to meet a sternpost. He plans to start construction later this fall.

Tad Roberts