Devlin's Lichen

Our first look at Sam Devlin's distinctive Lichen left us wondering if she was a handsome relic from an earlier time. The rounded top on her large cabin, her bowsprit and the wooden spars of her gaff rig give her a distinctly traditional appearance, but then there's the wide beam and pram bow certainly a different sort of tradition.

This rather unique combination of features made her a bit difficult for us to define, but Devlin calls her a cruising scow sloop. His stated goal in designing Lichen was, "to develop a smaller-sized sailboat able to comfortably cruise the backwaters and bays of the Northwest without excessive concern for draft."

Bullseye and not just for the Northwest; Lichen would be at home as a roomy waterborne camper on any relatively protected waters. Her generous beam and wide pram bow gives her the interior space of boats many feet longer.

Inside, a large double berth is forward, followed by settee/berths. All have large lift-out lids with stowage below. A galley with sink is to port, with counter space, and there's a wood stove to starboard for keeping crew warm and gear dry. This is one of the more efficient uses of space on a twenty-foot boat we've seen. With its large portlights, the cabin should be a bright, cheery place. Sitting headroom above the settees is three feet at the cabin sides. Greatest sole to overhead measurement is 4' 6 1/2".

Lichen's 237 sq ft of sail should be enough to keep her moving even in lighter air, and the low-aspect rig, wide beam and chines suggest good initial stability and a relatively upright sailer.

While Lichen may look like an older design, her construction is thoroughly modern, using the stitch-and-glue method where components are essentially sewn into place with soft wire until the epoxy "kicks."And for any who think this process is best reserved for use on only the smallest boats, Devlin Designing Boat Builders has been using it for decades, and on boats more than forty-feet in length, with complete success.

A two-by fir keel runs the entire length of Lichen's V-bottom, and up to deck level on her stem. It's protected from groundings by a half-inch thick steel shoe. The barn-door rudder is laminated of three sheets of 1/2" plywood, as is the offset centerboard which is weighted for negative buoyancy.

The 20-foot mast and the boom are made of fir or spruce, coated with epoxy resin and painted or varnished. The bowsprit is made of mahogany or fir.

Lichen, at 2500 pounds displacement, is a bigger boat then we first thought. Ballast consists of 850 pounds of lead shot-entrained epoxy resin beneath the cabin sole. A dozen sheets of 1/2" marine plywood is used in the construction of her hull alone, and another 12 sheets of 3/4" is used for the sole, bulkheads and the centerboard trunk. All exterior hull surfaces are covered with two layers of six-ounce fiberglass cloth saturated with epoxy. The cambered cabintop and decks are laminated of three layers of 1/4" ply, and are covered with a single layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy. The end result is a very substantial boat.

Devlin Designing Boat Builders
2424 Gravelly Beach Loop NW
Olympia, WA 98502
e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (360) 866-0164
http://www.devlinboat.com/