The Open Boat

For over a hundred years the Aussie 18-footer was the dominant Open Boat racing class on Sydney Harbour, the Brisbane River, many ports up and down the NSW and Queensland coasts and in the early days, Perth. But where did they come from? Folklore tells us that they evolved out of working boats, but did they?

In an extensively researched presentation, boatbuilder and sailor Ian Hugh Smith traces the origin of the 18-footer in the nineteenth century and its evolution in the first half of the twentieth century and provides the answers to those questions.

And for the whole of this period, the vast majority of Aussie Open Boats were built with one planking method: batten-seam carvel. Not only has the author traced how this method developed, he presents a thorough how-they-were-built guide that will enable future generations to understand this important part of our maritime heritage.