21' Devlin Cutter (2019) - PATTY B.

Although Sam Devlin designed the 21′ gaff cutter Song Wren in 2011, no examples had been built before I began this one in 2016. Launched in 2019 after 2 1/2 years of full-time work, PATTY B likely represents the apogee of my amateur boatbuilding avocation. Neither my workshop nor savings will stretch to accommodate anything larger.

Pocket cruisers tend to have rudimentary cabin furnishings since it’s assumed that the indoor space will be used only for occasional shelter and sleeping. Since this would be the largest boat I could aspire to, I decided to make the cabin as comfortable and elegant as possible even with the limitation of 50″ sitting headroom. (See my article “Elegant Accommodations in 60 Square Feet,” WoodenBoat #271) A V-berth and quarterberth sleep three adults, a total of 16 drawers, bins and shelves do a good job of controlling clutter, and a sapele ceiling provides a clean and elegant backdrop. Electric wiring is concealed behind routed wood channels. One modest feature that has proven very successful is a pair of wooden cell phone pockets on the aft cabin bulkhead, just inside the companionway. The phones are protected from weather and splash, yet are quickly reachable from either the cockpit or cabin seats.

The hull construction is double-chined stitch-and glue, 1/2″ okoume marine plywood with fiberglass sheathing. The fixed keel holds 900 lb. of lead ballast in the form of lead shot encased in epoxy, another 100 lb. of lead ingots in the bilge provide internal ballast.

The Song Wren is very, very generously canvassed at 301 square feet, an adaptation for Puget Sound’s notoriously light summer air. PATTY B sails nicely in three or four knots of wind and asks for reefing at eight to ten knots. She balances perfectly on reefed main and staysail, or with a scrap of jib unfurled to imitate a storm jib. While the cutter rig is an unusual complication on a boat this size, I like having so many strings to haul and pull: they ask for attention and reward patience. This, after all, is what sailing is about.