saugeen witch sailboat

Review of Colvin Saugeen Witch

Basic specs., sailing characteristics.

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Colvin Saugeen Witch is 1.63, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 7.0 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Colvin Saugeen Witch is about 165 kg/cm, alternatively 926 lbs/inch. Meaning: if you load 165 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 926 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

Maintenance

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

This section shown boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find inspiration for your boat.

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Thomas Colvin's designs

Discussion in ' Sailboats ' started by Abe Shaffer , Sep 7, 2017 .

Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

Hi Penny, welcome to the forum . . Is this the boat . . . ?  

penny colvin New Member

This is our boat Apostle at the Blackbeard Festival. It is not for sale. Cargo Schooner Antelope is for sale.  

I see, Tom's own boat after K'ung Fu-tse, she was in Cruising World Oct. 1992 page 13 . ​ Tom's own Cargo Schooner Antelope was also mentioned 4 × in the Junk Rig Association JRA Hall of Fame - Tom Colvin PDF ​  

Angélique said: ↑ I see, Tom's own boat after K'ung Fu-tse, she was in Cruising World Oct. 1992 page 13 . - ( top - bottom ) ​ View attachment 139667 View attachment 139668 Tom's own Cargo Schooner Antelope was also mentioned 4 × in the Junk Rig Association JRA Hall of Fame - Tom Colvin PDF ​ Click to expand...

dsigned O.R.C. Hunter

Angélique said: ↑ I see, Tom's own boat after K'ung Fu-tse, she was in Cruising World Oct. 1992 page 13 . ​ View attachment 139667 View attachment 139668 Tom's own Cargo Schooner Antelope was also mentioned 4 × in the Junk Rig Association JRA Hall of Fame - Tom Colvin PDF ​ Click to expand...

dsigned said: ↑ Where does one find small cargo loads to haul across oceans? ​ Click to expand...

Angélique said: ↑ Maybe Tom's family is willing to sell plans for that, also look e.g. at Tad Roberts ¹ and Dudley Dix ² for their plans. ​ ¹ 54½' Steel Cargo Schooner - ¹ 52' Steel Cargo Schooner - ² 52¼' Steel Cargo Schooner - ( LOD ) ​ Click to expand...

Tres Hombres ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Tres Hombres' - Capt'n - Arjen van der Veen​ ‘‘ Beyond the Horizon lies more ... You are the master of your own destiny . ’’ ​  

Angélique said: ↑ [ . . . . . ] ​ Maybe Tom's family is willing to sell plans for that, also look e.g. at Tad Roberts ¹ and Dudley Dix ² for their plans. ¹ 54½' Steel Cargo Schooner - ¹ 52' Steel Cargo Schooner - ² 52¼' Steel Cargo Schooner - ( LOD ) Click to expand...

( enlarged pic ) ​ SV Panope , an aluminum built ± 34' LOD Colvin Saugeen Witch * gaff sloop , with a pilot house instead of a cockpit, which usually sails in the PNW. * Wayback Machine link to Tom's moderate displacement ocean sailing designs, since Tom's R.I.P. own website is offline since a while now. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ There are max five videos shown per post here, so the next are links : Motor Sailing - - Hull Scrubbing ​ ‘‘ This boat does not have poisonous bottom paint and therefore must be frequently scrubbed of marine growth. ’’  

pdwiley Senior Member

penny colvin said: ↑ This is our boat Apostle at the Blackbeard Festival. It is not for sale. Cargo Schooner Antelope is for sale. Click to expand...

rwatson Senior Member

pdwiley said: ↑ Hi Penny. I built one of Tom's SAUGEEN WITCH hulls stretched to 38'. Click to expand...

GHB New Member

Abe Shaffer said: ↑ Hailing all sea folk with an appreciation of the elegant designs of Thomas Colvin! I am trying to find a set of plans or a completed hull for one of Thomas Colvin's cargo schooners for a fledgling sail cargo project. Can anyone help me to find plans or a boat builder who has made and can make a Colvin boat? Very much appreciated! "May fair winds escort you." T. Colvin Click to expand...

Deciates New Member

Hi everybody, Very interested by all I read and the quality of Angelique's repply, I am also interested to get some more information from GHB about the boat. Thank a lot. [email protected]  

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Thanks Deciates, and welcome to the forum . . There's some info about Capt'n GHB's boat online : Schooner Chief Aptakisic / pics  

Hello! - and a Thomas Colvin Junk

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The ‘Water Witch’ - an 1880s Saugeen River steam queen 

Article content.

By Robin Hilborn Bruce County Historical Society  

The ‘Water Witch’ - an 1880s Saugeen River steam queen  Back to video

Fancy booking a cruise on the Saugeen River? Admittedly, there are no such cruises today, but there certainly were in the 19th Century.   

The first steamboat used on the rivers and lakes of Bruce County was Water Witch , on the Saugeen River in 1880. This marked the start of tourism in Bruce County, because cruises on the Saugeen became a sudden hit.   

In the village of Paisley hotelkeeper David D. Hanna had spied an opportunity. He would attract travellers to his Cosmopolitan Hotel by offering a riverboat service to Walkerton.  

In the summer of 1879 Hanna had a flat-bottomed boat built at Paisley by John Bowers of Hanover. Named Water Witch, she was a side-wheeler, 40-feet long with a beam of eight feet and just under four registered tons.  

The six-horsepower horizontal steam engine was just powerful enough to give the craft some headway against the strong current of the Saugeen. When Water Witch steamed between Paisley and Walkerton she took 13 hours to go upstream and four hours to return.   

Her debut came to great acclaim. The Bruce Herald in Walkerton reported that “Captain Hanna’s dainty little craft, the Water Witch , astonished the citizens of this place by steaming into port on the morning of the 23rd inst. [April 23, 1880] Large numbers met her at the landing.” The captain and crew were whisked off to a dinner at Clark’s Hotel.  

The next day, the Herald said, “A few Walkertonians accompanied the visitors downstream to Paisley. A start was effected a few minutes after 10, and Paisley was reached at 2:20, the trip of about 56 miles being accomplished in rather more than four hours.” The Walkerton gentlemen returned home by the afternoon train.  

The river trip was not without its hazards. The Paisley Advocate wrote that on one excursion the men were obliged to get out and push at the rapids in Brant.  

M r. Hanna plied between Paisley and Walkerton in 1880 and 1881, charging 10 cents for the passage. During the week of the Fall Exhibition Hanna’s boat was packed with visitors to the fair at the Paisley Palace (built in 1879). Everyone wanted to try the cruise on the first steamboat on the Saugeen.   

However David Hanna discovered that, outside the fall fair period, demand for transporting cargo and passengers on the Saugeen was too low for him to break even. Fluctuating water levels were also a problem. With no money to be made on the river Hanna put Water Witch up for sale.  

Three lumber kings, the McLean brothers of Sauble Falls, bought Water Witch. In January 1883 they loaded the Witch onto two large sleighs and dragged her from the Saugeen River to Boat Lake on the Bruce Peninsula.  

There the McLeans introduced the old cruise ship to her new job in the timber industry: towing log booms on Boat and Sky lakes.  

From 1879 to 1886 the McLean brothers—Hector, Lachlan and Hugh—ran a sawmill at Sauble Falls. The availability of waterpower and stands of timber made the falls an excellent mill location. The mill turned out 20,000 feet of lumber a day and employed about 32 men, housed in two large boarding houses.   

The McLeans also had a planing mill, a shingle mill and a small grist mill. They used a steam tug, the Sauble Queen , to tow lumber, lath, shingles and telegraph poles on barges to Southampton, Kincardine and Goderich. (The Queen burned in 1882.)  

The McLean employees rafted logs down Isaac and Boat lakes and then down the Rankin River to the sawmill.   

The newly-acquired Water Witch started towing rafts of sawlogs on Boat Lake, even getting as far as Sky Lake. We have the testimony of the captain himself, thanks to an interview carried out by historian Bruce Krug in 1953. (The manuscript is in the Bruce County Archives in Southampton.)  

Krug asked Frank Belmore about the steamer Water Witch, and “he at once began to beam all over and said that he and his brother Lawrence used to tow logs from Boat Lake to the head of the Rankin River and then drive the logs down the river. He said that it was a paddle-wheeler, having a paddle wheel on both sides. The boat drew about two feet of water. There was a smokestack on the boat, with the smokestack hinged so that it could be dropped down when they passed under any bridges.”  

The Witch operated through the 1880s, but was no longer used after the McLeans sold the sawmill.  

As to what had happened to the sole representative of steam navigation on the county’s inland waters, the captain said that it became old and the boards rotted. The little steamer was stripped of engine and boiler and abandoned in the water at the south end of Boat Lake where the Rankin River empties from the lake. The hulk lies somewhere buried in the mud.  

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Once Upon a Time: Water Witch – the Saugeen steam queen

Fancy booking a cruise on the Saugeen River? Admittedly, there are no such cruises today, but there certainly were in the 19th century.

The first steamboat used on the rivers and lakes of Bruce County was the Water Witch, on the Saugeen River in 1880. This marked the start of tourism in Bruce County, because cruises on the Saugeen became a sudden hit.

In the village of Paisley hotelkeeper David D. Hanna had spied an opportunity. He would attract travellers to his Cosmopolitan Hotel by offering a riverboat service to Walkerton.

In the summer of 1879 Hanna had a flat-bottomed boat built at Paisley by John Bowers of Hanover. Named Water Witch, she was a side-wheeler, 40 feet long with a beam of 8 feet and just under four registered tons.

The six-horsepower horizontal steam engine was just powerful enough to give the craft some headway against the strong current of the Saugeen. When Water Witch steamed between Paisley and Walkerton, she took 13 hours to go upstream and four hours to return.

Her debut came to great acclaim. The Bruce Herald in Walkerton reported that “Captain Hanna’s dainty little craft, the Water Witch, astonished the citizens of this place by steaming into port on the morning of the 23rd inst. [April 23, 1880] Large numbers met her at the landing.” The captain and crew were whisked off to a dinner at Clark’s Hotel.

The next day, the Herald said, “A few Walkertonians accompanied the visitors downstream to Paisley. A start was effected a few minutes after 10, and Paisley was reached at 2:20, the trip of about 56 miles being accomplished in rather more than four hours.” The Walkerton gentlemen returned home by the afternoon train.

The river trip was not without its hazards. The Paisley Advocate wrote that on one excursion the men were obliged to get out and push at the rapids in Brant.

Mr. Hanna plied between Paisley and Walkerton in 1880 and 1881, charging 10 cents for the passage. During the week of the Fall Exhibition Hanna’s boat was packed with visitors to the fair at the Paisley Palace (built in 1879). Everyone wanted to try the cruise on the first steamboat on the Saugeen.

However David Hanna discovered that, outside the fall fair period, demand for transporting cargo and passengers on the Saugeen was too low for him to break even. Fluctuating water levels were also a problem. With no money to be made on the river Hanna put Water Witch up for sale.

Three lumber kings, the McLean brothers of Sauble Falls, bought the Water Witch. In January, 1883, they loaded the Witch onto two large sleighs and dragged her from the Saugeen River to Boat Lake on the Bruce Peninsula.

There the McLeans introduced the old cruise ship to her new job in the timber industry: towing log booms on Boat and Sky lakes.

From 1879 to 1886, the McLean brothers—Hector, Lachlan and Hugh—ran a sawmill at Sauble Falls. The availability of water power and stands of timber made the falls an excellent mill location. The mill turned out 20,000 feet of lumber a day and employed about 32 men, housed in two large boarding houses.

The McLeans also had a planing mill, a shingle mill and a small grist mill. They used a steam tug, the Sauble Queen, to tow lumber, lath, shingles and telegraph poles on barges to Southampton, Kincardine and Goderich. (The Queen burned in 1882.)

The McLean employees rafted logs down Isaac and Boat lakes and then down the Rankin River to the sawmill.

The newly-acquired Water Witch started towing rafts of sawlogs on Boat Lake, even getting as far as Sky Lake. We have the testimony of the captain himself, thanks to an interview carried out by historian Bruce Krug in 1953. (The manuscript is in the Bruce County Archives in Southampton.)

Krug asked Frank Belmore about the steamer Water Witch, and “he at once began to beam all over and said that he and his brother Lawrence used to tow logs from Boat Lake to the head of the Rankin River and then drive the logs down the river. He said that it was a paddle-wheeler, having a paddle wheel on both sides. The boat drew about two feet of water. There was a smokestack on the boat, with the smokestack hinged so that it could be dropped down when they passed under any bridges.”

The Witch operated through the 1880s, but was no longer used after the McLeans sold the sawmill.

As to what had happened to the sole representative of steam navigation on the county’s inland waters, the captain said that it became old and the boards rotted. The little steamer was stripped of engine and boiler and abandoned in the water at the south end of Boat Lake where the Rankin River empties from the lake. The hulk lies somewhere buried in the mud.

——————————————————–

by Robin Hilborn for the Bruce County Historical Society

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Once Upon a Time: “Water Witch,” Saugeen steam queen

Fancy booking a cruise on the Saugeen River? Admittedly, there are no such cruises today, but there certainly were in the 19th Century. The first steamboat used on the rivers and lakes of Bruce County was “Water Witch,” on the Saugeen River in 1880. This marked the start of tourism in Bruce County, because cruises on the Saugeen became a sudden hit. In the Village of Paisley, hotel-keeper David D. Hanna had spied an opportunity. He would attract travellers to his Cosmopolitan Hotel by offering a riverboat service to Walkerton. In the summer of 1879, Hanna had a flat-bottomed boat built at Paisley by John Bowers of Hanover. Named “Water Witch,” she was a side-wheeler, 40 feet long with a beam of eight feet and just under four registered tons. The six-horsepower horizontal steam engine was just powerful enough to give the craft some headway against the strong current of the Saugeen. When “Water Witch” steamed between Paisley and Walkerton, she took 13 hours to go upstream and four hours to return. Her debut came to great acclaim. The “Bruce Herald” in Walkerton reported that “Captain Hanna’s dainty little craft, the ‘Water Witch,’ astonished the citizens of this place by steaming into port on the morning of the 23rd inst. [April 23, 1880] Large numbers met her at the landing.” The captain and crew were whisked off to a dinner at Clark’s Hotel. The next day, the “Herald” said, “A few Walkertonians accompanied the visitors downstream to Paisley. A start was effected a few minutes after 10, and Paisley was reached at 2:20, the trip of about 56 miles being accomplished in rather more than four hours.” The Walkerton gentlemen returned home by the afternoon train. The river trip was not without its hazards. The “Paisley Advocate” wrote that on one excursion, the men were obliged to get out and push at the rapids in Brant. Mr. Hanna plied between Paisley and Walkerton in 1880 and 1881, charging 10 cents for the passage. During the week of the Fall Exhibition, Hanna's boat was packed with visitors to the fair at the Paisley Palace (built in 1879). Everyone wanted to try the cruise on the first steamboat on the Saugeen. However, David Hanna discovered that, outside the fall fair period, demand for transporting cargo and passengers on the Saugeen was too low for him to break even. Fluctuating water levels were also a problem. With no money to be made on the river, Hanna put “Water Witch” up for sale. Three lumber kings, the McLean brothers of Sauble Falls, bought “Water Witch.” In January, 1883, they loaded her onto two large sleighs and dragged her from the Saugeen River to Boat Lake on the Bruce Peninsula. There, the McLeans introduced the old cruise ship to her new job in the timber industry: towing log booms on Boat and Sky Lakes. From 1879 to 1886, the McLean brothers — Hector, Lachlan and Hugh — ran a sawmill at Sauble Falls. The availability of water power and stands of timber made the falls an excellent mill location. The mill turned out 20,000 feet of lumber per day and employed about 32 men, housed in two large boarding houses. The McLeans also had a planing mill, a shingle mill and a small grist mill. They used a steam tug, the “Sauble Queen,” to tow lumber, lath, shingles and telegraph poles on barges to Southampton, Kincardine and Goderich. (The “Queen” burned in 1882.) The McLean employees rafted logs down Isaac and Boat Lakes and then down the Rankin River to the sawmill. The newly-acquired “Water Witch” started towing rafts of saw-logs on Boat Lake, even getting as far as Sky Lake. We have the testimony of the captain himself, thanks to an interview carried out by historian Bruce Krug in 1953. (The manuscript is in the Bruce County Archives in Southampton.) Krug asked Frank Belmore about the steamer “Water Witch,” and “he at once began to beam all over and said that he and his brother, Lawrence, used to tow logs from Boat Lake to the head of the Rankin River and then drive the logs down the river. He said that it was a paddle-wheeler, having a paddle wheel on both sides. The boat drew about two feet of water. There was a smokestack on the boat, with the smokestack hinged so that it could be dropped down when they passed under any bridges.” The “Witch” operated through the 1880s, but was no longer used after the McLeans sold the sawmill. As to what had happened to the sole representative of steam navigation on the county’s inland waters, the captain said that it became old and the boards rotted. The little steamer was stripped of engine and boiler and abandoned in the water at the south end of Boat Lake where the Rankin River empties from the lake. The hulk lies somewhere buried in the mud. The octagonal Paisley Palace, home of the Fall Fair and destination for “Water Witch” cruises; photo courtesy of the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre, A2013.093, Box 6 O-R

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