Meadow Bird 16
Description
The Meadow Bird 16 is a 16‑foot plywood family daysailer designed by Ed Morch of Seattle and sold as a home‑build plan set beginning in the late 1960s and 1970s. Intended to be an inexpensive, simple, and stable small sailboat for lakes and protected bays, it became a popular regional project boat in the Pacific Northwest, with several hundred plans sold and a substantial number built by amateurs. The design uses straightforward sheet‑plywood construction with chine logs and minimal framing, making it accessible to first‑time builders. Features include a roomy open cockpit, shallow draft with a pivoting centerboard, light weight for easy trailering, and a basic masthead sloop rig. Its forgiving handling and easy construction made it a common first boat for families and DIY sailors.
Construction Details
| Designer | Ed Morch |
|---|---|
| Builder | Home Built |
| Length | 16.000 ft |
| LOA | 16.000 ft |
| LWL | 14.000 ft |
| Beam | 6.000 ft |
| Displacement | 350 lb |
| Max Draft | 3.000 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.670 ft |
| Year Built | 1968 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | - |
| e | - |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Documents
Blueprints
Sails
Meadow Bird 16 - MAINSAIL
| Luff | 17.25 ft - (5258 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 11.67 ft - (3557 mm) |
| Leech | * 19.59 ft - (5971 mm) |
| Tack Angle | 84 ° |
| Diagonal | 19.75 ft - (6020 mm) |
| Head (inches) | 3 in - (76 mm) |
| Area | * 101.95 ft² |
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Meadow Bird 16 - JIBSAIL
| Luff | 13 ft - (3962 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 6.33 ft - (1929 mm) |
| Leech | 11.25 ft - (3429 mm) |
| Length Perpendicular | * 5.48 ft - (1670 mm) |
| Area | * 35.6 ft² |
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Meadow Bird 16 - GAFF MAIN
| Luff | 9.92 ft - (3024 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 11.5 ft - (3505 mm) |
| Leech | 19 ft - (5791 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 83.63 ° |
| Diag (clew/throat) | 14.33 ft - (4368 mm) |
| Head | 9.67 ft - (2947 mm) |
| Area | * 124.21 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.
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