TRIO, Cape Cod Catboat

As part of the work that would result in the 20' catboat BRECK MARSHALL, Barry Thomas and his boat shop assis­tants, Clark Poston and Bret Laurent, studied and measured Mystic Seaport's day-sailing Crosby cat, TRIO. In her con­struction they recognized that the Crosby’s had a distinct method of fram­ing their boats. Put in cold, the frames were not beveled, so they rake inward towards the maximum beam of the boat. When they later visited the remaining Crosby yard at Osterville, Massa­chusetts, they would learn how to do this from Horace Manley "Bunk" Crosby.  TRIO is 2" to 5" higher-sided than SANSHEE, has a higher coaming, and has considerably more bearing in the bow, making her a drier boat in a seaway.  Her stern has no hollow, but comes in at a shallow V; all of her waterlines are con­vex. Her spars are longer than SANSHEE's, for an area of around 200 square feet, so she should not often need the single sweep that she is set up to carry. Anyone interested in building this boat should follow the method outlined in Barry Thomas’s book, Building the Crosby Catboat, as the Crosby’s worked out highly efficient construction methods.   From 87 Boat Designs by Ben Fuller.  Boat measured by Barry Thomas, Bret Laurent, and Clark Poston in 1986.  Plans drawn by Clark Poston in 1987.