Tread Lightly
Description
The Tread Lightly is a charming, compact micro-cruiser designed by New Zealand naval architect John Welsford around 2008. It's often described as the "littlest practical cabin cruising yacht"—a step up from his popular Scamp design (sharing a similar hull philosophy but longer, narrower, and with a yawl rig for better balance and versatility). Intended for solo overnight adventures, camp-cruising in protected waters, estuaries, or coastal exploring, it emphasizes simplicity, trailerability, easy handling, and surprising comfort in a tiny package. Many builders love it for its self-righting tendencies (via high cabin buoyancy), beachability, and the ability to provide quick shelter without feeling claustrophobic. It's a plywood stitch-and-glue or glued-lapstrake build, popular among amateur boatbuilders, with plans available from Welsford's site or suppliers like Duckworks.
Construction Details
| Designer | John Welsford |
|---|---|
| Length | 13.000 ft |
| LOA | 13.000 ft |
| Beam | 5.000 ft |
| Displacement | 661 lb |
| Year Built | 2008 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | - |
| e | - |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Documents
Sails
Tread Lightly - MIZZEN
| Luff | 10.663 ft - (3250 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 4.921 ft - (1500 mm) |
| Leech-AftHdBd | 10.56 ft - (3219 mm) |
| Tack Ang | * 76.66 ° |
| Diag (clew/head) | 10.663 ft - (3250 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 3.5 in - (89 mm) |
| Area (no Roach) | * 26.98 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Tread Lightly - STANDING LUGSAIL
| Luff | 9.842 ft - (3000 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 8.694 ft - (2650 mm) |
| Leech | 14.764 ft - (4500 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 87.07 ° |
| Diag (clew/throat) | 12.795 ft - (3900 mm) |
| Head | 8.53 ft - (2600 mm) |
| Area | * 97.1 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.