: The digital download produced the equivalent of two very (very!)
: poorly photocopied pages from WoodenBoat magazine, with all
: lines and details completely obscured.

- John, me again! I got some input from a professional designer/builder which I have summarized -

The Cap'n Blackburn design has been around for a long while. With these dated designs from the likes of Atkins, etc. the originals were hand drawn for professional builders, you might get 4 or 5 sheets, some offsets and scantlings, that's about it. It's assumed you have plenty of building experience. Plans were often prepared for a yard the designer worked with so details were resolved with a phone call.

I agree with you that's no excuse for poor quality reproduction but if the originals were in pencil and improperly stored maybe that's all they had to work from. I think a note about quality should be added to their web site though.

I’m going to download a few more that I am interested in to see what they look like.