Header Photo Philadelphia Tuckup

The previous header photo was of the reproduction Philadelphia tuckup, Marion Brewington, built by the Independence Seaport Museum. I lifted this photo from the Green Boats blog which unfortunately went dormant two years ago.The Philadelphia hiker and tuckup were Americas first racing dinghies. Racing these catboats on the Delaware River was going full bore in the 1870s (which indicates that it was developing in the 1860s and maybe earlier) and continued to the early 1890s, when expanded commercialization of the Philadelphia waterfront shut down the tuckup yacht clubs and their boat houses. Following the lead of the sandbaggers, the unlimited hikers had ridiculous sail plans,...

Read more

We Are OFF! NY to Annapolis October 8 10 268 Miles

Our first problem was discovered when we had to use the dinghy to go to dinner on City Island because the Clubs launch service ends at 6 pm in the waning days of the season: it started right up but stopped in five seconds. So we paddled.  And the night of the seventh was unpleasantly rocky on the mooring due to strong SW winds kicking up big chop in Eastchester Bay, impeding sleep.The passage was from 9:45 am on the eighth until 7:30 am on the tenth, 45.75 hours with a two hour "stop" to be discussed later, so 43.75 hours underway. The first of the two days (NYC and the Atlantic coast of New Jersey) was warmer than expected for the season, both day and night, with sunny clear skies and...

Read more

Fitting Out A Newly Built Boat

Fitting out a new boat can be difficult and very very expensive.I have known people to buy $20,000 boats and then drop another $50,000 to $60,000 on refits before they even touch water.Well my boat will cost around $3500 for the completed bare hull and cabin. See my post "Spira International 27 Foot Boat Plans Build Costs".Im looking at another $2,000 for paint,finish,and interior,and roughly $2,000 for powering the boat.So what about electronics.This is a difficult one to put a price on.The one system that you want to be all new is the waste,water, and plumbing system.This could give you tainted water,flood your boat, and/or make it stink like a sewer,if old equipment is used.Pumps maybe ok...

Read more

Trawler Fest Rivera Beach FL

Once again I am happy to announce I will be part of the boat buyers program at Trawler Fest in Rivera Beach, FL. http://www.passagemaker.com/events/trawlerfest-riviera-beach-2016/I am looking forward to teaming up with yacht designer Stephen Seaton  on a seminar about buying and building custom yachts. We will cover what you will need to know about having a custom boat designed and built. We will also cover the purchasing of a used custom boat, most of which are one off built boats. We will mostly cover metal which is the most common in custom built trawler materials, but will also touch on wood and fibergla...

Read more

More Aluminum Sailing Dinghies

In response to my post about the aluminum Gouget Moth, several readers sent in some aluminum sailing dinghies they have come across.Australian "R.L". sent two photos of a welded aluminum version of the Australian 11 Aquanaut Dinghy, masterfully crafted.Mike Scott owned a prototype De Havilland 12 aluminum dinghy during his time in Australia. His story:"Im not sure who designed that alum dinghy I had, could well have been built as a prototype for the Vagabond, and therefore designed by Alan Payne. They maybe figured that alum was not the best way to go and so built the 3 class boats in glass. The 16ft Corsair is still going strong all over Oz, but the 12ft Vagabond and 10ft Gipsy seem to have...

Read more

December 25 31 Final Work Day and 2015 ROUNDUP A Great Year!

I had planned on more than one final work day before the end of the year, what with such good warm weather so late this year but a wrenched back put the end to that. The last work day was devoted to the cabin sole. I want to check out how good the pieces I have done look, before committing to do the rest. I have been doing the bottom side of this flooring to encapsulate the wood in plastic to avoid a softer surface on which mildew could potentially grow, not that mildew has been a problem for ILENE.Another non-boat day for calling Dave to make an appointment for January to work with me on cleaning and lubricating the winches and steering gear and fixing some pesky wires that no longer transmit...

Read more

Seen at the 2014 Sailboat Show Part 3 the Zim 15

One of the hidden casualties in the ongoing clash between Laser Performance Europes business strategy and the rest of the small boat sailing world has been the virtual stoppage of production of the Vanguard 15, a two-hander racing and recreational dinghy that, since the late 1990s, has sold well in the United States and still has a national presence. As with any vacuum in the market someone will step in and in this case Steve Clark, one of the original team that developed the Vanguard 15, has linked up with Zim boatbuilders to produce his higher-end version of a hiking doublehander, the Zim 15.Zim Sailing freely admits they are targeting the post-collegiate market with the Zim 15 and it comes...

Read more

Header Photo The Tempo Scow

The previous header photo was of the Tempo scow designed by Jack Koper of South Africa in the early 1960s. He did three home-built scow designs, all extremely popular in South Africa. The Tempo made it into the northern hemisphere, becoming popular in Germany and Holland and in a twist, the Tempo, in modern times, is now only found in these two countries and not in the home of origin, South Africa.  The Fireball was introduced around the same time as the Tempo scow and sits in the same space, a 4.88 meter, two man, single trapeze, spinnaker performance dinghy capable of being home built. The Fireball became an international class, the Tempo is bumping along close to extinction.Amazingly,...

Read more

January 11 15 Five More Lay Days in Coconut Grove 1 5 Miles

We spent four nights at a dock of the Coral Reef YC, after one more rough night on anchor in the John Brennan Channel way off from the Dinner Key Marina. We did not even go ashore the day after the botanical garden trip, because it was so rough. This Google Earth picture shows both locations and the route between them, which is not charted, in the northern half of its brief 1.5 miles. (The dinghy dock is clearly visible in the extreme lower left and the well marked Dinner Key Channel -- through which we entered and will leave -- runs in from below the yellow humanoid figure in the upper right, slightly downward to the left, between two islands. The chart does not indicate and I am not sure which...

Read more

Rhode River to Cambridge and Three Lay Days in Cambridge October 13 17 38 7 Miles

First the passage: The wind was predicted at 5 knots, building to 15, in our face. Not pleasant, but manageable. It came from the predicted direction, a bit east of south, but at  20 to 25 knots and one has to add five to that to account for our boats speed into it!  And with Chesapeake Bay running generally north-south, the wind had time to work up large stiff waves of up to five feet. ILENE was pitching in these waves, some of them breaking over her bow, throwing spray back onto us. And with both these waves and the wind pushing us backwards, we were making only about four knots over the ground -- making for a long day to cover the 34 miles involved.What to do. We changed course...

Read more