Weather tight for the most part

Im going to need to get back to work to get some rest. The last couple of days have found me dodging my paying work obligations in order finish welding the super structure to the hull and making her weather tight. Dealing with the heavy dew forces one to finish certain jobs in the afternoon or deal with repairing some rust damage the next day from the dew.

When we landed the super structure to the hull, the initial fit of the structure just sitting there at first glance could have been better. My friend Ollie, whos helping me fit out the boat, was a  little freaked out and later told me he figured wed have two or three days in getting the structure to fit. Because Im working off of plans, and CNC cut parts, as long as the super structure itself fits together, there is no other outcome available but to have it fit to the hull. When building the super structure, if I had deviated from the plans, and had cut on the parts of the super structure, it probably would not have fit the hull without major modifications.

With the superstructure just sitting on the hull, we had a 2" gap where the forward wheel house wall hits the deck, a 0" to 3" gap where the port side wall lands on the salon hull flange, and the whole thing had to be pulled back more than an inch. We had one corner, starboard,  where the salon wall turns 45 degrees to head aft that was pretty close to the mark... here is where we started the fit up. Welding a cleat to the deck, and using a ratchet puller, we pulled the structure about 1/4" to hit a mark, and tacked it. After a few tries, we finally found the right angle and location for a welded cleat to pull the salon wall forward to land on the 45 degree 8" long wall,  and laid in some heavy tacks. Those two seemingly insignificant  pulls un-twisted some of the salon, and we now found part of the wheel house starboard wall firmly on the fore deck vs the two inch gap we had only 2 hours ago. Now that the wheel hose was down on the deck, we  used the Port-A-Power to push the wheel house over to locating points and tacked it down. All the CNC parts had lay out lines etched in them upon arrival from the cut shop. Before I had painted the wheel house deck, I had drilled dimples about every two feet on the  layout lines so I could locate the wheel house layout lines through the paint when the time came. Being able to locate a part is critical and having referenced locating points saved the day. With the starboard side of the wheel house now tacked down and in its exact position, we moved to the salon and began pulling the wall to meet the flange joint at each frame. After we had the wall tacked on the frame joints, we moved between each frame, and pushed the flange up to meet the wall, then tacked.  Moving over to the port side, we used the Port-A-Power to push the whole structure back, and were feeling pretty good as it just about fell in to place. Having the starboard side right on the money was forcing the port side  in to  place. Once we had both port and starboard side tacked in to place, we then worked on the end walls, which was just a matter of making sure they were straight with no bows or bellies, and tacked them down. Getting the super structure fitted in to place, and tacked welded, took the two of us about eight hours.

Finish welding the structure to hull joint took a long 12 hours with two welders running. Because of being outside, and not wanting to deal with moving the MIG welder around, I decided to stick weld the job. We used a Miller Bobcat, and an Everlast inverter based multi process machine running off of an 8000 watt generator to get the job done. Stitch welding using 2" welds, and moving around a lot was the schedule. I had spray foamed the inside of the hull prior to all this work, so we had to be careful about catching the foam on fire. The foam is fire rated, and it for sure lived up to that description. Keeping  an eye on the foam with plenty of  fire extinguishers ready was about all we had to do as it self extinguished once the heat was taken away. 


Once the welding was complete, we knocked off the slag, ground the welds for fairing, and brushed two coats of epoxy primer. The boat yard does not allow any spraying of paint.  Before the weather gets real ugly, Im going to get some fairing compound on the welds to finish the joint and give it two more coats of primer. This is all Im going to do until next Spring in regards to painting the outside.

On both the port and starboard side, we burned off about two feet of hull paint where the salon wall ties in to the hull. This will have to be faired and blended back in to the green hull next spring.

The only paint patching I have to do is on the aft deck of the salon. Weve had two days of steady rain,  and this is the only area we did not get primed. Once the rain stops, Ill finish priming this area and scuff and prime the weld zone inside the super structure. Once all thats finished, I have to bolt some lumber to a few short frames, then patch in the foam.

The decks have been blasted, two coats of primer and three coats of acrylic urethane before we moved her outside. I had all along planned on re painting the decks, and after the beating they took on welding the super structure, they for sure will need painting before launch. There is also a lot of soot on the side walls from the stick welding that is going to  have to be washed off. The whole boat is nasty dirty, and once I have the paint patch to a point Im happy with, I might take a day and give her a bath. 

Im going to have to get back to work this week coming, although this monsoon we just had will probably rain me out half of the week. This flurry of boat building has me feeling a bit tired, but a happy tired as were getting things done in big gulps.

Cheers

 

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New rig for Didi 29 Retro

The Didi 29 Retro was commissioned by a client in Cape Town, to build for himself for competition in the classic yacht races in the Caribbean. He wanted a boat with modern underbody and appendages but with a large gaff rig of classic configuration, to race in the modern classic division.

Underbody of Didi 29 Retro

Last year I was asked to draw a more conservative cruising gaff rig for the design, to better suit those who have no aspirations to race with a big crew or simply want to cruise. That resulted in the cruising gaff rig with about 20% less sail area on the same foretriangle height.

Didi 29 Retro racing gaff rig at left, cruising rig at right

This year I was asked to draw a more modern rig for it, which developed into the squaretop Marconi rig. This one will better suit most sailors, being easier to handle and easier to understand for those who dont know gaff rigs. On sail area, it fits between the two gaff rigs and it will be interesting to see how the three compare on the water.

Didi 29 Retro with squaretop Marconi rig

The squaretop Marconi rig suits the aesthetics of this hull rather well. It would be my choice if I were building this boat for myself. Should be an exciting boat to sail too, able to take advantage of the power of modern stable sail fabrics.

To see more of this and our other designs, go to http://dixdesign.com/

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How to build an adjustable tiller lock for a couple bucks

Its that time of year again.  Spring Tweak time!  This years Spring Tweak is a DIY tiller lock.

This tiller lock is fully adjustable, easy to make, unobtrusive, easily removed and set up, and only costs a few bucks to make.  Ill show you how to make one.

Tiller Locks:

When it comes to tiller locking devices, theres certainly no shortage of them.  Do a Google search for "tiller tamer", or "tiller lock" or something similar, and before you know it youll have spent your entire day looking at a bewildering assortment of different types, both commercially available and home made.  Dont ask me how I know that.

Tiller locks generally fall into four main categories.

First, youve got your on-off lever action type, like this TillerClutch for example.  These usually have a lever mounted towards the front of the tiller that allows you to alternate between locking the tiller in place, or allowing it to move freely.  Its always locked or unlocked, theres no in-between. 

Then theres the Solid Brace type.  These consist of an adjustable rod that goes from the tiller to a box usually mounted on the seat back.  Theyre designed to be rugged.  The rod doubles as a tiller extender and can be easily detached to unlock the tiller.  The rods length can be adjusted as needed.

Next, theres the Friction Knob type, like the ever popular Tiller Tamer.  Here, a knob is used to adjust the amount of friction anywhere from very loose to a full lock.






Also using adjustable friction technology are a variety  of  DIY Shock Cord, Rope and Bungee types.  These are usually home-made and can range from a single piece of rope stretched between two cleats, to devices constructed from bungee cords, fairleads, camcleats, blocks, hooks, and various other items.


Of course they all have their pros and cons.  So how do you decide which one to buy or build?

What makes a good tiller lock (in my opinion):

• Adjustability means flexability.  I favor the devices that allow the friction to be adjusted from completely free tiller movement all the way up to a full lock.  Dialing in just enough friction to hold the tiller in place still allows an occasional nudge to adjust the boats course.
• Dont get in the way.  Most devices have ropes that lead from the front of the tiller to the sides of the boat that block access to outboard motors, block seats, and so on.  This can be a major drawback on a boat with limited space to begin with.
• Quickly disabled and enabled.  I want to be able to quickly and easily disable or remove the device when Im done using it, or in case of an emergency.
• A DIY solution, inexpensive and easily constructed from readily available parts.
• Strong, reliable, and should not be unattractive.

How my tiller lock works:

My tiller lock is a Friction Knob type.  Tightening the knob pulls up on an eye-bolt, pinching a line against a strip of leather with increasing friction. The amount of friction is fully adjustable from very loose to a full lock.  The friction between the rope and leather is smooth, consistant, and the leather will not wear out any time soon. It is not necessary to locate the tiller lock near the front of the tiller on a boat the size of mine, or on any boat with a well balanced helm.  I located mine slightly forward of my aft coaming and ran the line almost straight across. There, the line is not blocking my way at all but still functions perfectly, so long as I keep the line free of slack. Two jam cleats on my coaming allow me to easily tension the line tightly.  I can instantly remove the device by pulling the line off the jam cleats. A leather washer under the knob protects the tiller from damage and its friction prevents the knob from turning on its own.

Materials needed:

To make my tiller lock youll need a stainless steel eye-bolt and a few other small items that you can probably find lying around the house or garage.  The eye-bolt I used is a Stanley V2161 that I got from Lowes for $1.28.  Youll also need a small scrap of leather, a couple stainless steel screws, a short piece of rope, and a couple small scraps of wood.  You may also need to purchase a couple small jam cleats.  The knob can be made from a scrap of wood by tapping a threaded hole in it or using a threaded insert, or you can buy a threaded plastic knob at a hardware store for $2.60 like I did.  Or simply use a stainless steel wingnut.

Building the tiller lock:

The lock is very simple and building it should be quite self-explanitory.  Here is a cutaway diagram of how it goes together:

Youll need to drill a 1/4" hole through your tiller for the eye-bolt.

Make the bottom piece from a scrap of wood measuring 2-1/2" long by 1" high by 3/4" thick.  I used white oak.  Cut a 1/4" slot completely through it, long enough for the eye-bolt to fit through, and counterbore a couple of screw holes in it. Round off the corners.

Cut a strip of leather as wide as the inside diameter of the eye-bolt and long enough to wrap around the wooden piece.  Leather from an old belt works fine.  Insert the eye-bolt, then add the leather strip, holding it in place with glue or a couple brass tacks. Make a leather washer for under the knob. Drill the hole in the leather washer oversized so the eye-bolt can freely move up and down through it.

Attach to your tiller, kick back and relax!

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No water for a bit

When the tide goes out from under your boat you want a nice soft spot for your boat to sit on for the next 10 hours or so. Sand is great, mud is nice but muddy. Round rocks ok , but move the conchs out of the way if you can. Not for the boat but for them as 16 tons is a lot to bear for the duration of the tide.

This is our latest project boat. Its an Irwin 31 built in1968 of solid fiberglass. Nice lines , shallow draft, good sails, 800 hrs on the engine, and bought for less than the price of a used 6 hp outboard. Here she is saving us $ 400.00 on a one day haul out to put in a new stuffing box. Sheer legs made from beach wood and line straps to aft chain plate. She draws 36" . As she sits she is solid as a rock.

This boat will be our Bahamas boat to keep at our place so we will always have a boat to use when here even if we are off somewhere on Hogfish M.

A day at the beach in Abaco at Bill and Leslies on Manjack Cay.

In shallow water so we dont have to use the dinghy. This is Saddle Back Cay in the Exumas. We were caretakers there for 3 years 20 years ago. Have gone up and down on this spot twice a day ....a lot .

Kinda shallow

 

Looks like a big Heron from this angle sitting on brown sand.

Sitting on the beach in cold water to scrub the prop and bottom. 

Nothing like a nice sand beach to let the boat have a rest on. Kinda like looking at a big ole square Elephant Seal here resting from all that time at sea.

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Paper Jet Designed for Junior Sailors

I designed the Paper Jet primarily to be a training boat for teenagers. The thought to design such a boat started when I was on sailing committees in South Africa. One of the subjects most often discussed was how to keep the juniors in sailing. They are the future of sailing, which is experiencing a gradual ageing of the participants. If we cant keep the youth interested in boats and sailing then they will wander off into more exciting/interesting activities, to the detriment of sailing as a whole.

The problem as I see it is a combination of factors, some inter-connected. There are no-doubt other factors but these are the ones that are apparent to me.

1. Boats that are pushed by clubs and national bodies but are uninspiring to young sailors, in terms of performance and aesthetics. Most of these boats were advanced designs when first developed but are now very dated and unexciting by modern standards.
2. The high cost of acquiring and maintaining competitive boats in the Olympic program. These boats are one-design to reduce costs and maintain level competition. However, they are built to very close tolerances and with top grade hardware, sails, rigs, foils etc, all of which cost a bundle of money when new. Much of that cost is repetitive as well, due to regular replacement to stay competitive. Most families cannot make this level of financial commitment, so the boats become progressively less competitive and the sailors lose interest.
3. The high cost of upgrading performance/excitement/challenge to move into the next class up the ladder of the Olympic track. The need to sell the older boat, probably at a loss, then buy a competitive new boat that would be faster but not necessarily much more exciting, makes this an expensive process.
4. Too much emphasis on winning and too little on getting enjoyment out of boats. This has resulted in very structured sailing activities for the juniors. They do not have enough freedom to use their boats for fun instead of being shepherded by adults in sail-training programs that are designed only to improve racing skills, not to engender a love of boats and boating. Fifty years ago we had much more freedom to sail in the manner that we wanted. In doing that we raced informally (two boats near to each other are always racing), learned how to get the most speed from our boats, how to capsize them, how to right them, how to sail them on the limits of the boats ability and beyond our own limits, which served to push our own limits to the next level. We went onto the lake with only the need to be home for dinner and to take total responsibility for ourselves and our boats until we returned. In the process we developed instinctive sailing abilities that can come only from doing, not from being taught theory or chased around a race course by instructors. There were no rescue boats on duty on weekdays, so we had to learn how to rescue ourselves and our buddies. We became totally self-sufficient, self-reliant and confident in our own abilities. We learned to take responsibility for our own actions in a way that is missing from much of modern society. We also learned to love our boats and sailing so intensely that most of the guys in my group moved on to careers in the boating industry.
5. Too much emphasis on windward-leeward racing. This may be good for emphasising the need for improving technique in slow boats but it produces the most boring type of sailing imaginable, either to participate or to watch. The most fun and exciting experience of sailing happens on reaching courses and the sailing establishment seems to have colluded to remove this from the racing.

What has all this to do with the Paper Jet? The concept of this boat developed in my mind and then in my computer, with these factors in my mind. I was developing a boat to solve some of those problems. No boat can fix everything that is wrong in junior sailing but I wanted to draw a boat that would have the ability to at least help with the problems. It produced a boat with the following characteristics.

1. Very modern and exciting to look at, it looks fast even when standing still. Wherever I take it, people come to admire it and talk about it. Juniors love the aesthetics of this very sexy-looking boat.
2. It can morph from a very basic free-standing una rig for single-handing with minimal strings to pull and understand, through a conventional sloop rig for double-handed sailing with a few more strings, to a powered-up double-handed skiff with fathead mainsail, asymmetrical spinnaker and trapeze, simply by adding or removing components from the modular rig.
3. This happens without changing boats and at moderate cost. One family can sail the same boat in different formats to suit the people who are sailing it. Or the same crew can vary the power of the rig and speed of the boat to suit wind, water and personal mood, from relaxed unpressured cruising through to very challenging maxed-out adrenaline-producing low-flying. It can morph from one rig to another in minutes, then back again.
4. Planing high-performance hull with low drag at all speeds. It accelerates smoothly, with no bow-wave hump to overcome in order to plane at high speed. This means that it can plane in moderate breezes even with the smallest rig.
5. Proportioned for teenagers rather than adults, so that juniors can potentially get more performance from the boat than their larger and heavier parents.
6. Hull and deck weight of under 45kg (100lb), easily manhandled by young crew.
7. Able to be built by amateurs with basic woodworking skills to reduce the cost of getting afloat.
8. Traditional rig details to reduce expensive purchased hardware.

Paper Jet rigs, deck plan & cockpit section. Click to enlarge.

The drawing above shows the overall concept of the Paper Jet. In the plan view, you can see that it has two mast positions, linked by a plywood X-structure that spreads the rig loads into the hull and holds the jib sheet fairleads. The una rig at right has the mast free-standing in the forward mast position, which rakes it aft for good helm balance. The sloop rig at centre has the same mast moved to the upright aft mast position, with only the standing rigging and jib added. The skiff rig at left keeps all of the components of the sloop rig except for the removable topmast (there is a socket with locating bolt at the hounds) and mainsail, which are replaced by a taller topmast, fathead mainsail and spinnaker gear. The retracting bowsprit is linked to the spinnaker halliard so that one line hoists the asymmetrical and pushes out the bowsprit. The other end of the same line retrieves the spinnaker and pulls in the bowsprit.

The cockpit section shows that this boat has a narrow waterline relative to overall beam. That produces a boat that is very responsive and needs fast reactions and agility. It is not a boat for beginners, who should first learn to sail on a Sunfish or other less challenging boat. After that they will have the skills needed to sail this boat with the una rig then progress to the other versions.

Dudley single-handing with skiff rig. Billy Black photo.

The wooden mast that I designed for it is sealed and buoyant. If capsized it lies on its side instead of turning turtle. Most dinghies that lie on their side will blow away from the crew in strong winds if they lose contact with the boat. They cant catch up with the boat when swimming in a lifejacket. Not so with the Paper Jet, which stays right where it capsizes, with the immersed wing serving as a sea-anchor.

Andre Siebert and daughter with sloop rig, saluting the club commodore during the opening cruise.

Dan Siegal sailing with the una rig at Mystic Seaport. Billy Black photo.

Righting from a capsize is not difficult, using the righting lines under the wings. Hanging from the righting line and pushing with feet against the immersed bottom of the hull pulls it upright, generally without a need to get onto the daggerboard.

Two Paper Jets capsized. It lies and waits to be rerighted. Billy Black photo.

The  Paper Jet is well-suited to club use, with boats able to be built by amateur or professional builders, working from plans (supplied with full-size patterns of all plywood components) or from pre-cut plywood kits available from suppliers in various countries (Click for suppliers). That makes it suitable also for club, school and community woodworking projects to build up local fleets.

Two Paper Jets are a compact load on a shared trailer.

I have no aspirations for the  Paper Jet to become an Olympic class. What it can be is an affordable, exciting and versatile part of the training route toward much more costly skiffs like the 49er. For those who dont have aspirations to Olympic skiff sailing, the Paper Jet can be all that they need.

Dudley single-handing with asymmetrical. Dave Baxter photo.

Although intended for junior sailors, this boat has attracted a different type of sailor. It has earned a following of men in their 30s and 40s, sailing both crewed and single-handed. At time of writing, we have sold plans and/or kits for this design to builders in 18 countries, with numbers rising in North America and Europe.

To see our full range of designs, please visit our main website at http://dixdesign.com/.

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Kits for our Plywood Boats

Kits for our plywood boats have been available in USA for more than 10 years. This has had mixed success, depending on who was cutting the kits. Following on the sale of the company that had the rights to cut our kits, the quality of service deteriorated to a level that was no longer tolerable, so I rescinded the cutting rights. That brought us to the current arrangement of marketing the kits ourselves and sub-contracting the cutting to Chesapeake Light Craft in Annapolis.

This has worked out very well. The quality of the kits supplied to date has been excellent and the shipping has been both economically priced and efficient. They have cut numerous dinghy kits, including the Dixi Dinghy  and the Paper Jet.

Plywood Dixi Dinghy, fun little 3:1 dinghy to row/motor/sail.

The are currently preparing to cut a large kit, comprising 61 sheets of plywood, for a Didi 950 that will be shipped to a builder in Ohio. This is a radius chine plywood boat with topside chine that is designed to the Class 950 Rule and makes a very nice fast cruiser, in addition to its primary racing purpose.

3D image of radius chine plywood Didi 950

We have also sent them an order for a smaller but nevertheless substantial kit. This is for a Didi 29 Retro that will be shipped to a builder in North Carolina.This is also a radius chine plywood boat but without the topside chine. It is a development, in classic image, from our popular Didi 26 trailer-sailer design and will be rigged with the cruising rig option of the two gaff rigs that we supply with the design.

3D image of radius chine plywood Didi 29 Retro

I have reworked the panel files for these large kits so that all parts that are larger than a sheet of plywood are jointed with jigsaw joints. These joints are easy to assemble and produce very accurate panels.  Click to read about jigsaw joints.

The range of plywood kits that we can offer in USA is expanding fast. Click to see the full list. If there is a plywood design for which you want a kit, please email Dudley and ask for a price. It may take a week or two to rework the panel files to suit the Chesapeake Light Craft format then get a price for the kit but we will get that info to you as speedily as we can.

If you are outside of the USA, you can still order one of our kits from our suppliers in other countries .

To see our full range of boat designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/

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Swan 48 Available for Newport Bermuda Race 2012

The Swan 48, Patriot, is available for charter if anyone is looking for a quality boat for the upcoming Newport to Bermuda Race. She is hull number 2 of the Swan 48 series. The application for entry for the race expires on April 15.

The boat will also be available this summer in and around Newport, Rhode Island.

For more information, please email us at info@sparkmanstephens.com.

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Boat deals In the Caribbean today ! ! ! 3 sloops for sale for very little Save the time sailing here theyre already here

Columbia 45 sloop for sale in Jolly Habor Antigua. Asking $ 6,000.00 US or best offer. Ready to live aboard and sail the West Indies.... Well after a few days of cleaning her up and sorting a few things out.

Own a 33 racing winner of a sloop for the asking price of $6,000.00 US OBO that out sails bigger brand new J-Boat 42 racing machines that cost over $300,000.00. Ready to win races now! On a dry hoist in Jolly Harbor Antigua.

31 classic fiberglass shoal draft sloop in the Bahamas duty paid. Ready to sail any where... Well...yes you will have to finish the interior some. $2,500.00 US.

The first two boats that I will be talking about I have just learned that they are up for sale. The Hobie 33 sloop has been beating the boats I have been crewing on for the past Saturday races. Boat for boat and on corrected time. A blast from the past that still shows its stern to most everything in sight. 

The Columbia 45 sloop I have been looking at as I motor by every morning in our dinghy going to work on Wild Bird.

Iam not being a yacht broker here in any sense. What Iam trying to provide and show you is that there are lots of opportunities out here to find a waterfront home to live on and fix up at your leisure and then when up to your standards sail over the horizon on. 

I get no moneys from the first two boats. Iam doing this blog as a favor to Rodger the owner of the first two sloops and hopefully to someone else out there that can see themselves in one of these boats.The third boat I own and am no hurry to sell. But will for the asking price.

All of three of these boats are fiberglass. They will most likely out live all of us given a very lackadaisical amount of effort. Unless you run them up on a reef or open the seacocks these three sloops could live forever, and with a little attention they can and will perform as good or better than todays store bought brand new boats for about the initial cost of a deflateable dinghy. Or "Condom boat" as I think of them.

The first boat shown...ah "Featured" is a Columbia 45 Sloop. When I was a kid growing up In San Diego Califorina this boat was new and all shiny. It was so out of place among all the wood boats, cement boats and all the classic boats about. Most of those boats have died off but this sloop lives on through basic simple fiberglass construction and not much else to go wrong. It has a new and taller mast. The engine is twenty years old, the winches have been replaced with bigger self tailing ones. It now has roller furling now on both the genoa and main sail. Back then it was hanks and undersized winches. A smaller motor. No mode coms. Now its all been upgraded.

The owner Rodger has put over $30,000.00 US in this boat over the past several years. He is moving back home to England. He would like to find a good home for this boat. It needs about 3-4 days of cleaning . Most every thing works on the boat now or can be made to work with a little fiddling. I took these photographs this morning. I have not surveyed the boat but am passing on his words to you. I feel that anyone with a bit of energy can be off sailing in this boat in a week after cleaning up. What a big floating sailing home. Look up the specs, on sail boat data on line.

The engine is a reconditioned Perkins 4236. 

The mainsail is in boom roller furling.

The Genoa is roller furling. 

It has an inner staysail if wanted.

The hull is fitted with ultra sonic growth inhibitors system.

Propane stove

All heads work

Most all winches self tailing. 

New batteries 

Solar panel new

Power anchor windlass

Anchors, roads, lines cushions and on and on.

Listen... This is a boat that you could spend years just sailing about the Caribbean in for very little output in dollars and with just a bit of elbow grease. 

Dont email me ... Email Rodger at... Hodgkison@sky.com 

DONT put an N in hodgkison !!! Fn autocorrect wants to put that in.

Lets look her over.

Columbia 45 I think was a Bill Trip design?

This boat has a big bow sprit to get more sail area. All done very well large foredeck to put your dinghy on. Deck is very solid.

Large roller furler, bow plank all done to massive standards.

Solar panel showing here.

4236 Perkins diesel 

All the stuff to run a boat of this size. Theres a generator down there too. I dont know if thats working. All pretty typical of a boat this age, but all good stuff.

Ask Rodger for details.

Galley of the era. Propane stove which is great for down here.

Main companionway. Lots of room here. Very easy to get to engine and all related equipment under these floorboards.

Stern cabin bunks. Needs a hosing and scrub out thats all.

Aft head. Foreward one is new never used.

Dinning table across from galley.

Propane tank in locker on deck.

Steering wheel and cockpit. Winches just out of sight.

Taller mast than original rig. 

Looking aft.

Vee bunk area.

Anchor well on deck. Power anchor winch.

The bow sprit.

SO..... Yea she needs a bit of a scrub, But the interior is set up on a massive all fiberglass hull pan. This is fantastic because nothing can really ever go wrong with this. This boat needs some elbow work. Clean her up and move aboard. Get the systems sorted and start sailing. At anchor the windflow through the hatches will bring this boat back to life. Rodger has only used it for a couple of weeks a year. Now with you onboard she will have a new life. Get rid of all the stuff that you dont want to deal with. To me I would put this boat at anchor for a couple of days to scrub the bottom and get the sheets and winches sorted and then I would be off to Carriacou to haul out at the best and cheapest yard in the Windwards. From there I would spend the rest of the season slowly repainting the interior to my satisfaction and get to know her. 

Email Rodger... Make an offer.

" Mango Pearl" has British registration.

HOBIE 33 sloop " Sling Shot " 

Rodger also owns this Califorina racing Sled.

This sloop is for those that live down here and want to have a line honers winning boat that does not cost a fortune. She is in good shape but looks ruff below. This is not a live aboard cruising boat unless you are very young. No headroom. Look up all info online at sailboat data. 

She is for sale with very good compostite main and jib that are put away after every sail. This boat has a full wardrobe of spinnakers, jibs and spare mainsails.

Lots of stuff to go with her that is not seen or listed here.

Last week the latest J-Boat, a 122 with its new sails, rigging with the Hall Spar people and sail makers aboard and the owner raced against Rodger who is 77 and his crew which are not far behind. I was crewing for the yacht clubs Commodor on his Bavairia 42. Needles to say we were so far behind. Sling Shot came in behind the J-Boat by less than 60 seconds. Not bad considering the J-Boats jib cost the owner $12,000.00.

This is a very fast boat for those that want to go fast for very few dollars.

On his lift. She only sails on Saturdays.

Long and lean. 

Keel joint looks perfect.

Rudder joint is smooth. I would deepen the rudder for more control in heavy winds.

Profurl roller reefing if wanted with the other sails. Racing jib has battens.

Rodger has complete new main sheet traveler to be installed.

Floor grid. All looked good to me when looking at it this morning at a glance. No cracks.

Keel bolts. Water is from the rain. 

Compostite sails

Yea, some leaks over time. You can see the bunk top at the hull side is collapsing. But no cracks in the fiberglass hull. I would reinforce the top of the bunk with a bolted piece of wood or aluminum angle.

Heres the other side same thing. But everything else looked fine. 

Headliner cloth is off. I would go in with a pressure washer and clean out. Then come back in and paint with enamel over everything after I did my fiberglass upgrades.

Spinnaker pole.

 Again this boat needs a bit of cleaning due to its barely being used and sitting. It has wear and tear in it but all is mostly cosmetics. Contact Rodger via the same email address.

This boat does not currently have a title but a bill of sale can be gotten. It has been owned locally by several prominent sailors so getting a title should be able to be done. It has no motor so has been sailed as a dinghy.

This could be you showing this local rebuilt Hobie 33 your stern!

Ted Irwin designed and built 1978 solid fiberglass shoal draft sloop. " Island Gem"

The short story on this sloop is that she has been sailing out of my island for over ten years. The original owner that sailed her there had spent over $27,000.00 on upgrades on her but after one bad passage sold " Island Gem " to a local for $2,700.00. He never used her. Then an American that spends 3 months a year on our island bought her for $7,500.00 and then sailed her for 7-8 years. Hes gotten older so wanted out.

I at the time two years ago thought she would make a good project boat to keep at our dock for local cruising. I bought her for $1,000.00 and have done lots of upgrades with a now total expenditure of 

$2,500.00. This is my price period. Shes on a mooring that she has ridden out 7 major hurricanes on so can stay there till I sell. She is registered in the Bahamas so duty has been paid which means she can stay there forever costing only $100.00 registration fee. Cheap for a second waterfront home in the Bahamas.

She Has the following;

Yanmar diesel 2Gm with 700 hours

New engine mounts

New hoses for engine including exhaust 

New stuffing box

New rigging with stay locks

New sail cover for mainsail and ne sun strip on Genoa

All sails in excellent condition.

Deck holes fiberglassed over and new Awlgrip over deck.

Anderson winches

All stantions, bow and stern pushpits.

Bimini frame.

She is solid fiberglass and is in great shape in hull and deck.

She was a centerboarder but the case has been glassed over.

And lots of other stuff to go with her like anchors boarding ladders etc.

Now the catch. The interior has a solid fiberglass hull pan through out. Everything is there. But it needs to be finished out. My plan is to redo the insides in 100 year old old growth pine that I have already cut out to length. Will need to be rewired. 

This boat sails wonderful. She can be sailed to Florida with ease. I could do this if needed for a buyer there.

The reason Iam selling is because 2 months after I bought her and did this work I found and salvaged a Dick Newick Val trimaran which I now own. This Trimaran is a more logical boat for us in the future and I cant see owning so many boats.

I made sheer legs for her to replace the stuffing box. Works great.

Sitting at our dock in the Bahamas. The dinghy is NOT FOR SALE With this boat. I mean the two part one thats on deck.

Lewmar winch to pull the Bruce and anchor line in with.

She has Bahamian registration, a Florida title and was documented.

Any questions on this sloop email me at.... Spankthermaid@gmail.com

The Val trimaran is what I want to keep. So the sloop needs to go.

The best boat deal is the Columbia Sloop as you can live aboard right away.

The Hobie 33 is a great boat if youre down here and are looking for a boat to race in.

My 31 sloop would be a great nice project for someone in the states to finish and then sail back to the Bahamas and leave over there on a mooring to use as a second home. I have so little in her that for me she is a fun day sailor for friends to use when we are back home.

If interested in the above boats MAKE SURE YOU CAN GET A TITLE otherwise it will be hard to sail about the islands. If you dont have many skills then these boats might not be for you. I have only just photographed the first two boats and have not surveyed. 

These boats are not for free but could be pretty close.

" Trust Me" Iam trying to give you my best boat broker look here.

Have fun dreaming.

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