Melonseed Back on the Water
Congrats to sailor Doyle, who sent us a note to say that after two-plus years of restoration work, his 16.5-foot Melonseed is finally back on the water.
He writes: “The boat was allegedly built somewhere in Ohio back on the 1990s but I couldn’t find any indication of the builder anywhere on or inside the boat. And I looked really hard for any indication at all. Kinda surprising. I adopted the vessel from a kindly gent over in New Hampshire whose age and health forced him to part with it. Sadly, he’s no longer with us to share these photos with. The boat came with a full gaff rig and a balanced lug. Prior to the work I used the gaff which proved to be a handful if the wind got crisp. I decided to run the lug rig for ease of setup and use. Really happy with that choice as I spent three blissful hours tacking back and forth across the mini-bay at my boat-launch. I got so many nice comments many by kayakers.”
Doyle also says he’d be happy to learn more about rigging the lug on a Melonseed if anyone has something to share. Finally, he wanted to thank George Kirby Paint Co. for an excellent product and service. •SCA•
Doyle, that’s a fine looking boat! I don’t know anything in particular about lug rigs in Melonseeds, but Mic Storer has a ton of stuff at his website about setting up and tuning lug rigs in all kinds of small boats. You can try a web search, or... let’s see if this pastes in here in a usable form: https://www.storerboatplans.com/boat/sailing-boat/everything-lug-rig-and-lug-sail/
Great looking Melonseed, Doyle! I like his use of a balanced lug, too. One of my biggest reasons for not acquiring a Melonseed is the awkward spritsail rig. I'll bet that balanced lug is much easier to raise, reef, and stow. Congratulations on a fine-looking (and hopefully great-sailing) boat!