A nice job refurbishing the original high quality portlights. I rebedded the portlights on my ComPac Catboat last year. It was a much more daunting project given the lower quality plastic portlights and a failure prone original installation.
I owned a Pacific Seacraft 31. It was a 1989 model with rectangular bronze opening ports. I read that they switched to rectangular ports because of leak issues with the oval ports.
I really like the PS 31. How did it sail? I think I was the first to tamper with Sampaguita's portlights. Visually, I like the oval era of PS the best. But I could see where the engineering isn't as simple as it could be.
The cockpit was great for wheel steering (a t shaped well aft) but the traveler was recessed in the bridge deck and not very wide. This limited the ability to get the main on the centerline. I think this (and the fact that my main was old and I was a beginning keel boat sailor) was the reason that pointing ability was not very good. Reaching and running excellent. Best build quality of any boat I have owned - neatness and organization of the electrical panel / wiring rivaled a Swan 42 I sailed. I loved the interior. I am surprised no one else copied the arrangement on mid sized sailboats. Rig was way overbuilt. Not hard to live on in a marina for the summer which I did twice. The staysail was small and probably only to be used in very trying conditions with a double reefed main. The engine was as accessible as my Tartan 34C (without having the engine in the middle of the cabin). Great head. Most beautiful boat I ever owned. Never should have sold her.
Thanks for that feedback. The Flicka was overbuilt the same. Ocean voyaging on the Flicka taught me I'd like to do more in a little bigger of a boat.. Since I know the PS are well built, I am drawn to the 31 with that incredible open interior and quarter berth, and good engine access. I see them every now and again with tiller steering, which I would prefer. I seems unlikely it's windward ability is worse than a Flicka's. This is all theory, as I have not yet sailed one. The economics are daunting too.
They do hold their value (I sold mine for the same price I bought it 7 years later although I added a new jib / roller furling and a feathering Max prop. There is a nice fresh water 1989 on Yachtworld right now...
I would bet you meant "bolts" now "screws", when you describe what the attached the two parts together. No fret, many make this mistake, as when they call "swells", "waves". Waves occur when the slope of the bottom cause the breaking of in-coming swells onto a landmass. Bolts use a precut, measured and continuous thickness bore [or a nut], where a screw precuts its own bore.
Ha. I had my sister recently correct me on my use of the word sacrifice. Technically, she was right. She was an English major. I was a music major.
In this case, I used screw as a shorted version of what, in my neck of the woods, we call a machine screw, but I did not clarify that in the piece. Shame on me.
I reviewed the definitions of screw, machine screw, and bolt. I agree that screw, on it's own, was not the best word for communication. I still wouldn't use the term bolt, though it might technically apply, because I think of a bolt as having a nut on the end and not so tiny as these were. That may be personal conditioning, though. So, machine screw is what I wish I had written, now that you point it out.
The English language is tough, even when it's your first. A screw is a screw, a machine screw, a ship's propeller, or an instrument of torture. And that's just the nouns. As a verb, It's the act of turning said screws, machine screws, bolts, and nuts, though threading is a better option at times. It also means to swindle and to describe an intimate act. Mercy.
It brings new perspectives to what I was trying to say in the piece. It's good to review our learned and conditioned semantics, assumptions, and acquired grammar. It's not the first time my mastery of the language has been successively challenged. Personally, I'm amazed I can even form complete sentences.
You are a humbled writer and good for you. If other readers had imagined what I did for use as a screw, there may have been confusion. I am like your sister, having taught college courses to students who should have completed transformational college courses, so my finely tuned ear picks up on the flaws of English grammar.
A nice job refurbishing the original high quality portlights. I rebedded the portlights on my ComPac Catboat last year. It was a much more daunting project given the lower quality plastic portlights and a failure prone original installation.
Thanks for reading, James.
I owned a Pacific Seacraft 31. It was a 1989 model with rectangular bronze opening ports. I read that they switched to rectangular ports because of leak issues with the oval ports.
I really like the PS 31. How did it sail? I think I was the first to tamper with Sampaguita's portlights. Visually, I like the oval era of PS the best. But I could see where the engineering isn't as simple as it could be.
The cockpit was great for wheel steering (a t shaped well aft) but the traveler was recessed in the bridge deck and not very wide. This limited the ability to get the main on the centerline. I think this (and the fact that my main was old and I was a beginning keel boat sailor) was the reason that pointing ability was not very good. Reaching and running excellent. Best build quality of any boat I have owned - neatness and organization of the electrical panel / wiring rivaled a Swan 42 I sailed. I loved the interior. I am surprised no one else copied the arrangement on mid sized sailboats. Rig was way overbuilt. Not hard to live on in a marina for the summer which I did twice. The staysail was small and probably only to be used in very trying conditions with a double reefed main. The engine was as accessible as my Tartan 34C (without having the engine in the middle of the cabin). Great head. Most beautiful boat I ever owned. Never should have sold her.
Thanks for that feedback. The Flicka was overbuilt the same. Ocean voyaging on the Flicka taught me I'd like to do more in a little bigger of a boat.. Since I know the PS are well built, I am drawn to the 31 with that incredible open interior and quarter berth, and good engine access. I see them every now and again with tiller steering, which I would prefer. I seems unlikely it's windward ability is worse than a Flicka's. This is all theory, as I have not yet sailed one. The economics are daunting too.
They do hold their value (I sold mine for the same price I bought it 7 years later although I added a new jib / roller furling and a feathering Max prop. There is a nice fresh water 1989 on Yachtworld right now...
I would bet you meant "bolts" now "screws", when you describe what the attached the two parts together. No fret, many make this mistake, as when they call "swells", "waves". Waves occur when the slope of the bottom cause the breaking of in-coming swells onto a landmass. Bolts use a precut, measured and continuous thickness bore [or a nut], where a screw precuts its own bore.
Ha. I had my sister recently correct me on my use of the word sacrifice. Technically, she was right. She was an English major. I was a music major.
In this case, I used screw as a shorted version of what, in my neck of the woods, we call a machine screw, but I did not clarify that in the piece. Shame on me.
I reviewed the definitions of screw, machine screw, and bolt. I agree that screw, on it's own, was not the best word for communication. I still wouldn't use the term bolt, though it might technically apply, because I think of a bolt as having a nut on the end and not so tiny as these were. That may be personal conditioning, though. So, machine screw is what I wish I had written, now that you point it out.
The English language is tough, even when it's your first. A screw is a screw, a machine screw, a ship's propeller, or an instrument of torture. And that's just the nouns. As a verb, It's the act of turning said screws, machine screws, bolts, and nuts, though threading is a better option at times. It also means to swindle and to describe an intimate act. Mercy.
It brings new perspectives to what I was trying to say in the piece. It's good to review our learned and conditioned semantics, assumptions, and acquired grammar. It's not the first time my mastery of the language has been successively challenged. Personally, I'm amazed I can even form complete sentences.
Thanks for reading.
You are a humbled writer and good for you. If other readers had imagined what I did for use as a screw, there may have been confusion. I am like your sister, having taught college courses to students who should have completed transformational college courses, so my finely tuned ear picks up on the flaws of English grammar.
Thanks Jim,
I have definitely added 'bolting' and 'bolted' to my linguistic repertoire.