Winter Boat Show (Day 4)

More form our virtual small-boat show...

Crawford Swampscott Dory, Rob Williams: “This is my Crawford Swampscot Dory, 16.5 ft long, about 5.5 ft wide. Mahogany trim and fiberglass hull. Built in the 1970s by a guy near Ocean City, NJ. He said he purchased the bare hull from Crawford and Built it out himself. I read that there were only about 500 made because Crawford became swamped with orders to build his most popular dory, the Melonseed. He didn't have the time to continue build the Swampscot dories. It has a sprit rig and 9-foot oars. Seen here in Rehoboth Bay south of Dewey Beach, DE.”

SCAMP, Daniel Rich: “Wildflower #330 on the beach in Tomales Bay, CA, USA. This boat was started at SCAMP Camp 2015 in Port Townsend with Howard and John, and completed in Sebastopol, CA. It seems to be the perfect boat for this bay. I love a boat you can bring right up onto the beach.”

Chebacco, Dennis Gamble: “Here's a recent photo of my Chebacco 20 Moonshine. My first modification was to add a short bowsprit and jib with a roller furler.  With the jib set and the mizzen tweaked just right, she will self-steer for minutes at a time. The lead of the mizzen sheets is not ideal. Off the wind, given half a chance, she'll hook the motor. A boomkin might be in order.”

Starcruzer 23, Brett Hauer: “The StarCruzer is a 23 foot trailer sailboat. She is an original design that weighs 1800 lbs empty and can carry 1200 lbs of water ballast. The total sail area is 250 ft^2. The primary mission is 2 or 3 day trips on the Chesapeake Bay.”

Gumprecht Drifter 16, Paul Teather: “I have an affinity for trimarans having owned and sailed two. I put this Mark Gumprecht Drifter 16 together over the summer of 2022 after losing my sailing partner and needing a boat I could both roof-top, and launch solo. My son named it "Bat Boat" and it will remain that until I paint it over the winter. It is foam-core carbon fibre, and assembled without the rig weighs in at 95 lbs. I made a few changes from Mark's design in that I reversed the bows slightly, and installed joy stick steering as opposed to the original foot pedal steering. I sailed it three times in September, and am very happy with the boat. In a stiff breeze and around two-foot waves the boat remained dry. Looking forward to many 2023 adventures.”

Devon Lugger, Michael Edson: “Peregrine is a Devon (Drascombe) Lugger. She is a “Swiss-Army” boat with a wide variety of options for propulsion: sail, motor, row (although she rows like a bus), or scull (there is an oarlock on the transom and a non-skid area to stand on the rear deck). Under sail her gunter yawl rig provides lots of gears. I choose the one that suits the occasion: full and bye, all sail with reefed main, jib and mizzen, main alone, mizzen alone (when hove to), and variations in between. Her feeling is of wood, ropes, bronze, and canvas. Belaying pins secure her mainsail halyard and downhaul. She is a cruiser not a racer, designed to go out, and then back to the dock safely. Do I look at other pretty boats? Sure I do, the Ness Yole, Caledonia Yawl, Sooty Tern, Penobscot 17, but I come back to Peregrine.”

L.Francis Herreshoff Carpenter, Denis Wang:"What a well-designed craft for safety and performance. Though under-canvassed, her rig is well balanced and she handles safely and comfortably in strong winds and chop when other small boats are heading to harbor.  She just needs a little back-winding to come about and isn't very fast —but who cares when sailing is going nowhere slowly?

Picnic Cat, Charlie Nichols: “I have owned many small boats. My ComPac Picnic Cat Jade is probably my “most favorite overall". My Cape Cod Bullseye is my favorite boat on the water and is an exceptional small boat, however a significant drawback is the difficulty in rigging and launching. Since my Picnic Cat is, by far, the simplest boat to rig I've ever owned, and among the easiest to launch and most fun to sail, it really has to edge out the Bullseye for first place! Clark Mills designed a great daysailer and ComPac built an extremely high quality boat. The Picnic Cat is gaff-rigged, which keeps the mast short and is hinged about three feet above the deck. This allows singlehanded mast-stepping and rigging. I launch my boat at a yacht club hoist, but just as easily can a trailer launch it in very thin water. The Picnic Cat sails great and points much higher than many feel possible with a cat-rigged boat. I have owned mine for many, many years and although it's only one of a pretty sizable fleet, it is my "go to" small boat! In addition to the Picnic Cat and Bullseye I own O'Day Daysailers, a CD Typhoon and we also sail our Lyle Hess designed 30' Falmouth Cutter MINKE (a sister ship to the Pardey's TALIESIN) along the CA Central Coast. “

Welsford Mollyhawk, Malcolm Hataway: “A wise man (well my brother-in-law Kev) once told me that the best boat is the one that gets used the most. On that measure my mollyhawk is a great boat that's getting better and better.  

It's a 17-foot rowboat but it turns out I don't like rowing that much —the whole going backwards thing—but it goes really well with a 2hp Honda. I especially like its light weight, that I can launch it by myself with the transom wheels and a one wheel bow trolley, and that with some rope and pulleys I can steer it facing forward sitting on the mid-thwart. Dislikes: it does pound a bit going into a chop (being flat bottomed), and it isn't designed for sail. (I really want a Phoenix 3, Scamp or Sweet Pea as well). But it is great for day trips on Whakaraupo / Lyttelton Harbour, and has been beaut on a couple of beach camping trips in Abel Tasman National Park (New Zealand).”

Gloucester 19, Ted Pounds: Pros:  She has very nice lines.  Roomy cockpit - I have sailed comfortably with 6 people (including myself).   Light helm in most conditions.  Roomy lockers (for a boat this size) aft in the cockpit. 

Cons:  Swing keel is poor design; pivot point is right over the CG so it swings like a pendulum.  I had to design and build a locking mechanism to lock it in place when sailing.  I’ve spent the night on her, but the cabin is “cozy” to say the least.

Additions:  CD roller furling; PlasDECK decking; PlasTEAK faux wood trim; Rudder Craft rudder; lower shrouds and backstay; vang and BoomKicker; paint is 2-part polyurethane done by auto body shop.