Slocum`s Spray

... quite maneuverable with off set prop. One just learns the habits of the beast then uses them to advantage. Being off set to port with a 12 degree off-centerline-axis angle (thank you LF Herreshoff) the boat turns slightly to stbd under power with loose tiller. There is much less turbulence around the prop and the screw current flows free aft, not smashing into a stern post and rudder slowing the boat down. Being off set, applying power in fwd or reverse can be used to swing the bow right or left. When turning tightly we always try for a stbd turn, since it is a smaller radius. She backs up very well, better than most centerline installations and there is little prop walk. With the windage of mast and bowsprit so far fwd she naturally turns downwind under bare poles and backs upwind very nicely. In 27 years of use I have not found the offset to cause problems, but solve them instead.

 

The excellent performance under sail and power make me love the offset installation. Under power because more of the thrust goes to thrust, not thrashing and under sail due to clean underbody which makes a significant difference in light air.

 

Absolutely love the answer Bataan! I didnt think for a moment you would favour the centreline prop. What you say is very informative. And I take your points on the centreboard which is basically avoid unless really neccessary, as it was for the sail dredgers, or for those with a lot of really shallow ditch crawling in mind.
I will have a bash at uploading a pic or two of my boats for you in a new message. Thanks for all the inspiration and wisdom

 

Here is my Tidewater Cutter (Maurice Griffiths) and Tiki 21 with a Vietnamese Junk rig.

 

The bottom panel on the mainsl on the junk is reefed up to allow a sun shade awning to be rigged.

 

Bataan, which variable pitch / feathering prop system do you use on Bertie? Has it been reliable and rugged in service?

 

When Joshua Slocum rebuilt SPRAY, do you know if he actually raised the deck, or did he merely build a higher bulwark?

To raise the deck, he would have had to remove all the deck beams. That could be done one at a time, so the hull keeps its shape.

Raising the bulwark would have been far simpler.

Since he had to replace many of the frames anyway, he could have just extended them higher, removed the cap rail, and added a few more planks under it.

That would have been simpler, but the weather deck would have been quite low (due to the boat's former trade), and, even though the higher bulwarks would have made her a dryer boat, they would have done nothing to improve her ultimate stability.

When you designed BERTIE, how did you decide on deck height?

If I were to build a SPRAY type, I would build out of steel, she would have two chines, and she would look a lot like BERTIE.

I would have the of center prop and I would definitely have the transom hung rudder. The huge, high peeked Chinese lug would stay, but I would be tempted to replace the mizzen with either a boomed Lateen or a balanced lug set well off center line.

An advantage of steel construction is that you can make the bottom plates much thicker than the topside ones and have the effect of needing less ballast.

I imagine BERTIE does the same trick due to the water soakage of her massive deadwood and bottom planks. I often wonder just how much uncounted water ballast traditional (massively built) wooden boats carry around.

 

Correction to an earlier post of mine that the draft of SPRAY was 4' 2". That was the depth in hold. The scaled draft from the published lines is 4' 6", which makes BERTIE 6" deeper.
Slocum replaced every piece of wood in the boat. He removed the garboards and cut the floors, then replaced the keel. By removing any ceiling and some planks, he used the remaining planks as ribbands to preserve the shape while he replaced all the frames with ones that were longer on top, then the stem etc. A new clamp at new sheer height allowed the new deck beams to go on, etc. New planking replaced the remaining old as he planked the boat.
-
"The SPRAY, as I sailed her, was entirely a new boat, built over from a sloop which bore the same name, and which, tradition said, had first served as an oysterman..."
"The windlass and the forty-pound anchor, and the "fiddle-head," or carving, on the end of the cutwater belonged to the original SPRAY."
-J.S.
"The bulwarks I built up of white-oak stanchions fourteen inches high, and covered with seven-eighth-inch white pine. These stanchions, mortised through a two-inch covering-board, I calked with thin cedar wedges. They have remained perfectly tight ever since. The deck I made of one-and-a-half inch by three-inch white pine spiked to beams, six by six inches, of yellow or Georgia pine, placed three feet apart."
--Joshua Slocum
"In rebuilding timber by timber and plank by plank, I added to free-board twelve inches amidships, eighteen inches forward, and fourteen inches aft, thereby increasing her sheer, and making her, as I thought, a better deep-water ship." - J.S.
BERTIE follows the Weston Farmer version of the lines, which is right out of SAATW, faired and with a table of offsets. These are to outside of plank, which of course means the boat is 1 1/2" less than this when you set up the frame if you want to duplicate the boat because you deduct plank thickness. I did not want to make a replica but a very similar ship, so I used these lines as my frame line, developed a new rabbet and designed the stern on the loft floor. Then I wrapped it with 1 3/4" Port Orford cedar, so BERTIE is 1 3/4" bigger everywhere than SPRAY, plus the added draft and longer waterline resulting from the modified stern. The last enabled me to straighten out the already easy buttock lines a further 1" or so.

 

Nice boats MC... You are obviously a sailor at heart with fun in mind and don't get flustered by wildly different boats or sailing styles.
The first reef taken up from the bottom bit is essential on a big Chinese lug sail, so when you reef further or douse sail the bundle is up out of the way. This is hard to do with the lifts when the heavy sail is down but easy when hoisted.
My main has the enigmatic 'half reef' batten, lighter than the others and splitting the lower panel into two, that has no sheet connection and seems strange until you pick up the first half reef with the lifts, the batten keeps the remaining half panel nice and flat and working, you can see better, things are above your head and out of the way and you have compensated for the stretch of the lifts when the whole heavy sail is down. Next reef if wind picks up further is ease the halyard the next half panel etc.

 

SABB 2J 30 hp with factory supplied 2 blade variable pitch (fwd and reverse and everything in between, no feathering) prop and hydraulic reduction/pitch control.
Two 26 gallon stock West Marine aluminum tanks aft in the stern and a 50 gallon polyethylene tank on deck under a box to keep the sun off.
I had to take 1/2" off the blade tips to get the package right but we motor about 5.6 knots in a calm at 3/4 throttle and don't go any faster by giving it more. The thing hides under the galley table and the dry exhaust stays cool enough to put your hand on. Can't find a decent photo but here's a spec sheet.
http://www.xsw.com/boojum/Sabb30/index.html
Original engine was 16 hp SABB pretty much the same block and was salvaged from a very very very rotten pine Swedish fishing boat in trade for rebuild work on another hull. It got us all around Mexico and Canada for a long time and the 30 hp upgrade was mostly because the old one was getting near time for overhaul and for better punch upwind.
The near-doubling of hp seems to have little practical effect.

 

Engine and prop are very rugged intended for continuous commercial service.

 

I wanted one of those but the company no longer makes them.

I bought a Bukh DV36 with a 3:1 reduction and a 22" Autostream prop instead. Not controllable pitch but settable pitch and it feathers under sail to reduce drag.

Once I have the boat finished I'll see how it all works in practice.

PDW

 

Bataan & MasalaChai, love these wooden sailboats. What I wouldn't give for a week or two of sailing on a wooden boat. My brain is also trapped in a time warp. I suppose it kicked in after reading the old classics and taking a few trips on wooden boats. The creeking wood & natural materials on the boat ease the mind and take you back to centuries past.

In 2014 and beyond I'll settle down from sailing in big fiberglass racing yachts and will be looking to charter some wooden sailboats. If any of you guys know of reputable individuals or businesses that charter boats like this let me know.

Cheers,

Joseph

 

In UK are quite a few active chartering lovely older designs, both new-built and restored. Contact this builder and he'll put you on to some of his vessels that are actively chartering, or for sale so you could start a business of your own.
http://www.gweekquay.co.uk/on-site/working-sail

 

Hello Bataan, thanks for the good tip. I'll be going to/from the UK for my yacht racing training with Clipper. I saw many nice boats in Portsmouth, Cowes & other nearby ports further east. One thing is for sure: There are plenty of nice wooden sailboats boats in the UK. Push come to shove I'll sail one across the pond back to the US, but will seek out such boats here in the US first.

Thanks again for the advice

Fair winds,

Joseph