[Rhodes22-list] Skinner's Potters - long, historical, full disclosure

[Brad Haslett]

Robert,

Didn't have time to make it through the first five sentences but here is the
deal - I'll trade four wives, two boats, an airplane, one construction
company with lot's of toys, and, uh, baseball cards, for an Italian speaking
wife with broken bones.  Deal?  I'm leaving on a cruise to Alaska in two
days.  Let me ask Fan if this trade is OK somewhere in route.

Brad



On 5/18/07, Robert Skinner <robert at squirrelhaven.com> wrote:
>
> Tootle wrote:
> > Bob,
> > Which Potter do you have?
> > Here I thought that you were on the Adriatic?
> > Snow in Maine?
>
> -----------------------------------
>
> In reverse order:
>
> * There are rumors of snow due in the western mountains
> this weekend.  In Gorham, it is raining and raw.  Outside
> work on hold, so I'll write a book, as follows.
>
> * The trip to Adriatic is delayed until August.  Barbara
> (wife) broke her tibia (spiral fracture) and fibula last
> October.  The doc set bones using a cast - no pins, etc.)
> and healing started.  Wife was in pain for 7 months.  She
> bore it like a trooper, and went in in April for a checkup.
>
> Non-union of tibia fracture - bones were skidding past each
> other, leg shortened by at least 1/2", evidence of lower
> part of fracture constantly rebreaking!  Immediately in
> hospital for surgery, put in plate, wife back in wheel
> chair, now looking at another 8 weeks before full weight
> bearing.  Wife says we are getting on that 5-masted sailing
> ship if she has to crawl.  Not afraid to sail, and she speaks
> Italian.
>
> She's a keeper.  Outstanding partner in life, she rides
> easy on the back of a motorcycle, and she brought a 1906
> Victorian house with a bomb shelter full of good whiskey
> and other liquor and into the marriage.  I sold my house
> immediately. She has other important qualities as well.
>
> * A careful review of the archives would reveal that I have
> two West Wight Potters, one 15' and another 19'.
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> The '87 West Wight Potter 15' Mark II # 1618 "Little Dipper"
> was formerly owned by Holland Webb of Broken Bow, Oklahoma.
> This gentleman is now deceased, having elected to drive
> under a tractor trailer at high speed.  However, as a
> former airplane mechanic, his boat maintenance was
> impeccable, and Little Dipper was in fine shape when I
> drove out to OK to buy her from his widow.
>
> Since buying her, I have made a few modifications,
> including boom end sheeting, a boom vang, a CDI roller
> furler carrying a big genoa, a topping lift, and a rig to
> allow bow anchor management from the cockpit.
>
> The Potter 15 diaplaces under 600 lbs fully loaded, and is
> sailed like a dinghy.  I am the ballast.  There is a small
> cabin, just enough to accomodate one big person and gear,
> but I cannot sit up in it - head room would have too high
> a wind load and CG height penalty in such a small boat.
> But it is a bolt-hole in case of bad weather, and a place
> to keep gear dry and secure.
>
> Being light and quick to rig, with a CB-up draft of about
> 8", it is ideal for lake-hopping in Maine.  As lake winds
> are often light, but can increase and come at you from
> any direction, the genoa on a furler works well.  I often
> push it out with my boat-hook/whisker pole, and can move
> rather smartly, sometimes planing on her relatively flat
> and minimally rockered bottom.
>
> ----------------------------
>
> While the designer sailed a P15 across the North Sea, and
> another fellow made a passage from California to Hawaii,
> and many of the over 2500 built to date are sailed in
> coastal waters, I like a bit more boat under me when I
> venture into the cold waters and rocky bays of Maine.
>
> I looked at a lot of boats, and the Rhodes seems to me to
> be a remarkably attractive and well-evolved boat.  I have
> met Stan and Elton, sailed on a R22, and may well buy one
> in the future, when I decide to sail in one area.  I
> really like and admire both the design and on-going
> execution.
>
> I'm a bit long in the tooth to be doing what Elton does -
> stepping and unstepping R22 masts on a daily basis in all
> conditions.  Hats off to him.  In the mean time, I'll be
> learning what I can on this list and contributing where
> possible.
>
> However, at present I need a boat with a light rig, low
> displacement, minimal draft, and flat bottom for coastal
> cruising in Maine.  I want to be able to run up and down
> the coast, putting in from a beach if necessary, and sleep
> upright when dried out in one of Eastport's 20' tides.
>
> With the notable exception of its dagger board keel
> configuration, the Potter 19' fits the bill.
>
> --------------------------------
>
> My '94 West Wight Potter 19' Swing Keel Short Rig # 754 "Edith P"
> is the result.  The stock boat displaces about 1250 lbs,
> and the short rig version carries her center of effort low,
> using a long boom.  Not the speed of the high-aspect form,
> but easier to deal with in weather.
>
> In stock form, the P19 has a daggerboard keel that is dangerous
> in three ways: First, when the 250 lb steel board is raised 40",
> being 20% of the total weight of the boat, it raises the CG of
> the boat 8", considerably reducing stability.  Second, it is a
> long lever hanging out of the hull, and when it hits something,
> it puts a hell of a lot of force on the trunk, tending to rip it
> out of the bottom of the hull.  Finally, the trunk is not
> gusseted laterally, allowing it to wag from port to starboard,
> stressing the hull.
>
> I bought an abused but generally sound hull and started making
> modifications.  The first was the total removal of the liner and
> furniture in the cabin to provide unfettered access to the hull.
> After that, the 250 lb steel keel went out for sandblasting and
> galvanizing, and the dagger board trunk went to the junk yard.
>
> Then I rebuilt the trunk in a new form.  The new trunk
> accomodates the same keel as a front-pivoting centerboard, so a
> collision with a ledge will not tear her trunk out, as has
> happened to some P19 owners.  It is capped so that water
> does not come up through the trunk - a common complaint among
> P19 owners.  It is secured fore and aft to bulkheads so that it
> does not wiggle sideways, as has been noted by P19 owners.
>
> At this point, I have a boat that has a 4' swing keel and flat
> bottom, drawing as little as 10".  Her hull is stronger than
> stock both laterally and longetudinally -- and torsionally as
> well, I think.
>
> Raising the keel only raises the CG 3-4".  When on a mooring
> for the night in thin water, the daggerboard no longer occupies
> the center of the cabin, resting instead entirely within its
> trunk on the floor of the cabin.
>
> Without the space-wasting interior liner, the hull is completely
> accessable from within the boat, allowing cracks/leaks/damage to
> be noted and treated (if necessary) while under way.
>
> The eviscerated interior will now accomodate removeable
> furniture (including a no-pump-out-problem kitty litter toilet)
> to house two people in comfort for a couple of weeks, rather
> than the former design that was just adequate to contain four
> people for a night or two.
>
> For rigging, there is already a CDI roller furler on the forestay.
> It carries a light genoa.  The planned solent stay, located 6"
> behind the forestay and parallel with it, will carry one of several
> hanked-on jibs.  The behind-the-mast CDI mainsail furler will
> eventually complete the rig.  The long boom will require running
> backstays in weather, and the installation of deck fittings and
> chain plates is in the works.
>
> She splashes this summer.
> ------------------------------------
>
> One problem with knowing what you want is having to make it
> yourself.  But there's a lot of satisfaction in sailing a boat
> built to your own specifications.
>
> /Robert
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