can peapods take hard sailing?

[oarlock]

My wife's family had sailing peapod built by Jim Steele back in the fifties, which was finally retired a few years ago (combination of neglect and some structural damage apparently caused by hard sailing). Boat was kept in salt water all season.

I called Jim to ask what it would cost to get a new one built, he said he stopped doing sailing pods because they had problems caused by the stress on the mast.

Now I'm no boat expert but my understanding is peapods were traditionally working boats, and many were sailed in open water offshore. Any opinions on this?

I would like to replace this boat, and am considering taking a crack at building Joel White's 14-footer. Can I safely assume that this particular design is rugged enough to take the stress of sailing?

[Ian McColgin]

There are a lot of factors that may combine to fatigue a boat through hard sailing.

As a boat ages the fastenings may losen up a little due to the normal shriking and swelling winter to summer. Hard sailing can exacerbate this, as can poor caulking and whatnot.

Another cause is the wrong rig or an ill-considered change of rig. Take a pod designed for an unstayed mast and lowish spritsail. Now, desiring better weather ability one might add to the mast and go with a highly peaked gaff. But this stresses the partners and the sail pulls the mast back, so we add a head stay and shrouds. These impose novel strains on the step and pinch the gunnels and so it goes.

Spend time with the standard texts, talk to sailors and boatyard folk with specific examples right infront, and consult any NA you can.

G'luck

[Thad]

Jim Steele's pods were pretty lightly framed compared to the old working pocs. I don't remember exactly, but I would guess that White's is a little beefier in construction, but it is still a small boat of a rowing model where the working pods were deeper and heavier built all around. If Joel White designed a rig for his pod I'm sure he considered the boat would handle the stresses of sailing.

[Jack Heinlen]

As said, it depends. LOL. I don't know Jim's boats, but he clearly didn't build them stout enough to stand up to the rig over time.

An unstayed rig puts a tremendous amount of wracking stress on the hull at the partners. Sailing a boat is just inherently stressful, no matter the arrangement. But there's no reason a boat of the type can't be sailed. Hardy knees, maybe some heavier frames near the spar, and Bob's your uncle.

The Maine Maritime Museum has plans for what's called a Washington County Peapod. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I think it carries a rig. Worth a look as a stout working type.

[Mrleft8]

From the pictures I've seen, White's Peapod is basically a double ended Cat's paw dinghy. I sail Cat's paw in some pretty stiff breezes, and L.I. Sound is notoriously choppy, but we don't get the big waves that you'd find outside.... So in short, yes... Maybe.

[rbgarr]

As noted, the Washington County peapod (lines are in Chapelle's American Small Sailing Craft and plans are available from the Smithsonian) is a stout, good sailer especially with the jib and sprit rig, but has a plank-on-edge keel which makes it a bit of a bother to beach and use with a trailer.

[Thad]

I built a Washington Co.. I trailed it quite a few times. with a long straight keel it rolled onto and rode beautifully on a flatbed, lashed upright and between gunwales.