Ahoy there! Permission to come aboard.

[s/v gratuity]

Hello all,

Spring time is here and I'm getting ready to start working on my boat. I'm a student at Whatcom Community College here in Bellingham,Wa pursuing an "Alternative Energy Degree", it goes hand and hand with being a crusty sailor..
(always broke and not wanting to pay for fuel or energy)
I own a 30' "Tahiti Ketch" (she owns me rather) She's a John Hanna design. Slowly built from: 1919-1938. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I love her sexy classic lines and salty demeanor. I'm here to forge a few friendships, help when I can, and
gain the necessary knowledge and wisdom to successfully Build and Sail my Ketch. Very pleased to meet you all. I will post this in other threads as to introduce myself to everyone.

[Michael Beckman]

It's generally considered bad form to cross post. It makes internet people die a little bit inside.

[brad9798]

Without any personal info. no one really cares that you've come aboard.

Many tramps, transients, and shape-shifters around ... so let us know that you are for real, or simply just go away.

You can tell by the lack of response that we don't take you seriously until you warrant being taken seriously!

Is that you Dutch ... you SOB? Or, err, you worthless piece ... oh, nevermind, maybe you are a valid newbie!

[s/v gratuity]

Well I assure you I am just a crusty sailor trying to make a smoooth entrance into this wooden boat community,...and I think that I have accomplished the smoooooth part.

My apalogies for the "cross posting" as it were.

[Concordia...41]

Well I assure you I am just a crusty sailor trying to make a smoooth entrance into this wooden boat community,...and I think that I have accomplished the smoooooth part.

My apalogies for the "cross posting" as it were.

No worries. Welcome aboard the Good Ship Wooden Boat Forum :)

[johngsandusky]

Welcome. You'll find this forum a source of widely varied opinions, some grounded in lots of experience, some not so much. Be realistic and persistent with your boat projects, you'll be fine. Go sailing whenever possible. Best wishes, John

[emichaels]

Well I assure you I am just a crusty sailor trying to make a smoooth entrance into this wooden boat community,...and I think that I have accomplished the smoooooth part.

My apalogies for the "cross posting" as it were.




Really , truly, the best way to win our hearts, or at least those worth the effort, is to post pics of your boat. Bellingham is a great place, pretty this time of year.......... Welcome.

Eric

[Thorne]

Welcome to the Forum!

We (as you can see) suffer from trolls/trolling a bit, so posts that are somewhat generic can generate some suspicion.

Why not ask some of those burning questions (shall I fix her or burn her?) you must have about your boat?


Here's how to post photos on this forum:

First - don't attach photos. Most web forums don't allow it, and space
limitations are the main reason why.

Second - Instead of attaching them to a thread, post the pics on the web
somewhere. You have a free website area with any paid ISP's email account,
or use www.picturetrail.com (http://www.picturetrail.com) or other free hosting service. Once posted on
the web, right-click the image to copy the URL (web address). Always test
first by pasting the image URL into the window of a web browser and see if
the image displays.

Remember, the IMAGE URL will end in .jpg, not .htm or html. URLs ending in .htm are the page that the image is at, not the image location itself. If the image URL ends in other code, try deleting everything after the "xxxxxx.jpg" part of the URL to get it to display on web forums.

Third - once posted on the web, try this procedure while logged in to this
Forum:

1. Click the "User CP" link in the browser window in the top left of the
menu bar.
2. Click the "Edit Options" link about 1/4 of the way down the left column.
3. In the "Misc Options" at the bottom of the next page, select "Enhanced
Interface" from the pulldown list.
4. Once this interface has been selected, in any "Reply" window you can
click the "insert photo" icon --> a little yellow square icon with the stamp
in the upper right corner, the mountains in the lower center.
5. Once the little dialog box titled "Please enter the URL of your image"
comes up, paste the URL of the photo in the field.

If unsure of the procedure, test first by pasting the image URL into the
window of a web browser.

[James McMullen]

Howdy neighbor. Bellingham's got some good wooden boat activity. If you'd like to meet some other crazy, boat-obsessed people then let me tell you about this: there is a group of amateur boatbuilders who meet once a month who are actually meeting tonight, Tuesday, April 22 at the Bob's Burgers and Brew on Railroad at 7:00 pm. Come on down and meet the crowd!

[Hwoodworks]

Good luck with that Tahiti Ketch and hope that you sail her soon and often.

[Lew Barrett]

Welcome. I bought my boat in Bellingham almost 15 years ago.

[JimD]

Really , truly, the best way to win our hearts, or at least those worth the effort, is to post pics of your boat...

Yes, I agree. This is the key to respect and acceptance on the WBF. People here are easily amused yet easily bored, and have short attention spans. Keep the verbage to a minimum and post lots of photographs of your boat. Or boats you saw somewhere. Or a dog peeing on a fire hydrant with your boat in the background. Hand drawn sketches or computer generated renderings of boats you'd like to build one day are also a big hit, etc. That sort of thing. Photos are great conversation starters. For example, do you think this boat has too much rocker?

http://www.crafttoys.com/images/dory-1.gif

[Bob Cleek]

H.L. Menken was right! "There's a sucker born every minute." If Menken had been around today, he'd surely have said something similarly appropriate about trolls that bait suckers on the internet.

This fellow is full of BS.

HANNA DESIGNED THE TAHITI KETCH IN 1936.... SUCKERS!

Pretty good trick to start building her in 1919!

THE TAHITI KETCH IS 32' BETWEEN PERPS... (31'11" if you want to get picky.)... SUCKERS!

Not 30'... perhaps the only instance in the history of this forum where somebody understated the size of their boat.

[TimH]

maybe it started out as something else and ended up a Tahiti Ketch... :-)

[Yeadon]

Welcome s/v gratuity.

Some of you guys need to relax. You too, etonparker.

[JimD]

HANNA DESIGNED THE TAHITI KETCH IN 1936.... SUCKERS!

Pretty good trick to start building her in 1919!
.

:D I suspected there was something wrong with the date but after a couple minutes googling around for the correct design date I decided I had better things to do. But good work, there, Bob!

[Duncan Gibbs]

Maybe this guy is just naive Bob? Naive people are known to exist ya know... Any everyone is naive about some aspect of life.

[s/v gratuity]

Hello, and what a colorful bunch of folks you are..lol
thank you for the advise and I knew there was something wrong with the dates and that part of the story. I had herd the story from another enthusiast, and now that I think of it, I was wondering about
the dates. Thank you for the correction. It seems I have some digging to do to fill in my newly discovered blanks in the history of her.
If anyone else knows of any history about her and would like to share that would be aaawsome.
I have a ton of Blueprints,SailPlans,Schematics,Correspondence from one owner to another. It's very exiting stuff.

I will post some pictures of her sexy classic lines and salty demeanor
later this evening.
I have some correspondence and other material from some guy named H.K. Von Kaas the story is still very vague and elusive at this point. Oh and about the invitation to Bob's burger and brew....
I wonder if I show up will it just be a nice little tricked pulled on me?
Hmmm...something to ponder.

[Paul Girouard]

Oh and about the invitation to Bob's burger and brew....
I wander if I show up will it justbe a nice little tricked pulled on me?
Hmmm...something to ponder.



James seems to be a straight up dude , I think it's a "real" invite to a EBS type event.

[s/v gratuity]

I have uploaded a few pictures of "gratuity"..please excuse her appearance she has a hangover from being on the hard for a couple of years.

http://picasaweb.google.com/svgratuity/SvGratuity

[TR]

HANNA DESIGNED THE TAHITI KETCH IN 1936....

THE TAHITI KETCH IS 32' BETWEEN PERPS... (31'11" if you want to get picky.)...

Not 30'...

Actually the design was done in 1923 and originally called Neptune, no one noticed her at first but some plans were sold and boats built.

12 years later in 1935 she was rolled out with a fancy new name, Tahiti, (added by Weston Farmer) and a major spread in How to Build 20 Boats. There were 17 pieces of art and 7000 words by Hanna in that article. In the writing Jack drew on the experience from 5 Tahiti Ketches already sailing. Complete plans were offered at $9.00.

I don't understand your figure of 31'11". Looking at the Tahiti lines drawing we have 10 stations spaced 3'0" with 0 and 10 at the outside tip of the stem and the stern post. In my book that adds up to 30' overall.

[Duncan Gibbs]

I would say this makes Zachariah the real deal! Geeez! I've only got a moth eaten Mirror dinghy!!:rolleyes:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/svgratuity/SA6J7Gf-tyI/AAAAAAAAAJk/sJ7AF1sgXy4/s288/Photo0538.jpg

Lotsa work though!

http://lh3.ggpht.com/svgratuity/SA6Kdmf-uHI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/qIgalfVydHM/s288/Photo0414.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/svgratuity/SA6KeGf-uII/AAAAAAAAAMY/GTWtCmjKaf0/s288/Photo0415.jpg

How is the structure (frames, planking, keel, deadwood, rudder, etc..)? And a hearty welcome aboard skipper!!!http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

[erster]

Sorry, I am with Bob here, forget any tape measuring....lol;)

[James McMullen]

"Oh and about the invitation to Bob's burger and brew....
I wonder if I show up will it just be a nice little tricked pulled on me?
Hmmm...something to ponder."

Hey, buddy, not all of us here on this forum are jerks. That was an honest invitation and we were there at 7:00 tonight. I wouldn't have used this forum to play a practical joke on someone I've never even met yet.
I'm sorry the nitpicking and pedantry about your 30-ish foot ketch has caused you to get skittish. . .I promise you, most wooden boat folks are quite friendly in person, no matter what their on-screen personas might imply.

[s/v gratuity]

Everything seems to be fine except there is some rotting issues in a few planks. and the holes in the bow of the hull that were covered by a fisherman patch.

[s/v gratuity]

I would love to go to the next one. Is it same time and place every month?

[Bob Cleek]

Oh, okay, I guess I was a little rough with the poor little feller. It didn't seem to ruffle his feathers much, though. Shows he's got skin tough enough to run with the big dogs... maybe! LOL

My further research seems to indicate that the Tahiti Ketch was indeed designed at 30' between perps. The figures I stated came off of a googled website. I ended up with 30' based on the "majority rules" principle. I used to have Hanna's little book, "How to Build Tahiti," but I can't find them now. Hell, here's one for sale from a commercial brokerage that's 37' long! http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1510047&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=74503&url= Go figure!

Yea, the Tahiti Ketch, "the boat that launched a million dreams." I've heard tell nobody has ever drowned cruising in a Tahiti, but a few have starved to death. Not what you'd call much of a sailer. Hanna drew her (whenever he drew her) as a knock off (okay... "he was inspired by") the local Florida Greek sponge boats of the time, or so they say. It is rather amazing that the design has been as popular as it was. I suppose a lot had to do with marketing and what they'd call today "market positioning." The publication of a "how to build" article in Popular Mechanics seems to have fired up a lot of builders who otherwise knew little of boats. There is indeed something enticingly "salty" about the look of the design, but it is an undercanvassed slug, to tell the truth. Fortunately, I guess Hanna never had to hear them laughing about Tahiti's at the old yacht club bar, since he was deaf. When evaluating this design, consider what other comparable designs were available at the same time. Take a look at what L.F. Herreshoff, John Alden, Sam Crocker, or even William Atkin's "Eric" or "Ingrid," which are very similar looking, but qualitatively much different than the Tahiti. When the available designs of the time are considered, there is no other conclusion than that Tahitis appealed to those builders who hadn't done their homework. Still, any boat is better than no boat, and a wooden boat is better than any other boat... so there you go.

[Woxbox]

... her sexy classic lines and salty demeanor



Are you, or have you ever been, in the publicity business? ;)

[brad9798]

Good on you!

WELCOME!

You have passed the first test!

:)

[JimD]

I'm surprised no one has called you 'grasshopper' yet.:rolleyes:

[Northernguy59]

Cleek love's this **** !

Speaking from experiance. I am pretty sure he live's for it and also miss's Dutch.

[Bob Cleek]

Actually, yes, it is a diversion from my dreary daily grind!

[Northernguy59]

Pretty good call eh Bob ?............... however, I am with your first call on this "Salty Sailor". I think you where right on !

Dale

[s/v gratuity]

Quote:
... her sexy classic lines and salty demeanor

Are you, or have you ever been, in the publicity business? ;)

Lol...No cant say that I have.

[C. Ross]

gratuity
Good to see you back today. We gave you a heck of a welcome...
Nice boat, and she'll look great once you get through some of the necessaries.

[s/v gratuity]

I think I will go pump her tomorrow. Check her keel bolts and slather some grease on her.

[Ron Williamson]

It sounds like a date.
R

[TR]

Hanna did a whole series of designs larger than but of similar form to Tahiti. The 37' in the yachtworld listing is described as a "Carol" which is the design name Hanna gave the 36'8" version of Tahiti. There is also a 38', Moorea, a 42' Albatross, and a 45' Golden Gain.

Every design must be judged within the context of the time and technology within which she was created. In 1924, a year after JH created Tahiti, Bill Atkin published the drawings for a scaled Colin Archer "Redningskoite", which he named Eric. She is slightly larger than Tahiti at 32'1" Loa, with 9" more LWL at 27'6", a foot more beam at 11'0", a foot more draft at 5'0", about 1000 pounds more displacement, roughly the same ballast (deeper), and much more sail area.

Was Billy jumping on the Tahiti bandwagon? Probably. Did he come up with a better boat? Perhaps slightly better, the increased draft and sail area making a big difference, but the fatter form being a bit blunter forward.

Francis Herreshoff railed against the type, called Tahiti a "seagoing can-buoy". He and Hanna had a famous and long running battle of design philosophies (H28 vs Tahiti) in the pages of Rudder where Hanna had a column. It was a clash of the New England weekend "Yachtsman" against the mid-west farmer who built his own boat and ran away to the South Seas. It was the beginning of a new style of cruising, the self-sufficient offshore sailor, whose boat was more small sailing ship than "yacht".

The Tahiti is what she is, "a tiny ship". I would submit that perhaps more Tahiti’s have been completed and actually sailed away to paradise (wherever that may be), than any other single design. And that's one hell of a legacy.

For more info see A Ketch Called Tahiti, by John Stephen Doherty and 20 Designs From the Board of John G. Hanna, by Steve Doherty.

[Woxbox]

The Tahiti is what she is, "a tiny ship". I would submit that perhaps more Tahiti’s have been completed and actually sailed away to paradise (wherever that may be), than any other single design. And that's one hell of a legacy.



There are no records to prove these claims, but I've seen similar statements in favor of the H28 and also for the Wharam catamarans as a group. I do think it's fair to say that those personality types that selected the Tahiti's back then are now out there building or cruising Wharram cats. As you say, TR, it's time and technology at work.

What will the next best low-budget cruiser be? What materials will replace plywood, glass and epoxy?

[JimD]

.... I do think it's fair to say that those personality types that selected the Tahiti's back then are now out there building or cruising Wharram cats...

I doubt it. Got any records to prove that claim?

[Woxbox]

Jim -- Well of course there aren't records of the personality types, etc., who built their own boats then vs. now. But the literature available shows similar people with similar dreams over the decades --- back then selecting sturdy, reliable monohulls that they could build and maintain themselves, and today favoring plywood and glass boats, with the Wharram line being the most popular. What other cruising boat designer today has sold 10,000 sets of plans, and knows of thousands having been built?

[JimD]

.. What other cruising boat designer today has sold 10,000 sets of plans, and knows of thousands having been built?

I dunno :D...but seriously, how many of the Wharams being built are the designs big enough to actually live aboard, ocean cruise, and make a true floating home in? Just curious.

[TR]

What other cruising boat designer today has sold 10,000 sets of plans, and knows of thousands having been built?

I think Bruce Roberts makes such claims as well, and I don't believe either of them.

Wharram cats are not very popular in the PNW as they provide much outside (in the rain) space, but little interior. In our part of the world Bruce Roberts "Spray's " and Brent Swain origami boats, both in steel, are tied in every harbour getting ready for the voyage south.

Today those that really want to go buy a well used production glass boat and go.

[Bob Cleek]

Amen! Although he was before my time, I suspect Hanna wasn't much different than Bruce Roberts, Inc. Those boats look pretty neat so long as you don't know what you are looking at. ("Salty" was the term used, wasn't it?... never heard a sailor use that term, though.) Put them up against whatever else is out there and they start to look pretty punk. 10,000 plans? Bull****! Few ever sell so many as 1,000 plans, and of those a tenth ever get built. I will grant you that Hanna's Tahiti and some of the Bruce Roberts stuff probably were responsible for more ferrocement in America's landfills than anything else. "Off cruising?" NOT! Hate to hurt anybody's feelings here, but the Tahiti is famous for inspiring a lot of dreamers, but that's about it. I've sailed Tahitis (two or three, at least) and Atkin Erics and Ingrids, and even a Wetsnail or three. There's NO comparison, guys. I'd go with the Atkins every time... if I had to. But then, there were a hell of a lot of similar contemporary cruiser designs that would sail rings around the lot of 'em!

[James McMullen]

I'd go with the Atkins every time...

I'm glad to hear you say that, since just this year I have become part owner of an Atkin Eric jr. My partner Andy just loves that boat, though I haven't had a chance to sail her more than once yet myself. I am looking forward to getting to know her, though.

[TR]

Personally I would put the William Atkin designed Eric Jr. and Ingrid among the best small sailing yacht designs (for what they are) ever. The Eric would not be in the running. There are considerable differences in these hulls, variations in beam/length, displacement/ length, beam/draft, sail area/displacement, etc.

Both the Eric Jr. and the Ingrid could be improved with a transom stern, but the original creation would be lost. Thus a different or new design is called for if you require better/different performance.

The comparison of JG Hanna and Bruce Roberts did raise my hackles a bit, though there is perhaps some truth (from here) in it. Both have created a number of designs based on the Spray hull, which is questionable from a naval architectural viewpoint, but undoubtedly great marketing for the unwashed masses. So much for good design rising to the top.

I have enjoyed JG Hanna's writing on occasion; BR is not nearly as entertaining. Some samples below......




On Honesty in Writing
J.G. Hanna
From The Watch Below, Rudder, May 1931

After having been knocked down and kicked all around the deck for months, it certainly is a wonderful experience to get a pat on the back and a few kind words from someone. Mr. Vincent proves himself a scholar and a gentleman, and a true friend to the downtrodden and oppressed, in his letter published last month. Evidently his knowledge of the sea was not gained altogether around a club anchorage. I am glad to be able to remove from his mind the one doubt he expresses-as to whether I agree with all I write. Most certainly I do. I have a rather bulky volume of comments on my work, and the letters I value above all others are those which say, “I do not agree with you, but I respect the sincerity of your belief.” I do not express any opinion on any subject whatever until I have thought it over long and quietly in the light of whatever experience, observation, and information has come to me. I left New York fifteen years ago chiefly because nobody can think there. In the Manhatten madhouse it is customary to spend all one’s time talking and eating, or both together, and it is written, “A wagging tongue is the enemy of wisdom.” Here, in a quiet, peaceful village, I have abundant time to consider whether something is true by fundamental tests, or whether it is accepted for truth merely because the majority pound the table and assert, “This is so!”

Yacht Design as an Art
September 1931

I certainly liked to hear Charlie Davis rip into the pests who asked him, “How flat shall I trim my mainsail?” I have suffered enough myself from saps who asked me questions about design which could not possibly be answered without writing a book, containing the condensed meat of a dozen other books, plus a lifetime of study and comparison and investigation. Only in the pure sciences can you-sometimes-get a definite invariable answer to a definite question. Designing and sailing ships is an art, and in art all things are relative, varying with countless interdependent factors.

On Dorade
August 1934

Unfortunately it takes a long time between the day the presses begin to grind on a monthly magazine and the day you get it off the news stand. So I must write these lines while the Bermuda fleet is somewhere between here and there and I have not the faintest idea what will be the winners’ names you can read in this same magazine. It’s a cracking good fleet, though, and almost anybody’s race, and the only almost-sure thing I felt like betting on was the practically unbeatable Dorade. Not that I like Dorade. She is as unlovely a craft as I ever gazed on and as mean a roller as Sherman Hoyt ever sailed on- so he says. But keep your shirt on, Stephens. When I say that, I only mean that ALL yawl rigs look to me like something the cat found in the lazarette, and for that matter all Marconi rigs are only a pain in my eye; and still more, any boat without a bowsprit leaves me as cold as it did good old Bill Nutting. Outside of these few personal preferences, of no importance whatever, Dorade looks simply elegant. And after all, Stephens can afford to laugh cheerfully at anything anybody says about his boat. For he has attained early in his career a feat comparatively few designers ever accomplish-the production of a yacht that will live beyond her time and become an historical legend, which will be discussed by yachtsmen, with wonder and admiration, many generations after all of us now living are gone. (Dorade actually finished fifth.-Ed)

[JimD]

Tad, another sidebar conversation if you will, but do you have any thoughts on tri's for sailing this neck of the woods? As in a big platform for when the sun is shining and a big enough main hull for when its not?

[paladin]

Tad may have his views.......but tri's bellong on the long low rollers of the south pacific and anywhere the waves are short and steep get yourself a monohull built like a tank.......

[JimD]

... anywhere the waves are short and steep get yourself a monohull built like a tank.......

Chelaydra tanklike enough?

[TR]

Jim,

It's some distance from Tahiti ketches to trimarans, both can be great cruisers.

Summer time cruising in the Gulf Islands means very light and fluky winds. The tides are large here, thus your cruising range becomes tide dependent. The heavy displacement Tahiti ketch will often be underpowered (auxiliary engine wise) as well as under-rigged for light air ghosting. Rigging a main topmast will help.

With the Tahiti there are no worries about bringing along anything you want, including the cast iron kitchen sink. With a smallish tri weight is everything, no canned beans....Ramen noodles only!

Extreme light displacement trimarans (with little underwater volume) can buck tide under power and zip right along with a small outboard. But you have to listen to the outboard all day, vs the chunk-chunk of an old Volvo or Sabb.

I admire the speed and performance of trimarans every time they pass me....but I own a heavy displacement ketch. The main reason for this is interior volume. A trimaran with the interior volume of Blackfish would have to be about 90' long. That's more structure and stuff than I want to deal with. The sailing speed of Blackfish will never approach that of a 90' tri, but that's okay by me.

It comes down to your "style of going." If you must visit X harbours in N days you need some speed. If you are out for a good time with no particular destination (perhaps the true definition of cruising) then a heavy displacement boat may work just fine.

[JimD]

... If you are out for a good time with no particular destination (perhaps the true definition of cruising) then a heavy displacement boat may work just fine.

Tad, that sounds more like me, although I'd still leave the canned beans at home.:)

[Woxbox]

If you are out for a good time with no particular destination (perhaps the true definition of cruising) then a heavy displacement boat may work just fine.


It's certainly true that faster boats just make your cruising grounds smaller. But you reach a point when you're sailing against wind and tide -- and after the third tack you're still running even with that same buoy as you wait for the tide to turn so you can advance a bit -- that you start thinking that faster boat might be more agreeable.

One thing I've found on the tri I used to own and my current catamaran is that while they are faster, they don't feel faster. Depends on the boat, but slower monos often give a greater sensation of speed at 6 knots than the cat does at 9. It's sort of like those old tinny British sports cars. Drop the top, crank it up to 80, and you feel like the car's ready to break the sound barrier.

Settle into a boat with a low rail, a good bit of heel and have the water rushing by a foot or two from your elbow, and there's sensations there hard to come by in a high, dry, flat-sailing boat.

[s/v gratuity]

heres some pictures of Gratuity I had her interior and bilge washed.
her interior is almost completely gutted.




http://picasaweb.google.com/svgratuity/UpdatedGratuity

[StevenBauer]

That electric drive unit looks pretty cool. Have you had the boat thoroughly surveyed so you know where to start with the hull work?

http://lh4.ggpht.com/svgratuity/SIkmUQjdIgI/AAAAAAAAARM/pR8QDLAu0f4/Photo_072408_003.jpg?imgmax=1024


Steven

[Concordia...41]

Thanks for the update. Keep 'em coming!

[Piet Piraat]

Hi S/V Gratuity!
I'm glad I got away without the welcome you got! I only came here this week too. I don't know that much about forums and the like and also didn't start with my mother's maiden name and the name of my first rabbit! I had a question and I asked it! Maybe it's the time zone difference - I probably posted my question when everyone was asleep!
It looks a pretty good boat to me - the sort you just decide to keep for thirty years! That's the same with my boat - I bought it to keep it. It will never be fast but I'm sure if I want to go to Svalbard, Jan Mayen or just simply to England I can do it (if I can get time off!!) I'd say keep it in original form but be sure to addapt it for YOUR use. If somebody else wants it to look different then let them buy it (over 30 years) and alter it. Personally I very much like the sort of ...what do you call a KOEKKOEK in english?...windows in the roof.. of the one which is shown for sale. Safety gives some form of satisfaction and through the various remarks of the many people who've reacted you've got a safe boat. No idea what your sailing grounds are like but enjoy it.
And of course it's SALTY!!!

[s/v gratuity]

I had an informal survey done by my friend at the yard, a well know shipwright. He has concluded that it is very well built with minimal damage to a couple frames and a few planks, nothing to get exited about. I would never sell her. She has been a dream of mine and now has become reality, unlike so many other tahiti dreamers. So when is the monthly meet up here in bellingham? I would like to bring someone along, he is interested in boats and it would be good for him he is 16 and I am trying to find things for him to do to keep him out of trouble. I have always found that a sander generaly keeps you busy...haha he's having fun.

[s/v gratuity]

oh, and Piet, I have actually been a member since dec 07 I do not post many but I usually get a big response and all I do is casually type then everyone gets exited...Dunno what it is , but they find me......Interesting. you did get lucky didn't you.

[s/v gratuity]

I am not sure what to do with the deck. I would like to have a nice wood deck with functionality of slip resistant knowing that this situation usually involves trade offs.

Should I replace all of the decks?
or should I replace only the rot?
theres some clear sealant poorly and liberally applied it's rather ugly.


http://picasaweb.google.com/svgratuity/UpdatedGratuity/photo#5226751667175462130

http://picasaweb.google.com/svgratuity/UpdatedGratuity/photo#5226751661895458482

[Woxbox]

What are we looking at there with that deck? Could it be teak? A naturally finished deck that gets its serving of seawater every morning can be (otherwise) low maintenance, great looking and not slippery underfoot, either. I'm thinking you want to keep that as original as possible.

[BETTY-B]

What did your shipwright friend say about the decks? What exactly are they? Could you please post up some more pics?

DAN

[s/v gratuity]

Yes, it it my goal to keep it original

So all I remember is...Oak frames, and southern yellow pine? Planks maybe?

I will dig through my mound of history that came with the boat.
There is a allot of correspondence, sail plans,and schematics but it is very hard for me to understand them all.

Some guy H.K. Von Kaas from Milwaukee.
Gratuity was built in Milwaukee I believe.

There was a rumor that H.K. Von Kaas was the editor in chief of woodenboat mag.
I do not know if this is true or not.

[BETTY-B]

So, the well know shipwright didnt have anything to say about the deck then? You should have him over again. Take notes and lots of pics. Then post them all here.

[s/v gratuity]

yeah that is a good Idea. I will go and take pictures today after class.