Barnegat Bay Sneakboxes

[David Geiss]

Good Day, a friend has a refastened very nice 15' sneak box and he needs to sell...it would be a screaming deal.
I just sold a trimaran so I am particularly vulnerable.
So here's my question...once you get past the looks of the venerable sneak box (and I may be in the minority that likes the hull shape), how do they sail and row?

This one is cat rigged with the mast very far forward. Not my idea of optimal rig but could be changed.

So, who has actually sailed a sneak box?
All comments greatly appreciated.
I don't have images of her.....

Best,
David

[Breakaway]

I have one that I hunt out of. Its forty years old and used primarily as a "stool boat" --its tied to the blind in the marsh and is where we store our decoys. We row it maybe 100 yards on occassion to retrieve a bird (when the tide's too high to walk). I am NO expert rower, but it moves along easily, and I can control it in wind--sometimes gale force winds.

Never sailed it.

Kevin

[holzbt]

[David Geiss]

Thanks Gents....appreciated. I'm guessing that sailing these lovely vessels in vigorous breezes can be a wet affair.
Best, David

[skuthorp]

Nice lines and pretty beamy for a 15 footer. I guess that's a forward hinged centreplate. I would have thought they'd sail pretty flat.

[David Geiss]

I may take a ride to the beach and sail my friend's boat and get some firsthand impressions.
Curiosity getting the better of me....

[Daniel Noyes]

great idea

these boats are legendary in your part of the world and beyond, they were the last word in performance sailing untill being dethroned by the arrival of the inland lake scows in the 1920's+-... high praise as the inland lake scows are among the fastest mono hull sail boats ever built and at that time were likely the fastest sail powered things afloat (catamarans/proa excepted)

As far as your take on the sail rig,
I would hold off making alterations to the traditional rig... at least untill you have some real, substantial, experience with these highly specialized craft.,

[David Geiss]

I think my big concern is how such a boat behaves downwind and how far aft it must be trimmed to keep that spoon shaped bow from submerging from time to time in the lumpy stuff, and how wet it might be to windward in a steep little Barnegat style chop.
I'm wondering about re-sale as well, but now I am hijacking my own thread.......
There's no trailer involved and, given his constraints, I would have to buy before try......

[Woxbox]

Turns out you can live in a sneakbox

[Daniel Noyes]

Does Mr. Ledger on this forum have experience with sneak boxes?

the forum is likely not your best source of info, try a local yacht club with an active fleet. We have had 2 sneak boxes on the river here, they seem a little dryer than a sunfish, fine for daysailing 5-6 months a year.

as far as re-sale, If I was trying to sell a sneak box anywhere in the world I would choose NJ, thats where they were developed adn thats where they survive in numbers.

[holzbt]

You could check here http://www.bbyra.org/fleet/G_index.shtml

[David Geiss]

Great shot! The gaff rig is graceful although a lot of sail for anything beyond a moderate breeze..... looks like a blast in flat conditions.