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PineyWoodsPete · 08-12-2008, 11:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassman1956

Hi All,

Main aim is this: Extreme shoal draft for the sounds. As an artist, I paint also, and one aim is a floating studio in the sounds. Hence the extreme shoal draft desire. Second priority is sea-worthiness. Third is room. Am thinking 30' to 35' in range. (At this time there's only me, but that could change.)

Who all has experience with any of these hull types? I'd be interested in your input. Especially significant live-aboard experience. Anyone?

Thanks!

My wife and I have cruised together for as long as three weeks on the Meadowlark 37 "Bay L'Ark", and found it very roomy and comfortable. Although the headroom is a bit limited at 5'9" between deck beams, it is 6'2" under the large central butterfly hatch and fwd cabin hatch.

Owner Fred Beauchemin, myself, and two other old coots have cruised together in the spring for the past four years or so, and look forward to this coming April (if, God forbid, he doesn't sell her before!). Storage capacity is very good, and we have even carried a 2 kw generator and portable water-cooled AC unit for those hot FL summer nights.

With her 7.5' WL beam and 34' WL length, she is very easily driven by her Westerbeake 30 diesel w/ folding prop, with enough reserve power to top out at 7.4 kts, and maintain 6 kts if needed straight into a 20 kt wind and bay chop towing Fred's 16', 200# "Peapod ". Her offset engine gives total prop protection, but the downside was sometimes dicey docking until the bowthruster was installed - a 16' pole with bronze end hook that hangs from the mainmast spreader for instant use!

Pete

bassman1956 · 08-12-2008, 20:29

Thanks Pete, this is exactly the info I'm looking for. There are significant trade-offs, but considering where I intend to sail most, sharpies and bateaux look quite appropriate. I looked at the 'for sale' page of "Bay L'Ark". Very nice boat!

bassman1956 · 14-05-2011, 18:10

Wow, I forgot all about this thread!

Well, the 24' sharpie ketch (with leeboards) I picked up last summer came with boxes of books and magazines covering many of the designs described here. It included a copy of Herreshoff's book, so now I have my own source of info for the Meadowlark and Golden Ball. In fact, it's from searching Meadowlark that I found this thread!

Anyways, I do keep an eye on the market for these types of boats, the Meadowlark being one on the short list. Also, of Reuell Parker's designs, the bateau schooner Tomfoolery is quite interesting, and I inherited a copy of the 1997 Wooden Boat mag that featured her, until then unopened!

My current efforts for my MayFly, once sailing, will prove leeboards for me, which may or may not drive me towards Meadowlark. That and Tomfoolery are similar in hull sizes, but so different, make a good comparison. Both are clearly along lines of what I think I may progress to.

I guess sometimes a little serendipity does come along...

SaltyMonkey · 14-05-2011, 19:41

Very cool thread and thoughts bassman. Growin' up on the chess, I am also lookin' similar lines There were some interestin' sharpies down in FL

heres a newer breed

Ryder Boats Home

and a group on yahoo

nisboats : Norwalk Islands Sharpies ( NIS ) Forum

bassman1956 · 15-05-2011, 09:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Very cool thread and thoughts bassman. Growin' up on the chess, I am also lookin' similar lines There were some interestin' sharpies down in FL

heres a newer breed

Ryder Boats Home

and a group on yahoo

nisboats : Norwalk Islands Sharpies ( NIS ) Forum

That Ryder looks nice!

I kept an eye on a 29' NIS last year. It was just a basic hull done, looking for a buyer. Went for a song. It was just more project than I could commit to.

Discovered Shannon Shoalsailers. Beautiful boats, beyond my current means, even well used.

Also have gotten in a habit of watching the ads. There's a nice Meadowlark currently listed, I wish the seller was looking for a condo in the Chicago area, maybe we could make a trade!

SaltyMonkey · 15-05-2011, 10:34

Yeha on the Shannon. Saw them the other day for the first time myself.

Also love the OVNI and BOREAL alum - G Caroff one of me fave architects.

Check out also Southerly - modern along same lines

Southerly

Freedom makes cat ketch CB - heres one. I saw smaller models last year on market in FL but they went quick

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi..._id=21704&url=

Here are the smaller Freedoms I was looking at. Love these

FREEDOM 35 CAT KTCH Sailboat details on sailboatdata.com
FREEDOM 33 Sailboat details on sailboatdata.com

oooj...a valiant

1983 VALIANT ~ SHOAL DRAFT 4'11" - Shoal Draft Edition Sail Boat

wow: good deal on meadowlark

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...g_id=1424&url=

and of course there are Cat boats and Catamarans!! YAYAYAAY

Cormorant · 15-05-2011, 13:18

Bassman -- do you know the Jim Michalak "Cormorant" design? That's what we sail, and it comes close to your specs. Modified sharpie hull, 31' long, 7'6" wide, 10" draft, water ballasted. You can let it dry out at low tide. We've (family of four) sailed it in Maine and Cape Cod and the Chesapeake, and we took it across the Gulf Stream to the Exumas. I wouldn't want to cross the Atlantic in it, but anywhere you can reach with a few days good forecast is wide open.

bassman1956 · 15-05-2011, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cormorant

Bassman -- do you know the Jim Michalak "Cormorant" design? That's what we sail, and it comes close to your specs. Modified sharpie hull, 31' long, 7'6" wide, 10" draft, water ballasted. You can let it dry out at low tide. We've (family of four) sailed it in Maine and Cape Cod and the Chesapeake, and we took it across the Gulf Stream to the Exumas. I wouldn't want to cross the Atlantic in it, but anywhere you can reach with a few days good forecast is wide open.

Thanks, hadn't looked at his plans in a while, forgot that existed. So you're happy with it? Great news!

It's been a few years since this thread was started. In that time, I've read enough, and seen enough, that for what I want a sailboat for, up and down the east coast, often in protected thin waters, these designs will work just fine. My greatest adventure may be an island hop with a flotilla, and from what I've read, it would not be the capabilities of the boat that would worry me.

Still, it's nice to windowshop and see new designs!

(I'm not sure if such actions are

or

)

Cormorant · 16-05-2011, 08:52

I love our Cormorant. Flat-out crazy in love with it.

Sometimes I window-shop for catamarans -- something my wife and I might retire on and do longer trips. But for right now in our lives, the Cormorant is an awesome boat.

The only thing is, you have to build it yourself, or pay someone to do it for you. Ours took about 800 hours of work to get it to launching day, and probably that many hours again in tinkering, improving, maintaining, etc. over the last 6 years. My build was spread out over two years of spare time (September 2003-July 2005). I tell people, "Just an hour a day. Quit watching TV and build a boat!" But if you were able to attack it full-time and put in 60-hour weeks, you could finish it in 3 or 4 months.

The original cost was $7500, including hull, spars, homebuilt trailer, sails (from Rolly Tasker in Thailand), and outboard motor. Cost today would be higher because lumber and epoxy seem to have doubled in price since 2005. I've probably added a couple thousand more dollars in the above-mentioned tinkering -- like a real flush toilet instead of a bucket!, water tank and hand-pump faucet, upgraded from old motor to new motor, and an endless list of little things.

For a versatile coastal cruiser that can go where deeper draft boats never dare, I consider it a screaming bargain.

bassman1956 · 16-05-2011, 10:35

Thanks Cormorant. Will keep it in mind. I'm convinced I'm on the right track for what I want out of my boat.

BTW, if you think wood and epoxy have gone up, wait until you see what's happened to stainless, let alone brasses and bronzes!

SaltyMonkey · 16-05-2011, 10:45

ya'll give me faith there are still some sail folks around that know the soul of what cruzin is all about. keep on trukin'

mrohr · 19-06-2011, 18:08

Sailed a 18' bayhen (sharpie) for 5 years,lotsa great adventures in areas unreachable and unsailable in more conventional hull configurations;surprisingly seaworthy in difficult conditions due to gaff rig (low C.E.)but not open ocean .Flat bottom will pound if hull is not sailed on her chine and of course less weatherly than more conventional rigs .Get a copy of The Sharpie Book ;good info and designs that lend themselves to the amateur builder.

CHayden · 16-08-2011, 08:23

Hi there,

Greetings from Stockton, CA. I sail the Delta of the Sacramento river here above San Framcisco Bay. Some chanels are deep but many places have lots of "skinny" Water. My boat is a 37' Herreschoff Meadolark with a 10hp Sabb diesel (6kts on 1/4 gal/hr), She has leeboards and draws 24" with the boards up. In addition she has 4000# of led covering the 2" thick bottom planks, so I beach her anywhere.
My boat is for sale but, I suggest you google the web for Meadowlarks near you. Most where built in Mass., RI, etc.
I only wish my boat was over there. I am from Charleston, SC and really miss the ICW.